RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEISURE PARTICIPATION AND EDUCATIONAL STRESS IN SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between leisure participation and educational stress in secondary school students. The study sample consist of 367 participants, 214 boys and 153 girls, studying at four different secondary schools. The selection of the participants was made with purposeful sampling method. Data collection tools involved a personal information form and “Educational Stress Scale (ESS)”. The ANOVA results indicated a significant difference in the “Workload”, “Despondency”, “Worry about grades” and “Self-expectation” sub-dimensions of ESS by gender. According to the MANOVA results, there was no significant difference in frequency of participation in leisure activities on the sub-dimensions of ESS. A significant difference was found the effect of participating in country*in-school activities in the “Pressure from study” and “Despondency” sub-dimensions of ESS. As the findings were assessed as a whole, it was concluded that as the frequency of secondary school students’ participation in leisure activities increases, their educational stress decreases.