STRESS FACTORS EXPERIENCED BY CRIMINOLOGY INTERNS, THEIR

COPING MECHANISMS AND INTERNSHIP PERFORMANCE RATING

An Undergraduate Thesis
Presented to the
College of Education
Iligan Medical Center College

In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements of the Subject
(CRIM 6B)

By:

ALI, MOXCIN
BASMALA, ALMAR T.

DECEMBER 2020
 Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM

The researchers observed the need to address issues on different

stressors experienced by Criminology interns due to the heavy demands of work

functions and responsibilities. Interns were observed to suffer from workplace

stressors that affect their attitude towards work. In some cases, interns

experience difficulties and challenges in fulfilling their jobs that cause them stress

and anxieties. Once they develop symptoms of stress, their performance and

satisfaction level is decreased and thus, the overall productivity of their tasks will

suffer.

The Bachelor of Science in Criminology program is designed to provide

students with knowledge and skills in the study of historical and contemporary

patterns of crime, responses to crime of the society, the causes of criminality in

the society and study of delinquency. It focuses on the processes involved and

the functions of the criminal justice in the country. The humor consequences of

this excessive stress on students are serious and wide ranging. These include

physical symptoms such as headaches, raised blood pressure, infections,

digestive disorders, heart disease or cancer, mental health symptoms such as

withdrawal, poor concentration, anxiety, depression, insomnia, burn-out and an

increased risk of suicide. Behavioral consequences such as low self- esteem,

increased drug or alcohol intake, and deteriorating personal relationships leading

to family, relationship, or career problems are also considered.

mental aspect depending on the adaptation and adjustments. It is a typical part of

life which can be experienced in home, office, industry and academic

environment. Criminology students who face greater weight of stress as a result

of multifactorial causes may experience negative outcome in terms of emotional,

mental and social heath. Ideal stress can be effective to improve learning ability;

however, additional and prolonged stress can be a cause of health problems

according to a study conducted by Sohail (2013). Cognitive and learning

functioning of students may be compromised which lead to low self-esteem and

academic performance.

The key to successfully master or minimize stress highly depends on

using adaptive coping strategies which emphasize the need to expend conscious

effort on the individual's part. This conscious effort required refers to being

mindful of one's problem, solutions, environment, being completely and

consciously aware of what is happening in and around the individual at every

given moment. The mindfulness and its association with different coping

strategies and styles found that higher mindfulness predicts the use of more

adaptive, approach coping and less avoidant and emotional coping. 

In these trying times, interns in the country are experiencing challenges

and difficulties because of the pandemic. As such, the present study aims to

contribute to the existing body of knowledge through studying the relationship

between the factors that cause stress among Criminology interns, their coping
mechanisms and their internship performances at Iligan Medical Center College,

S.Y. 2020-2021.

Theoretical Framework

The study will be anchored on the theory of Transactional Model of Stress

and Coping Theory by Lazarus and Folkman (1984), Abraham Maslow’s

Humanistic Theory (1943), and Cognitive Emotion Theory by Lazarus (1966).

The Transactional Model of Stress and Coping Theory states that

individuals who want to delve further into stress is such a prevalent issue in many

species’ lives. The theory is essentially the transaction relating to stress between

the person and the environment. Depending on the amount of resources that

they have to deal with demands, stress may either be in abundance or may be

avoided entirely (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984). Consequently, the theory is a

framework which emphasizes appraisal to evaluate harm, threat, and challenges,

which results in the process of coping with stressful event. The level of stress

experiences in the form of thoughts, feelings, emotions, and behaviors, as a

result of external stressors, depends on appraisals of the situation which involves

judgment whether internal or external demands exceed resource.

Another theory utilized in the study was the Emergency Theory by Cannon

1989 (as cited by Bataineh, [Link], 2009). The theory states that emotion in

response to stress can actually occur even when the bodily changes are not

present. Cannon said that the visceral or internal physiological response of one’s
body is more slowly recognized by the brain as compared with its function to

release emotional response. Additionally, psychoanalytical theory (Freud, 1923),

everyone has some unconscious conflicts. For some people, however, these

conflicts are more severe and in greater in number. And these events see more

in life to be stressful. This theory shows that when people are unaware of what

they are doing, they might not know what they are under stress. On the other

way, when people do not really expect the possible consequences of what they

are doing, they might be unconsciously suffering from its result.

Conceptual Framework

The present study will determine the extent of stress experienced by

interns, their coping mechanisms and their internship performances. In order to

gain clearer understanding of its objective, the schematic diagram presents the

independent and dependent variables. The independent variable of the study will

be the stress factors and coping mechanisms of interns while the dependent

variable will be their internship performance. Figure 1 below presents the

schematic diagram of the study.

 STRESS FACTORS
EXPERIENCED BY
INTERNS

 Physical
 Emotional
 Environmental
 Financial
 Academic
INTERNSHIP
PERFORMANCE

COPING
MECHANISMS

Figure 1. Schematic Paradigm of the Study

The study will try to determine the relationship between the stress factors

experienced by Criminology interns, their coping mechanisms and their

internship performances, S.Y. 2020-2021.

Specifically, it will seek to answer the following questions.

1. What are the stress factors experienced by the respondents in terms of?

1.1 Physical;

1.2 Emotional;

1.3 Environmental;

1.4 Financial and

1.5 Academic?

2. What are the coping mechanisms of the respondents?

2.1 social strategies;

2.2 psychological strategies;

2.3 physical strategies?

3. What are the internship ratings of the respondents?

4. Is there a significant relationship between the internship ratings of the

respondents and:

4.1 the stress factors

4.2 their coping mechanisms

NULL HYPOTHESIS
 The following null hypotheses will be tested at 0.05 level of significance:

H01: There is no significant relationship between the internship ratings of the

respondents and the stress factors and their coping mechanisms.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The following will benefit from the results of the study:

Criminology Department. The Department of Criminology will be

informed on the stress factors experience by their interns. Through this, they will

be able to guide their students on their internship orientation about the

challenges and difficulties that they will face throughout their internship.

Teachers. The results of the study can provide teachers with

information on the different stress factors that intern students are experiencing

that affect their performance. Through this, they will be able to conduct seminars

on how to deal and cope up with the demands of the workplace.

Students. The results of the study can help Criminology students to

learn how to deal with different stressors to maintain and improve their good

internship performance.

Future Researchers. The results of the study can serve as guide

for future researchers when they conduct similar studies about stress factors and

coping mechanisms experienced by interns.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

For better understanding of the discussion in the succeeding chapters, the

key concepts will be defined conceptually and operationally:

Coping mechanism. These are ways to which external and internal

stress is managed, adapted to or acted upon. Grandea (2016) defined it as

constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage stressors.

Internship’ stress. This refers to the experience of unpleasant, negative

emotions, such as anger, anxiety, tension, frustration or depression, resulting

from some aspects of their internship performances (Bulatevych, 2017).