SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC INDEXES OF PSYCHOSOCIAL STRESS RISK IN HIGH-SCHOOL-STUDENTS

This paper analyzer the level of psychosocial stress perceived by Mexi can high school students related to three areas of life which are rele vant to adolescents: parent's prohibitions, betrayal by best friend an d problems with school authorities. In this article psychosocial stres s is considered as a dynamic process that may vary with sex and life s tages (Brim and Ryff, 1980). Included is a brief description of the tr ends in the study of stress conceived as a psychological construct. At the beginning, stress was considered like a stimulus, where situation s such as natural disasters were universal stressors, but these early definitions failed to consider the individual differences involved in the cognitive appraisal of the events. In the lass decades, investigat ors have recognized the importance of this issue, and psychological an d social resources are now considered as important determinants of the vulnerability of individuals to experience potential stressors. In 19 84, Lazarus and Folkman defined psychosocial stress as a particular ki nd of relationship between the individual and its environment. The str ess relationship is that in which the individual perceives that the en vironmental demands exceed his or her resources. In this definition, c ognitive appraisal determines if a situation is stressful or not. More recently, Lazarus (1990) proposed that in order to obtain markers of the stress process, it was necessary to consider: a) the content of da ily stressful event, and c) the fluctuations in content and intensity of stress reactions over time (coping responses). Furthermore, this au thor suggested analyzing the systems involving a great number of varia bles that influence each other over time as well as the cultural conte xts. Sociodemographic indicators such a sex, age, and socioeconomic st atus play an important role in the definition of groups at risk and po tentially vulnerable to psychosocial stress and its emotional conseque nces.