CH.4 Flashcards
Infection
refers to an invasion of the body by a harmful microorganism— in Nicole’s case the cold virus—that can create a pathological condition in the body’s tissues and systems.
Refers to the unhealthy state caused by the disease and sickness is a synonym for illness.
Illness
Prospective research design
(longitudinal design) measured against baseline over period of time
Retrospective research design
(self report) that asks research participants to recall past stressors and illnesses and then you record the information.
Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficients
a measure of the strength of the linear relationship between two variables. p- IN POP, r-in sample
Why are Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficients Important for Stress research?
- stress and illness correlations found in self-report studies are often around r .30. (9%)
- This can make a difference in deciding strategies for preventing illness.
Hold extraneous variables constant while manipulating other variables, the so-called independent variables. The outcome variables known as the dependent variables are then measured.
Experimental studies
A study that observes cohorts at only one point in time.
cross-sectional design
A study in which cohorts are being tracked across time.
longitudinal designs
Then gold standard experimental study in medicine in which participants are randomly assigned to groups and then the group that receives the intervention being tested is compared to one or more control groups.
randomized controlled trial
Meta-analytic studies
also known as meta-analytic reviews; studies that use statistical procedures to determine average effect sizes of multiple studies.
Effect size
an indicator of the strength of the relationship of the independent variable on the dependent variable.
Problems with Retrospective design
- memories may be distorted or biased.
- secondary gains associated with the sick role could affect her recall and reporting and support a specious (an apparent though not real) appearance of a positive link between her stress and her illness.
- personality type? negative affect
- correlation vs causation- belief of getting sick every time there is exam season scenario
Weaker- Low internal validity Study measures
retrospective
Correlational
Single Study
Stronger- High internal validity Study measures
Prospective
experimental
Meta-analytic
Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)
Holmes and Rahe developed a questionnaire for identifying major stressful life events. Each one of the 43 stressful life events was awarded a Life Change Unit (LCU) depending on how traumatic it was felt to be by a large sample of participants.
Highest ranked LCU
death of a spouse (100)
Issues with SLE approach
- Response bias is more likely to occur when distressed individuals are retrospectively searching for possible causes of their illnesses and interpreting ambiguous items as supportive of their illness beliefs.
- checklists overlap with physical illnesses because the items themselves refer to similar health-related event – providing confounds of stress
- negative affectivity or neuroticism levels of respondents may influence their responses- SLEs that overlap with psychological disorders involving depression or anxiety
Lazarus Uplifts and Hassles vs SLE approach
- SLE approach does not measure constant daily stressors
- SLE events would have sudden impact
- hassles did predict somatic health and that the relationship was stronger than that of SLEs to health.
- although measures of hassles and SLE’s overlap they still measure some separate aspects
Psycho-neuro-immun-ology (PNI) to
refers to the study of the relationship among the psychological, neurological, and immunological interactions.
relates to 50% to 80% of all illnesses and diseases.”
Stress-Pelletier
