SCORING FOR STRESS AND COPING The data-gathering tool used was a questionnaire.

The questionnaire comprised of three main sections. Section A, concentrated on demographic information on the subjects such age, level of study, work status, position rank, marital and parental status among other relevant variables. !t also elicited information on the sources of stress among the participants. Section A consisted of both closed and open-ended questions. Section ", on the other hand was a standardi#ed stress scale called Symptoms of $ob Stress %S$S&. This scale was designed by 'avis, (ckay and )shelman %*+,,& and is used in measuring stress among general populations such as students and workers. According to the above researchers, the S$S scale was rated on validity co-efficient of -.., which is a high rating as far as measurement of stress is concerned. This scale was adopted and used in eliciting information on stress among the participants. /ith the high psychometric property quoted above, it is believed by the researchers that the scale served as an appropriate scale in measuring stress among the students. !t comprised of 0- items with 1-point likert response scales of 2ever, 3ccasionally, Somewhat 3ften, 4requently and Almost Always attached to each item. Section 5 was also a standardi#ed scale called /ays of 5oping designed by 6a#arus %*+..&. This scale was adapted and used. This scale also consist of 07 items with likert scale response options such as 8All the time9, 83ften9, 8Sometimes9, 8:arely9 and 82ever9. :eliability coefficient of -.;. was reported in the literature for this scale. PROCEDURE A letter of introduction was taken from the <sychology 'epartment to the principal of the 5ity 5ampus in order to ask permission to conduct the study in the school. The principal granted this permission and issued a note to the researchers, which was supposed to be shown to lecturers during the selection of the participants. A day was fi=ed for the selection of subjects. The researchers visited lecture rooms where lectures were going on at random. The note was

shown to the lecturers in the selected lecture rooms. The researchers were given few minutes by the each lecturer to talked to the students on the research and select some at random. This was done and those selected were informed to wait immediately after the lectures. The selected participants were thoroughly briefed again on the study and their informed consent was also sought immediately after the lectures. 4urther briefing on how to complete the scale was done. The questionnaire was presented to the participants on individual basis to complete fill in >- minutes after which the researchers collected the completed questionnaires back. SCORING The data was scored by attaching a score of *-1 to the likert scale of 82ever9, 83ccasionally9, 8Somewhat 3ften9, 84requently9, and 8Almost Always9. An individuals total stress level was computed and determined by adding the scores of the ticked responses. ?igher scores reflect high stress 'avis, (ckay and )shelman, *+,,&. The coping scale was scored by attaching a score of 1-* to the positive coping strategies %*, 0, >, 7, 1, ., ;, ,, +, **, *0, *>, *7, *1, 00, 0>& and a score of *-1 to the negative coping strategies %*-, *., *;, *,, *+, 0-, 0*, 07&. An individual participant@s total score was obtained by adding the scores of the ticked responses. The higher the score the better the coping strategy.