The Relationship Between Stressful Life Events and Gender Among Nigeria
CHAPTER ONE
Study Objectives
The main objective of the present study is to examine the role of stressful life events as a risk factor for the development of increased symptoms of anxiety among adolescents. In addition, it also aims to evaluate whether certain types of stressful life events are related to health, family, peers, or school problems.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Anxiety and depression
Concept Anxiety is an adaptive response generated by environmental stressful situations that activate alarm mechanisms in the individual to assure survival. This emotion is a series of biochemical changes in the brain and body, which makes the heart to beat faster due to an increase in adrenaline, and feeling less pain due to a decrease in cerebral dopamine. However, if the state of anxiety is not adequately affronted or it is produced by an inexistent stimulus in the longterm, natural anxiety is now converted in an anxiety disorder. In this way, natural anxiety is beneficial for the individual but if the level of anxiety is exceeded, it deteriorates the habitual activity of the organism; in this case, higher anxiety produces a lower efficiency of the individual [1, 2]. In human beings, anxiety disorders are characterized by excessive fear and distress in the absence of real danger, that is to say, an excessive preoccupation, fatigue, problems of sleeping or concentrating, irritability, muscle tension, aggressive behavior, vulnerability sensation, surveillance exacerbation, and exaggerated emotional reactions to danger [3]. The anxiety symptoms reflect an excessive autonomic activity caused by the overrelease of adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol, which in consequence produces perspiration, palpitations, rise in blood pressure, loss of sphincters control, development of gastric ulcers, among others. Anxiety and depressive disorders are classified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR and recent DSM-5) and International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10), according to the duration, intensity and origin of symptoms. Anxiety is classified in some types of phobia, separation and social anxiety disorders, among others [3]. Anxiety disorders are influenced by environmental stimuli that are stressful for the individual. Antiquely, it was believed that anxiety disorders were learned, and although the familiar and social context influence in the possibility to develop an anxiety disorder, nowadays, it is known that anxiety disorders have a neurobiological substrate that involves neurochemical changes modifying the correct function of diverse brain structures [4]. In fact, they are the same brain structures involved in the etiology of depressive disorders, which explain the comorbidity among anxiety and depressive disorders, as well as the observation that some antidepressant drugs (i.e., selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) produce also anxiolytic actions at the clinical level [3,5] On the other hand, depression is an affective disorder identified from antique cultures around the world [6, 7]. Nowadays, it is considered as a psychiatric disorder classified in the DSM-5 [3]. Its prevalence and incidence have a marked sexual dimorphism; it is estimated that in the general population, it is 10–25% in women and 5–12% in men [8]. The morbidity and mortality associated with depressive disorders are higher and increasing continuously.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODS
Participants
The sample of students for the study was randomly selected. However, their participation in this study was voluntary. The study included 160 students (80 boys and 80 girls) from the fourth year of the secondary schools in Skopje. The mean age of the students were calculated as 17.50 (SD=6.75) years.
Data Collection Tools
Based on the scope of the study, Personal Information Form constructed by researchers, Scale of Stressful Life Events for Children and Adolescents, and the Scale for Anxiety for Children and Adolescents were used among the students.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
In this study, we observed that all participants had higher scores of stress and anxiety symptoms. As shown in Table 1, the mean Stress-D score for participants was 165.21 points, while the mean SCAD-62 score was 13.00 points. Therefore, the results show that stressful life events were significantly associated with anxiety (r= .962, p<.01).
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
INTRODUCTION
It is important to reiterate that the objective of this study was to examine the relationship between stressful life events and gender among Nigerians. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in examining the relationship between stressful life events and gender among Nigerians.
SUMMARY
This study was undertaken to the relationship between stressful life events and gender among Nigerians. The study opened with chapter one where the statement of the problem was clearly defined. The study objectives and research hypotheses were defined and formulated respectively. The study reviewed related and relevant literatures with reference to the socio-economic benefits of Palm Oil in Nigeria and other countries. The chapter two gave the conceptual framework and empirical studies. The third chapter described the methodology employed by the researcher in collecting both the primary and the secondary data. The research method employed here is the descriptive survey method. The study analyzed and presented the data collected in tables While the fifth chapter gives the study summary and conclusion.
Conclusion
Adolescence is a developmental period characterized by multiple changes in virtually every aspect of an individual’s life, calling for new psychological adaptations. Exposure to different stressors caused by these changes represents a central and normal part of the processes of growth and development during adolescents.
In conclusion, the current study identified stressful life events as a factor related to the development of increasing anxiety among adolescents. The thesis shows that both the total sum of stress and the domain specific stress, especially in interpersonal contexts, are related to more emotional problems. The present thesis shows an investigation of the role and nature of adolescent stressors. It also shows the association between stress and different health outcomes, such as anxiety. Gender differences on stress and anxiety were also considered. However, girls reported higher levels of stress and more negative health problems than boys. So, the transition into adolescence seems to be the starting point for an increase in psychological problems like anxiety, psychosomatic symptoms, or depression.
Some limitations of this study should be kept in mind by examining the results. First, the sample was restricted to adolescents from only secondary schools in Skopje. Thus, the results may not be general to all Macedonian young people. Further research should be carried out with groups of undergraduate students from several towns in Macedonia. Also, further studies should be conducted with different demographic variables such as ethnicity, family size, socioeconomic status, and different personality traits.
Recommendations
In view of the present findings, these results have potentially important treatment implications. Thus, preventive interventions that focus on anxiety may help to reduce stress-related psychological and psychiatric morbidity in adolescents.
References:
- Achenbach & McConaughy (1997). Empirically based assessment of childand adolescent psychopathology. London: SAGE Publications.
- American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disor‐ders: DSM-V. 5th ed. rev. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Association; 2013. [4]
- American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disor‐ders: DSM-5. 5th ed. rev. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association; 2013. [21]
- Babenko O, Kovalchuk I, Metz GA. Stress-induced perinatal and transgenerational epigenetic programming of brain development and mental health. Neuroscience and Biobehavioural Reviews 2015; 48:70-91. [14]
- Barlow (2005). Anxiety and its disorders.New York: Guilford Press. Burnett et al. (2007). Family life stress and insomnia symptoms in a prospective evaluation of young adults. Journal of Family Psychology, 21:58-66.
- Beesdo K, Knappe S, Pine DS. Anxiety and anxiety disorders in children and adoles‐cents: developmental issues and implications for DSM-V. The Psychiatric Clinics of North America 2009; 32(3):483-524. [27]
- Bennett DS, Ambrosini PJ, Kudes D, Metz C, Rabinovich H. Gender differences in adolescent depression: do symptoms differ for boys and girls? Journal of Affective Disorders 2005; 89:35-44.
