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The objective of the present study was to find out the relationship among stress, social networking addiction and stress coping techniques among adolescents in Bihar (India) and their differences across gender. A sample of 100 adolescents (50 boys & 50 girls) was selected through incidental-cum-purposive sampling method. The data was collected írom a school of Patna (Bihar). The Stress Scale, Social Networking Addiction Scale and Stress Coping Technique Scale were used for data collection. The Mean, SD, Coefficient of Correlation and t-ratio were computed for testing the hypotheses. The obtained results revealed that there were positive correlations between stress and social networking addiction, and between social networking addiction and adaptive coping style. The results showed no significant difference in stress, social networking addiction, and stress coping techniques across gender.
Keywords: stress, social networking addiction, stress coping techniques, adolescents
In the present day world where one is struggling to breathe and survive, the quest for survival of the fittest is increasing with every breath. This has increased the stress among people. Stress is the feeling that people get when they are overloaded and struggling to cope with demands and pressures (Agarwal, 2001; Hobfoll, 1988). Selye (1956) described stress to be beneficial when the work is exhilarating and creative, while it becomes detrimental if the work results in failure, humiliation or infection. Stress becomes distress when this overload in demands is ignored and results in physical and emotional problems (Bickerstaff, 2008; Brannon & Fiest, 2010).
The term stress has been derived from the Latin word 'stingere' which means to draw tight (Ciccarelli, Mishra, & White, 2017; Robbins, 2015). In the 18th century, stress denoted force, pressure, strain or strong effort, referring primarily to an individual or to an individual's organs or mental powers (Hinkle, 1973). Hans Selye defined stress as the non-specific response of the body to any demand placed upon it to adapt, whether that demand produces pleasure or pain (Hobfoll, 1988).
In one way, the relief from the stress in life is coming from the use of internet technology. Internet provides us with the vast arena for communication, up gradation, making relationships, companionship, etc (Hardie & Buswell, 2006; Ferguson & Perse, 2000; Valkenburg & Piotrowski, 2017). One of the most important online activities is...