Assessment of the Stress Level and Social-Emotional Learning Skills of Adolescent Students amidst Pandemic: Basis for a Psychoeducation Program

This study sought to assess the stress level and social-emotional learning skills of adolescent students to propose a psychoeducation program. This study looked into the demographic characteristics of the respondents; the manifestation of stress and their stress level; their coping strategies; the sources of their stress; their social-emotional learning skills; and the significant difference between stress level and social-emotional learning skills. Mixed-method research design specifically sequential explanatory design was used in the study. This study was conducted at Manuel S. Enverga University Foundation-Basic Education Department, Lucena City; it utilized the complete enumeration survey and purposive sampling. Results show the majority of the respondents were female under 15-16 yrs old and living with both parents. The majority of the respondents are experiencing moderate to the high-perceived stress level. The majority of the respondents agree that they utilized both emotion-focused coping and problemfocused coping strategies in dealing with stress; the respondents agreed that their major source of stress came from personal, school, and family factors. The majority of the respondents seem to manifest the five components of social-emotional learning in dealing with stress such as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decisionmaking categories. Moreover, a significant difference exists between the social-emotional learning skills of the respondents in terms of their self-awareness and social awareness, when grouped according to the stress level. Overall, the researcher recommends that constant efforts from schools, families, and communities are important to strengthen their social-emotional skills to combat stress.