Perceived psychological stress among female students of distinguished schools for the preparatory stage in Baghdad Governorate

Abstract

The current research addressed an important concept, which is the perceived        psychological pressure among female students of distinguished schools in the preparatory stage in Baghdad Governorate. The first goal of the research was to measure the perceived psychological pressure among female students of distinguished schools in the preparatory stage, and the second goal was to identify the significance of the differences in perceived psychological pressure according to the academic grade. To achieve these goals, the researcher adopted and used the scale that was designed by Levenstein and others in 1993 to measure the pressure perception index, which includes (30) paragraphs. The alternatives were four: (almost - sometimes - often - usually). The scale was then applied to the research sample, which consisted of (100) female students from distinguished schools in the First Karkh Education Directorate in the capital, Baghdad, using the stratified random method. After using statistical methods on the above data, the results showed that their average scores on the scale reached (76.83) degrees, with a standard deviation of (12.86) degrees. When balancing this average with the hypothetical average of the scale, which amounted to (75) degrees, and using the t-test for a single sample, it was found that The difference is not statistically significant, as the calculated T-value was less than the tabular T-value of (1.96) with a degree of freedom (99) and a significance level of (0.05), as this result indicates that distinguished female students in the preparatory stage have an average level of perceived psychological stress and are not present at a high level. As for the variable of the academic grade between the fourth and fifth grades, it was found that there is a difference in pressure in favor of fourth grade students, meaning that fourth-grade students have a higher percentage of perceived stress than fifth-grade students. The results were interpreted according to theories and studies, and the research concluded with a set of recommendations, including paying attention to the segment of distinguished school students, as they are at the forefront of our creative students, and providing guidance centers for them in the directorates, and not limiting the role of the educational counselor in the school only, because their psychological need is broader than their peers in regular schools. Among the research proposals is to conduct the same study, but on the intermediate stage of distinguished schools, conducting the same study on distinguished school students (males).