Abstract

Adolescence is described as a social construction as it begins in biology and ends in culture. Adolescence is also described as a transition stage between childhood and adulthood. This transition from childhood includes early, middle and late adolescence - phases that conclude in young adulthood. The present study was descriptive in nature and it aimed to explore the stressors experienced by adolescents. The sample consisted of adolescents of 15-18 years belonging to lower income families of Baroda city in India where, monthly income was ranging from Rs. 2000/- to Rs. 6000/. The study was carried out in two phases. In Phase-I, stressors experienced by adolescents was explored through questionnaires having closed ended and multiple choice questions and the sample size was 200 adolescents. In Phase-II, a sub-sample of 20 adolescents (ten boys and ten girls) was selected from the main sample and specific stressors in each domain i.e. home, school and peer group were explored. The results revealed that more numbers of adolescents experience stress at home, followed by school and peer group. The major stressors were found to be academics, household chores and social norms at home. At school academics (this includes studying and attending classes at school and tuitions, completing home work and maintaining ranks/positions by performing better) was the major stressor. Among peer group conflict between friends was the major stressor. Stressors and ways of coping were found to be different across gender due to disparity in social norms and expectations from adolescents.