Sources Of Stress Flashcards
What does workload refer to?
What does job control refer to?
What is workplace stress?
The amount of effort and/or activity involved in a job
The extent to which a person feels they can manage aspects of their job
Aspects of our working environment that we experience as stressful
What is the job-strain (job-demands) control model?
A model that suggests the workplace creates stress in two ways:
- high workload (can lead to poor health, dissatisfaction and absenteeism)
- low job control (can modify the relationship and cause person to become ill)
What did Marmot et al (1997) investigate?
How did he do this?
What did he find?
Effect of workload and control in workplace on illness (CHD)
Studied over 10,000 civil servants with different levels of workload and control. Got them to complete a questionnaire related to their role and tested them for signs of CHD, then reassessed 5 years later
No correlation between workload and CHD, negative correlation between job control and illness
What did Johansson eat al (1978) investigate?
How did he do this?
What did he find?
Effects of workload and control in the workplace
Compared two groups of employees, one group of 14 sawyers with high workload and low control, and one group of 14 maintenance workers with low workload and high control. Their daily levels of urine were recorded and they completed self reports of job satisfaction and illness
Found sawyers had higher levels of adrenaline, indicating stress, higher levels of absenteeism and illness, and felt a greater sense of isolation
What is a strength of workplace stress as a source of stress?
It is generalisable because workload has been understood to be stressful in many different cultures so there are cultural similarities
What are the limitations of workplace stress as a source of stress?
1) it is too simplistic s it ignores the possible effects of a confounding variable as most studies focus on just a few potential causes of workplace stress
2) most studies use questionnaires which can not be reliable due to social desirability bias, one study found using interviews was more valid
3) there are individual differences in the way people react to job control and workload as in themselves they may not be stressful as it relies of self-efficacy
4) lack temporal validity as research becomes quickly outdated due to the changing nature of the working environment meaning the help given by psychologists may be ineffective
What is a life change?
What are some examples?
A significant and relatively infrequent event in someone’s life that causes stress because it requires a considerable amount of readjustment (eg. Marriage, divorce, bereavement, having a baby)
What did Rahe et al (1970) investigate?
How did he do this?
What did he find?
Whether there was a positive correlation between number of life changes experienced and illnesses reported
2664 navy personnel serving aboard US Navy cruisers completed an adapted form of the SRRS. They completed the SRE for events they had experienced in the 6 months prior and then a record was kept of anytime they visited the sick bay and type of illness during their duty, producing an illness score. Neither participants nor medical staff were aware
Positive correlation of 0.118 between LCU score and illness score- those who experienced most stressful life experiences in 6 months prior had most severe illnesses on ship
What is a strength of life changes as a source of stress?
Practical applications for health professionals as it means people can be advised how to best deal with life changes which can reduce stress and therefore stress-related illness
What is a limitation of life changes as a source of stress?
Challenging evidence as Lazarus argued that the accumulation of daily hassles has a stronger impact than a few, rare life changes
What are daily hassles?
What are some examples?
Irritating, frustrating and distressing demands that humans face daily. They accumulate which can result in a more serious stress reaction (eg. Missing the bus, arguing with your friend, losing your keys)
What did Bouteyre et al (2007) investigate?
How did he do this?
What did he find?
Relationship between daily hassles and depression n students transitioning between school and uni
233 first year psychology students in France completed the hassles part of HSUP and Beck Depression Inventory. Also completed two other self-report techniques
41% of students showed depressive symptoms, positive correlation of 0.33 between HSUP scores and likelihood of depressive symptoms, interaction between five daily hassles and depression: fear of the future, medical care, transport, lack of free time on the course, and physical appearance
What is a strength of daily hassles as a source of stress?
Supporting evidence (eg. Bouteyre eg al) and Kanner et al found daily hassles tend to be a more accurate predictor of stress related problems than life changes
What is a limitation of daily hassles as a source of stress?
1) researcher is mostly correlational which means we can’t determine cause and effect
