Abstract:

Objectives and aim:
Data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO, 2020) estimated that at the end of March 2020, more than 1.5 billion students worldwide could have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic because of school closures. Research suggests that the pandemic increased stress levels and negatively affected students' quality of life (Cachón-Zagalaz et al., 2020; Idoiaga et al., 2020), but less is known about possible indicators which may have an impact on stress experience. Studies have shown that higher stress levels are typical for females (Prowse et al., 2021), but other possible socio-demographic factors are not so frequently discussed. The time spent on hobbies can also be a useful indicator of students´ well-being during the pandemic (Otanga et al., 2022). The aim of the study is to map the stress level in high school students in order to find possible indicators which might be related to higher stress levels among students.

Methods:
Students (N = 413, Mage = 17, SD = 1.2) from two types of high schools have been occasionally chosen to take part in this quantitative cross-sectional intersubject comparative study. The online Slovak version (Ráczová, Hricová, Lovašová, 2018) of the questionnaire Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, 1994) was used and subsequently the stress levels were examined for possible differences based on the type of school (grammar school, secondary vocational school), gender (female, male), age and residence (town, village). The item about daily time spent with hobbies was added after completing the PSS questionnaire (four categories included: not spending time with hobbies, about one hour, about two hours, about three hours, more than three hours). In the data analysis, percentage, frequencies, standard deviations, t-test and one-way variance analysis (One-Way Anova) statistical procedures have been used.

Results:
Descriptive statistics indicate the moderate stress level in high school students (M= 23,23; SD = 7,17). The results identified significantly higher perception of stress among secondary vocational school students compared to secondary grammar school students (p = 0,023). Female high school students achieved significantly higher levels of perceived stress (p = 0,001). Students who spent more time on their hobbies felt significantly less stressed (p = <0,001). The stress level was the lowest in the group of students who spent more than three hours per day with their hobbies and was the highest in the group of students who didn't spend any time on their hobbies.

Discussion and conclusion:
The results support the foreign findings about higher stress level in female high school students in comparison with male students (Prowse et al., 2021). These findings highlight the need for gender informed interventions for secondary vocational school students since they reported higher stress levels than grammar school students during the pandemic. The detection of higher stress levels in females, secondary vocational school students and high school students who did not spend any time on their hobbies is an important outcome for school psychologists who are responsible for psychological interventions focused on students stress management.

Keywords:

Perceived stress, distance learning, high school students.