An exploration of the stressors and coping responses of Year 9 students in the Wellington region of New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

The aim of the study was to explore the stressors and coping responses of Year 9 students in the Wellington region of New Zealand. Thirty participants (aged 13-14 years) were recruited from two secondary schools (which were geographically and socioeconomically diverse). Five focus groups were conducted, with 5–7 students in each group, and open-ended questions were used to facilitate discussion. Data was analysed using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006), and it was found that the stressors most relevant to the students were associated with school, peers, family, technology, and school/leisure conflict and extracurricular activities, and that the main coping responses used by the students were problem-solving, support-seeking, distraction, avoidance, and emotion-regulation. Patterns of difference according to gender, school decile and/or culture were found for some stressors and coping responses reported by the students