AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
impossible to find conformity in definition or method of
measuring social support. After summing up definitions it is
possible to state at least the fact, that social support means
existence of close people who are able and willing to provide
assistance to an individual when needed. For the purposes of this
research the author worked with the perceived social support
provided in three lines: family, friends and other close people.
Social support was one of the first identified factors impacting,
along with unfavourable life situations, mental well-being and
health of a human, which has been confirmed by many research
studies (Šolcová 1999). According to Šolcová and Kebza (1999)
it is possible to distinguish two types of social support: a bumper
model related to coping with stress and the model of main
impact, which assumes protective character of the social support
from the aspect of health, regardless of the stress experienced. In
this research the author deals with the bumper model researching
the relation between social support, stress and coping with
school failure.
Another factor specifying social support is its direction, when it
is distinguished, if support is given or taken. Kebza and Šolcová
(1999) talk about anticipated and gained support and objectives
– really provided and expected support. Majority of measuring
tools finds perceived social support, which is rather discussed
theme. Social support and social network is utilised above all in
cases of coming across challenging situations.
5 Research method
The research verified the relations between school failure
coping, social support perceived, the extent of stress experienced
and the selected characteristics of respondents.
217 respondents – social work students participated in the
research, out of those 18 men and 194 women. 129 respondents
were full time students, 83 part time students. Their age ranged
from 18 to 53 years, the average 25,228 (St. dev. 5,928).
Methodology applied in the research:
A questionnaire PSS (Cohen), a questionnaire of ten items,
total score was used,
The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support
(Zimet), of twelve items which finds the extent of the
social support perceived in three parts: family, other
people, friends,
Items finding the selected characteristics of respondents:
faith, size of the town of origin, form of study, and alcohol
abuse,
A questionnaire The School Failure Coping Scale (Brdar,
Rijavec 1997), finding seven strategies of coping with
school failure: anger (Cronbach´s alpha 0,746), taking
responsibilities (Cronbach´s alpha 0,739), forgetting
(Cronbach´s alpha 0,717), social support (Cronbach´s
alpha 0,751), inadequate reactions (Cronbach´s alpha
0,829), parents (Cronbach´s alpha 0,498), relaxation. This
questionnaire, which is not officially translated in Slovak,
verified the variability of the individual sub – scales
(strategies) via Cronbach alpha. As the alpha value of the
strategy regarding the parents (involves 4 items: I will not
tell it to my parents, I will tell them when I get a better
mark, I will complain to them, I look for assistance of the
parents) reached the value 4,98, according to the
contentual analysis of the items, there was a decision to
divide this strategy into two strategies: reporting to parents
and social support of parents. These strategies then reached
alpha value 0,629 for the items marked: I will not tell it to
my parents, or when I get a better mark, which was marked
as the strategy of reporting it to the parents and the value of
0,710 for the items I will complain to parents, I look
assistance from my parents, which were marked as the
strategy of social support of the parents.
Research results were divided into three parts according to the
set assumptions. The first part research searched relations
between stress and social support. The second part searched
relations between stress and coping with school failure. The third
part was represented by a series of calculations of t-tests, testing
the differences in experiencing stress, perceived social support
and coping with school failure according to the elected personal
characteristics.
Table 1 presents the result of calculating correlation finding the
relation between the stress experienced and perceived social
support.
Table 1 Relation between stress experienced and social support
perceived
Social support
Family
Relatives
Friends
stress
Pearson corr.
-0,177
-0,113
-0,246
Sig. (2-tailed)
0,012
*
0,111
0,000
**
Negative relation was confirmed between the stress perceived
and social support perceived, provided by the family and friends.
So, those respondents who perceive support perceived, indicate
less stress perceived and vice versa, those who experience more
stress, feel less social support provided from the family and
friends.
Table 2 presents the result of correlation between the stress
experienced and coping with school failure.
Table 2 Relation between the stress experienced and coping with
school failure
Strategies of coping
with school failure
The extent of stress experienced
Pearson corr.
Sig. (2-tailed)
Anger
0,368
0,000
**
Responsibility
0,359
0,000
**
Forgetting
0,140
0,051
Social support
0,190
0,008
*
Inadequate reactions
0,418
0,000
**
Remaining uninvolved
0,021
0,771
Reporting o parents
0,183
0,010
*
Support from parents
0,114
0,112
According to the results we can state, that confirming positive
relations between the measure of stress experienced and
selection of strategies of coping with stress failure. The strongest
relation was demonstrated between stress and inadequate
reactions. That means the stronger stress, the more frequent
selection of inappropriate reaction to the particular situation. The
stronger stress is, the more the individual tries’ to search social
support in his environment (not from parents), the more he
postpones reporting the failure to parents (I will not tell them, I
will tell when I get a better mark). However it was found that the
more stress is experienced, the more the individuals resolve the
situation responsibly, although they experience more anger with
this stress.
Table 3 Differences from the aspect of the form of study
Coping
strategies
ft
study
pt
study
p
t
Anger
2,318
2,063
2,428
0,016
*
Responsibility 3,206
3,419
-2,154
0,032
*
Social support 2,780
2,513
2,213
0,028
*
Remaining
uninvolved
3,396
3,071
2,617
0,010
**
Reporting to
parents
2,232
1,642
4,102
0,000
***
The third part of the research was finding differences in stress
experiencing, perception of social support and selection of
strategies for coping with school failure according to the form of
study, faith, size of the town of origin and frequency of alcohol -
use. For the purpose of transparency only those results are stated,
which found statistically significant differences.
It has been found out, that from the aspect of the form of study,
where respondents were compared, there were full time and part
time students, there were differences in utilising the strategy of
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