Abstract
This study aimed to determine the effects of social media in coping with academic stress of selected junior high students in a private school in Gumaca, Quezon. It determined the profile of the respondents in terms of age, sex, grade level, and social media used in studying past and current events. It also revealed the effects of social media in coping with academic stress of the students in terms of emotional aspect, mental health, and social connectedness. The researcher used descriptive method of research. This study employed proportionate random sampling design. Under this procedure, the researcher considered using one hundred (100) respondents from the selected Junior High School students in a Private School in Gumaca, Quezon to get the 100% of the respondents. The findings revealed that most of the respondents are 15 years old. Majority of the respondents are female and from tenth grade. Most of the respondents says that Youtube is the most social media used in studying past and current events. This study found out that the average mean of 4.12 interpreted as Agree indicated that most of the respondents are agreed on the effects of social media in coping wit academic stress in terms of emotional aspect. Likewise, the average mean of 3.93 interpreted as Agree, indicated that most of the respondents agreed on the effects of social media in coping with academic stress in terms of mental health. The average mean of 3.94 interpreted as Agree, indicated that most of respondents agreed on the effects of social media in coping with academic stress in terms of social connectedness. Based from the results of the Kruskal Wallis H-test the null hypothesis of age, sex, and type of social media used in studying past and current events are accepted which means that there is no significant difference on the perceived effects of social media in coping with academic stress of the students when respondents are grouped according to their age, sex, and type of social media used. However, the null hypothesis of grade level is rejected, which means that there is a significant difference on the perceived effects of social media in coping with academic stress when respondents are grouped by grade level. From the result of this study, the following were recommended; School Administrator may implement programs exploring the use of social media platforms for promoting student mental health in managing academic stress, Parents may collaborate with the school administration and teachers to understand their social media initiatives aimed at promoting student mental health, Teachers may dedicate some class time or online forum discussions to raising awareness about mental health and promoting positive online interactions, Students may follow accounts from mental health professionals, organizations, or hot lines that offer helpful information and coping mechanisms for stress management, and Future Researcher may conduct follow up studies to understand the long-term impact of social media use on student mental health and coping mechanisms.
