Abstract
The present study was designed to evaluate the factors influential on stress and subjective fatigue symptoms based on school life environments and daily life styles among high school students. The self-administered questionnaires were delivered to 2,381 high school students of both sexes in Taejon Metropolitan city during the period from Mar. 1st to Jun. 30th, 2000. The analysis of study results revealed the following findings: 1. According to the magnitude of stress, the normal subjects were 3.1%, the groups with potential stress were 64.7%, and the groups at high risk for stress were 32.2%. Higher level of stress existed in the female than the male students, and in the third grader than the 1st and 2nd graders. According to the classification of typical constitutional symptoms of fatigue, category III (group with bodily projection of fatigue) was the most frequent and it was followed by category II (group with difficulty in concentration) and category I (group with dullness and sleepiness) in a decreasing order of frequency, which showed that the predominant pattern of fatigue arose from the body parts. 2. With regard to the school life characteristics and stress scores, the higher scores of stress were shown in the groups with the lower grades, with worse friend's relation and with the lower satisfaction with the school life. The scores for the subjective fatigue symptoms were higher in the male, in the low graders, in the better friend's relation, and in the satisfactory group than the respective counterparts. 3. Concerning home life characteristics, the higher scores of stress were associated with the students characterized by the recognized poor economic conditions, lower interests of parents, lack of satisfaction with the home life, the poor subjective health status. On the other hand, the scores for the subjective fatigue symptoms were higher in the student groups with good economic conditions, higher interests of parents, presence of satisfaction with the home life, and good subjective health status. 4. Concerning daily life styles, the higher scores of stress were in the students who had inappropriate sleep hours, skipped breakfasts, daily consumption of intermeal snacks, lack of exercise, daily smoking, normal indices of obesity, and lower indices of health habit. Conversely, the scores of subjective fatigue symptoms were higher in the groups who had daily breakfasts, no intermeal snacks, daily exercise, no smoking than their counterparts. 5. The factors exerting influence upon the stress included the satisfaction with school life, friend's relation, satisfaction with the home life, exercise, school grades, interests of parents, school year, sex, scores of health habit, degree of obesity, economic conditions of home. Those influencing on the degree os stress included stress, intermeal snacks, smoking, friend's relation and satisfaction with the home life.
