Stress is a situation when internal or external factors lead an individual to physical and mental readiness to fight or flee. In the case of strong and prolonged stress, negative effects appear. Children and adolescents react to stress differently than adults. Younger children cannot verbalize their distress but adults can notice changes in the child's behavior. Factors that cause stressful situations in children can be divided into several groups. Stress in children is manifested in several areas. Special needs can represent a stressor. At the same time, however, they affect the child's experience of a stressful situation. The main goal of the master's work is to determine whether Slovenian preschool children and preschool children included in programs with adapted implementation and additional professional support, aged 3 to 6, face stress. If so, the research is also aimed at determining the level of stress intensity depending on the various stress factors (or stressors) and the characteristics of children that influence the response in stressful situations. A descriptive and causal non-experimental research method and a quantitative research approach were used. A survey questionnaire with a scale for determining the stress of preschool children was filled out by educators for one or more children included in the research. 77 preschool children were included in the research, 42 from public kindergarten programs and 35 from programs with adapted implementation and additional professional support. It has been established that preschool children included in programs with adapted implementation and additional professional support experience a high limit of mild stress intensity or an almost moderate level of stress intensity. Children in public kindergarten programs experience mild levels of stress intensity. The difference in the level of stress intensity between the two groups of preschool children is not statistically significant. There is a noticeable difference between the intensity and the number of stress factors in both kindergarten programs. In the case of the public kindergarten, it was found that several factors mean a higher level of stress. However, this was not confirmed in the programs with adapted implementation and additional professional support. On average, children face one or two stressors. The most common stressor in both groups of preschool children is the new teacher or assistant teacher. The least common stressor in the adapted implementation and additional professional support program was too many toys and bullying in the preschool program. The studied characteristics of children which influence the response in stressful situations have a greater influence on the level of stress intensity in public kindergartens than in programs with adapted implementation and additional professional support, which means that the characteristics of the child influence a higher level of stress intensity. In both kindergarten programs, children have the most problems with attention. Extraversion is the least common trait in the program with adapted implementation and additional professional support and problems with impulse inhibition in the public kindergarten program. The influence of social inclusion proved to be statistically significant in both kindergarten groups, which means the better the social inclusion, the lower the level of stress intensity. We did not confirm statistically significant differences in the level of stress intensity depending on the gender of preschool children. The contribution of the master's thesis is in obtaining the results of the presence and level of stress intensity of preschool children and preschool children included in programs with adapted implementation and additional professional support in connection with the presence of risk factors or stressors and characteristics of the child. In this way, an insight into the functioning of preschool children and the possible prevention of further behavioral problems resulting from stress is gained.
|
