A. AGRAWAL ET AL.
It was expected that academic standing and gender may in-
fluence appraisals of overall stressors as well as the different
domains. In this study, a higher number of boys than girls were
in the below average academic category (50% versus 20%).
Appraised stress level was found to be higher for girls than for
boys in all domains. This higher rating was statistically signifi-
cant for children with average academic ability regarding the
Peer Interaction stressor domain. These findings support results
obtained by Grannis (1992) that girls appraised stressors (nega-
tive events) as more upsetting than boys and received higher
grades than boys. A weak correlation of .19 was found between
academic performance and overall appraisal of stressors.
Results of the present study must be interpreted with caution.
One cannot rule out the possibility of specificity of results to
the current sample of children. Since students were required to
respond to items based upon their own perceptions of stressful
school events, it is possible that the stressors may vary in exis-
tence and strength as a function of various factors (i.e., type of
school, particular teachers, SES, or personal variables). Results
need to be replicated with a larger sample, including several
classes of fourth-grade children from different schools in order
to rectify these concerns. Future studies should also include
information from different sources (teachers and parents, for
example) to validate the inventory presented.
Ultimately, the challenge for society, educators, and educa-
tional administrators and policy makers is to identify problems
that lead to stress for children as early as possible and to pro-
mote healthy development by teaching children about possible
coping strategies. This study provided further data on school-
based stressors and the salience of such stressors among child-
ren. This knowledge is valuable for future developments of
stress prevention programs for children.
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