Strategies of High School Students to Cope With Stress through Leisure Time

Abstract

It was aimed in this study to reveal and compare strategies of students of three types of high schools to cope with stress through leisure time. The research population consisted of high school students in Konya province, Turkey. The sample consisted of 280 male and 224 female vocational high school, Anatolian  high school and sports high school students. In the study, the Demographic Personal Information Form was used to collect personal information. The “Strategies to Cope with Stress through Leisure Time Scale” (SCSLTS) was used to identify the leisure time strategies. This scale was developed by Iwasaki and Mannell (2000). It was translated into Turkish, and its validity and reliability studies were conducted by Çevik, Özcan and Munusturlar (2018). No difference was found in the strategies of the students to cope with stress through leisure time according to the grade level, income, and maternal and paternal educational level factors. Statistical variations were observed based on the gender and sporting factors (p<.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the mood enhancement dimension depending on the school type factor. However, it was found that the mean scores of the vocational high school students in terms of the dimensions of leisure time friendship and temporary coping ability were higher than those of the students of the other schools, and these differences were also statistically significant (p<.05). The vocational high school students had higher mean scores in the leisure time strategies sub-dimension than the students of other schools. Accordingly, it can be said that the leisure time strategy scores may differ according to the school type and that the students receiving vocational education were more optimistic in determining leisure time strategies than the students of Anatolian high school and sports high school.