Sources of Stress

Question 1

What are the main sources of stress?

Answer 1

Life changes
Hassles

Question 2

Life events

Answer 2

Events that cause significant changes in the course of our lives

Question 3

Holmes and Rahe

Answer 3

Created the Social Readjustment Scale (SRRS)
Life events such as death of family, getting married etc…

Question 4

Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)

Answer 4

Assessment that measures the amount of stress in a persons life over a 1 year period

Under 150- Risk increased by 30%
Over 300- Risk of 80%

Individual differences- people deal with stress differently

Question 5

Holmes and Rahe experiment

Answer 5

Records of 5000 ps in hospital
Came up with a scale of 43 events
Asked 400 different ps how much adjustment they’d make to those events
Death of a spouse was rated highest

Question 6

Daily hassles

Answer 6

Everyday minor event that annoys and upsets people
Short-lived
May linger if unresolved
Accumulate overtime

Question 7

Daily uplifts

Answer 7

Pleasant or undesirable events that put people in good moods

Question 8

Why do hassles lead to stress ?

Answer 8

1. Accumulation effect
2. Amplification effect

Question 9

Accumulation effect

Answer 9

Minor events build up and lead to a stress reaction

Question 10

Amplification effect

Answer 10

Chronic stress (life event)
Makes us more vulnerable to daily hassles

Question 11

HSUP

Answer 11

Hassles and uplifts scales
Scale to see if there’s a relationship between hassles and poor mental health
Uplifts are to see if they can counteract stress

Question 12

Bouteyre et al (2007)

Answer 12

HSUP scale and Becks depression inventory
Positive correlation between students suffering with depression and daily hassles
First-year students had frequent daily hassles which put students at risk of developing depression

Question 13

Workplace stress

Answer 13

Sources of stress that people experience at work
Workload and control over your job need to have an equal balance

Question 14

Karasek’s Demand-control model

Answer 14

Job stress/strain arises from the interaction of psychological demands with decision latitude (control/autonomy)

Question 15

Johansson et al (1978)

Answer 15

Compare stress with two groups of sawmill workers
Measured illness, absenteeism, stress hormones, alertness, mood in:
-High risk group (repetitive, isolated, low control, complex)
-Low risk group (more control and flexibility)
Higher hormones in high risk group and they increased during the day
More absenteeism and illness

=Shows more control can reduce stress

Question 16

Marmot et al (1997)

Answer 16

Conducted ‘The Whitehall study’, where they investigated over 10,000 civil servants and found low job control to be linked to coronary heart disease (CHD).

Question 17

Skin conductance response

Answer 17

Measurement of electricity passed between two surface electrodes placed on the skin of the hand or finger

Question 18

Galvanic skin response (GSR)

Answer 18

Increase in the electrical conductivity of the skin that occurs when sweat glands increase their activity

Question 19

Joshannson supporting Skin Conductance response

Answer 19

Assessed workplace stress of 14 finishers and 10 cleaners in a Swedish sawmill
urine samples taken 4 times a day
Finishers’ adrenaline increased throughout the day
Cleaners adrenaline fell
Correlation between the questionnaires the ps also took
Shows that finishers felt more stressed because of the low control and overload of work

Question 20

Physiological measures of stress

Answer 20

Stress can be measured by any device which measures arousal
EG: Adrenaline causes increased arousal