Participation in Recreational Activities and Stress Management Relationship Among High School Teachers in Lopez Jaena

The study aimed to determine the relationship between participation in recreational activities and stress management among high school teachers in Lopez Jaena during SY 2018–2019. The study used an evaluative-inferential research design that used quantitative and qualitative descriptive-correlational approaches to interpret the data. There were 119 respondents, with 34 males and 85 females. The instruments were adopted from those made by Prof. Henry C. Daut’s SPEAR 174 class in 1994 for participation in recreational activities and by Della Franklin in 2008 for managing stress. The study found that most of the respondents were young adults or middle-aged females; the majority were Cebuano; married; most were regular or permanent employees, with salary income ranging from ₱ 10, 001.00 to ₱ 20, 000.00. Almost all the respondents participated in one recreational activity. The relationship between the variables showed that daily schedule is related to monthly income; money involvement in recreation is related to age; cost of money is related to sex; venue/place is related to ethnicity; off-campus is related to the tenure of work and monthly income; recreation activities are related to age; and involvement in recreation is related to age. It was also found that the correlation between moderating variables and stress management revealed a highly significant relationship with ethnicity. It was concluded that the correlation between recreational activities and stress management revealed that the cost of participating in recreational activities is highly correlated with stress management. Results from this study suggest that policymakers create ideas and plan programs to engage teachers in recreational activities to lessen work-re- lated stress. The school administration should also provide a recreational activity center that will cater to the recreational activities needed for the development of recreation among schoolteachers. Future researchers should conduct similar studies using a broader scope.


INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, stress has become a worldwide phenomenon, occurring in various forms in every workplace. In today's work life, the teacher plays an important role in the lives of the students. In addition to learning facilitation, teachers are the key agents of socialization, helping students reach their highest potential and develop into responsible citizens. But over the past few years, teaching has become increasingly stressful. In fact, teaching is considered a highly stressful occupation. There are many potential causes of teachers' stress, like lack of classroom management, classroom workload, increased responsibilities, poor morale, large amounts of paperwork, meetings, training, longer working hours and demanding deadlines. All these factors affect the teachers' ability to function well, not just in the classroom but also in their daily lives. According to Wayne and Dale (2002), it is during recreation that human beings find opportunities for individual and creative expression, seek social interaction, and self-development, which contribute to the raising of the general level of their society. The short-and longterm benefits of participation in recreational activities include improved psychological and emotional wellbeing. Recreational activities aid in stress management. It takes one's mind off the daily stresses of work. It allows for self-care and provides a sense of balance and selfesteem, which can directly reduce anxiety and depression. It helps create a balance between the stress of school and the health of the body and mind. Stress management, on the other hand, refers to techniques that aim to provide a person with an effective coping mechanism for dealing with psychological stress, which is defined as a person's psychological response to an internal or external stimulus that activates the fightor-flight response. Stress management is effective when a person uses strategies to cope with or change stressful situations and avoids unhealthy stress relievers such as overeating, drinking alcohol, smoking, and sleeping too much. Finding enjoyable activities allows the built-up energy and frustration to be released. A stress management abstract mentioned six ways to better manage stress. It is necessary to become aware of one's emotional and physical responses to stressors. The first step is to try to notice the distress and not gloss over the problems; the second step is to identify what you can change; and the third step is to reduce the intensity of your emotional reactions to stress. Instead of focusing on the bad things and "what ifs," try to see stressors as things you can use to control your emotional responses and, finally, learn to control how your body reacts to stress. Muscle tension can be reduced using relaxation techniques; the fifth step is to increase your physical resources. This is where entertainment comes in. Exercise for cardiovascular fitness and participation in any worthwhile activities is one way to maintain a physically fit body; the https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajahs Am. J. Arts Hum. Sci. 1(3) [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]2022 last is to maintain emotional reserves. Meaning, rather than goals set for you by others that you do not share, one should pursue realistic, meaningful goals. Expect frustrations, failures, and sorrows, but most importantly, always be kind and gentle with yourself; be a friend to yourself (Rinkunas, 2012). Kraus's (2001) early theories include Recreation Theory, which was developed and viewed by Moritz Lazarus, a German philosopher. It said that the point of play was to save or restore energy, not to "burn off " extra energy. This meant that if someone was tired from work, playing would give them the energy to work again. In his study, Lazarus (1999) noted that "when the brain is tired, a change of activity, particularly in the form of physical exercise, will restore one's nervous energy." In this study, recreation could be a way for high school teachers to get their energy back after a long day of hard work. Furthermore, Kraus (2001) defines self-expression as "active, dynamic beings with the need to find outlets for their energies, use their abilities, and express their personalities. People's choices of activities depend on many things, such as their physical and physiological make-up, their level of physical fitness, their environment, and their family and social background. According to Norlander et al., (2021) compensatory theory of leisure, leisure is viewed in relation to work; leisure stems from and is influenced by work, in the sense that leisure is used to compensate for the strains or demands of work. It is hypothesized that high school teachers who are confined to the classroom during the working day will choose to engage in recreational activities during their free time, which is in direct contrast to the work environment. Chang et al. (2014) revealed evidence that demonstrated that leisure activities mediate the link between social relationships and health in different age groups. Positive views of social relationships were linked to more participation in leisure activities, and more participation in leisure activities was linked to better health as people got older. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between participation in recreational activities and stress management as well as the demographics of the respondents among high school teachers in Lopez Jaena, Misamis Occidental.

METHODOLOGY
The research design was evaluative-inferential, with quantitative descriptive-correlational approaches used to interpret the data. There were 119 respondents, 34 men and 85 women. The instruments used were questionnaires and interview guides adapted from those developed by Prof. Henry C. Daut's SPEAR 174 class in 1994 for recreational activity participation and by Della Franklin in 2008 for stress management. The survey was conducted among selected public and private high school teachers in Lopez Jaena, Misamis Occidental, who are teaching or serving in administrative positions in their schools during the 2018-2019 school year. Among the schools involved were Immanuel Adventist Academy, St. Francis Xavier High School, Macalibre National High School, Sibugon Integrated School, and MSU-Lopez Jaena Community High School. The questionnaire was broken down into three (3) sections. The first section included the respondent's profile, which included their name, age, ethnicity, civil status, work tenure, sex, and net monthly income. Second, it is made up of thirteen (13) statements that are used to assess how an individual engages in recreational activities. Lastly, it gathered the stress management level of the respondents using a standard questionnaire in stress management developed by Delia Franklin (2008). It consists of ten (10) questions that assess how an individual manages stress. In gathering the necessary data, the researchers sent a letter request to the Office of the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (OAVCAA) and to the Office of the Division Superintendent, Misamis Occidental, seeking permission to conduct the study among high school teachers in Lopez Jaena, Misamis Occidental. Upon approval, another letter-request was sent to the school principals, seeking permission to allow the researchers to conduct the study in their respective schools. With the approval of school principals, the researchers gave a letter-request to all teachers at each school requesting their time and full cooperation to answer the questionnaires attached during their vacant periods. Likewise, the letter contains an explanation regarding the purpose and significance of the research. The researchers personally administered the conduct of the research by distributing the questionnaire to the teachers and allotted eight (8) weeks for data collection. The collected data was put together and analyzed using descriptive statistics. For the respondents' demographic profile, percentage (%) and frequency (f) counts were used. In determining the degree or magnitude of the relationship between the variables, Pearson Product Moment Correlation (Pearson r) was utilized. Similarly, Analysis of Variance, or ANOVA, is a powerful statistical technique that involves dividing the observed variance into different components to perform various significance tests. The use of ANOVA on a set of data with only one independent variable shows how ANOVA can be used to figure out if a dependent variable and an independent variable have a linear relationship (Analysis of Variance, 2013).

RESULTS
The results of this study were presented in two sections. The first section presents the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of age, sex, ethnicity, civil status, tenure of work, and net monthly income. It also measures the level of participation in recreational activities and stress management. The second section presents the correlation of the independent, dependent, and moderating variables. and a net monthly income of ($10,000-20,000) 56 (47.06%). Table 2 presents the level of participation in recreational activities of the respondents 117 (98.35%), while only 2 (1.68%) did not participate in recreational activities.   Table 3 shows the respondents' reasons for participation in recreational activities to be most of the reasons why high school teachers participated in recreation were for physical fitness, personal satisfaction, social development, and recreation, fun, and enjoyment with a frequency of 32 (27.35 %). Follow closely with a combination of    Table 7 also revealed that one (1) hour was the longest length of time allocated to participation in recreational activities, with a frequency of 40(34.19%). Two (2) hours with 34(29.06%); 5 hours and others, respectively, are the least hours 3(2.52) that respondents gave as the allotted time.   Table 9 revealed the recreational activities participated in by most of the respondents to be Dancing/Zumba with 36 (30.25%), followed by gym workout and exercise like jogging and running with 26 (21.85%). The least of it all is watching Tv and Gardening respectively with 4 (3.36%). Table 10 reflects that the level of stress management  of the teachers and administrators along with coping mechanisms received a score of 24-25, which was interpreted to be highly coping mechanisms, while the 17-23 score showed 34 (28.57%) as moderately coping mechanisms. Table shows the correlation between profile variables and independent variables participation in recreational activities and further provide decisions on null hypotheses. The compared variables were significantly related if and only if the p obtained value was less than or equal to 0.50. Otherwise, they were not significant. The relationship could be positive or negatively linear. It is a positively linear event that occurs when the Pearson r value sign is positive.  Table 12 presents the correlation between moderating and dependent variables. Only ethnicity, as one of the moderating variables, showed a significant relationship with stress management with a p-value of 0.001. The results showed ethnicity had a significant relationship with stress management (f = 3.442, p = 0.001). DISCUSSION In this present study, the demographic data of the respondents revealed that most were female, 85 (71.43%), under 30 years old 52 (43.70%), married 67 (56.30%), and belonged to the Cebuano ethnic group 100 (84.03%), with tenure work of regular or permanent 71 (59.66%), and net monthly income of ($10,000-20,000) 56 (47.06%). This study runs parallel with the study of Butao et al. (2021) that shows the percentage of females in their study were between the ages of 26 and 30 years old (29.55%), and females (70.45%). According to Ismail et al. (2015), younger age is a predictor of emotional stress because older teachers are believed to have more experience dealing with challenging situations. Jean Piaget's cognitive development theory further explains that people at this stage could adapt to work or life and its requirements and demands because of the acquired knowledge, skills, training, and experience. The teaching profession has been perceived as a feminine profession because women are considered the natural lovers of knowledge (Ullah & Skelton, 2013). The finding also reveals the presence of ethnicity among teachers, which can be explained by the geographical location of the province. This may have relevance among teachers in terms of classroom setting, as Ozmen et al. (2016) and Ang (2009) asserted that race and ethnicity may create barriers in communication among teachers and parents that may lead to stress.
The reasons for participation in recreational activities for most high school teachers are for their physical fitness, personal satisfaction, social development, recreation, fun, and enjoyment. This is also supported by the study of Aksoy et al. (2017) that found those who participated in recreational activities did so because it gave quality of life and job satisfaction. Recreational activities on a weekly basis and timed recreational participation, whose schedule for recreation was twice a week. The same finding is similar to the findings of Vaizoğlu et al. (2004), which recommended that adults engage in physical/recreational activity at least three times a week, for 30-60 minutes at a time and at 50%-75% of their heart rate per minute. Most of the time, this is a tempo that can be seen in optional recreational activities and is known to be very useful in terms of individual health. In addition, such activities are directly associated with individuals' quality of life and reduced stress. In terms of location/venue and type of recreational activities, the majority of respondents indicated that they did off-campus and Zumba dancing. This could be that most of the respondents would like to dance Zumba because it eases their stress and after dancing they will be able to refresh. That is why they engage in such activities off the campus or school environment. These findings are akin to those of Coronel et al. (2022) who found that Zumba dancing was most favored by the female respondents compared to males specifically. Previous studies stated that dance styles have distinct expectations about the roles of men and women that they must conquer or live up to. Gender stereotyping has always existed, but more people have tried to break down those boundaries and challenge today's norm, which is a highly brave move, especially in the field of art (Barreiro & Furnham, 2019).

CONCLUSIONS
The researchers concluded that the correlation between the independent and moderating variables declared that day and time schedule are correlated with net monthly income; money involvement in recreation is correlated with age; cost of money is correlated with sex; venue/ place is correlated with ethnicity; off-campus is correlated with tenure of work and net monthly income; recreation activities are correlated with age; and involvement in recreation is correlated with age. Henceforth, the null hypothesis is accepted, except for the correlation of the variables mentioned above. Likewise, correlation between moderating variables and stress management revealed a highly significant relationship with ethnicity. So, null hypothesis two is true, except for the part about how ethnicity affects how people deal with stress. Finally, the correlation between participation in recreational activities and stress management revealed that the cost of recreation is highly correlated with stress management. Hence, null hypothesis three is accepted except for the relationship between the cost of money and stress management.

RECOMMENDATION
Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations are offered: 1. Policymakers should come up with ideas and make plans for teachers to do fun things outside of work to relieve stress from work. 2. It is important for teachers to have access to a wellorganized program that fits their needs and interests. 3. School administrators should provide a recreational activity center that will cater to the recreational activities needed for the development of sports, dance, fitness, and outdoor recreation among high school teachers in Lopez Jaena. 4. Recreation leaders and physical educators should put on seminars and workshops for professionals, especially high school teachers, about how important it is to participate in recreation on a regular basis. 5. Encourage every school to offer regular exercise and activity programs for teachers so that they will be more interested and motivated to take part in leisure activities. 6. The schedule should be either early morning or late afternoon so that a majority can participate. 7. Set up their favorite ways to relax, like dance or Zumba classes for women teachers and sports clubs, gyms, or triathlons for men. 8. They should read about healthy lifestyle information and the importance of recreational activity participation on a regular basis to raise awareness about the benefits and values of participation; choose the best physical activity that would suit their personal needs; discover and explore other types of physical activity that may provide enjoyment, relaxation, and the development of a sense of belongingness; and promote recreational activity participation to family and friends to raise awareness about the benefits and values of participation. 9. Future researchers should also do a study using other factors that will be important for promoting recreation not just in Lopez Jaena but all over Mindanao.