IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i15p9114-d872121.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Adolescents’ Experience of Stress: A Focus Group Interview Study with 16–19-Year-Old Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Camilla Perming

    (Department of Nursing and Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Kristianstad University, SE-291 88 Kristianstad, Sweden
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Åsa Thurn

    (Department of Nursing and Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Kristianstad University, SE-291 88 Kristianstad, Sweden
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Pernilla Garmy

    (Department of Nursing and Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Kristianstad University, SE-291 88 Kristianstad, Sweden
    Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden)

  • Eva-Lena Einberg

    (Department of Nursing and Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Kristianstad University, SE-291 88 Kristianstad, Sweden)

Abstract

The purpose was to investigate stress among adolescents (16–19 years old) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Focus group (n = 9) interviews with students at upper secondary schools (16–19 years old, n = 41) were conducted in southern Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. The interviews were analyzed by qualitative content analysis. The analysis revealed five categories of experience of stress: (1) School-related stress, (2) Stress in relationships and leisure, (3) How stress manifests itself, (4) Stress can increase performance, and (5) Experiences of counteracting stress. The adolescents in the study experienced stress linked to school and relationships, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic increased stress levels. The adolescents stated that high stress levels were experienced negatively and impaired their ability to perform, while moderate stress could contribute to achieving goals and improving performance. School nurses and other health professionals who meet with adolescents are important to support adolescents experiencing stress.

Suggested Citation

  • Camilla Perming & Åsa Thurn & Pernilla Garmy & Eva-Lena Einberg, 2022. "Adolescents’ Experience of Stress: A Focus Group Interview Study with 16–19-Year-Old Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-11, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:15:p:9114-:d:872121
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9114/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9114/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alexandra Warghoff & Sara Persson & Pernilla Garmy & Eva-Lena Einberg, 2020. "A Focus Group Interview Study of the Experience of Stress amongst School-Aged Children in Sweden," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-10, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:15:p:9114-:d:872121. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.