State Trait Anxiety and Perceived Stress among the High School Students before Board Examination: A Comparison Across Working Status of the Mothers in Selected Schools of West Bengal

Board examination, in a students’ life is the big challenge to the high school students. Almost every student feels anxiety and stress before examination. Aim: This study aims to compare state trait anxiety and perceived stress among the High School Students having working and non working mothers before board examination . Methods: A comparative survey research was adopted on 50 high school students having working mothers and 50 high school students having non working mothers of Kolkata and Hooghly in West Bengal using simple random sampling technique. Data were collected using semi structured demographic proforma, Stress Trait Anxiety Inventory Form X -1 by Charles D.Spielberger (1968),Stress Trait Anxiety Inventory Form X-2 by Charles D.Spielberger(1968),Perceived Stress Scale by Cohen, S.,Kamarck,T. and Mermelstein,R. (1983). Result: The study findings revealed that mean score of state anxiety among the high school students having working mothers was 55.58 and the mean score among students having non-working mothers was 47.76. Mean trait anxiety score of students having working mother was 49.9 and the students having non-working mother was 43.88. Mean perceived stress score of students having working mother was 22.88 and the students having non-working mothers was 19.86. Findings also revealed that high school students having working mothers had statistically significant high state trait anxiety and perceived stress than the students having non working mothers at 0.01 level of significance. Conclusion: The current study concluded that students of working mothers suffered from more state trait anxiety and perceived stress than the students of non working mothers.