A Study on the Stress and Stress Coping Behavior of Elementary School Children

학령기 아동의 스트레스와 대처행동에 관한 연구

The purpose of this study was to investigate the daily stress and stress coping behavior of elementary school children. The subjects for this study were 372 children fourth, fifth and sixth graders from an elementary school in Pusan. We adopted Won - Joo Chung's research instrument (1997) for measuring stress and coping behavior in this study. Statistical techniques such as frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, order, and Pearson correlation were used to examine the research questions of this study. The results of this study were as follows: 1. The most common instance of stress to be experienced by all children was the stress from school life, followed by social pressures, individual pressures and family environment. 2. A positive revaluation was the most commonly used stress-coping behavior, followed by behavioral mood conversion, spiritual support, problem-facing behavior, an information search for problem-solving, physical separation for emotional relaxation, avoidance, emotional aggressiveness and emotional expression. 3. Stress-coping behavior had a positive and significant correlation with the stress score(r = .4391, p= .000). In conclusion, the stress from school life was the most common experienced by all children. While independent effort in problem-solving was unsufficient, stress coping behavior had positive results. Therefore, this study verified the necessity of minimizing the stress children experience from school life and of helping them attain desirable stress-coping behaviors.