Sources of Stress - Daily Hassles

Question 1

what are daily hassles

Answer 1

Daily Hassles: The relatively minor, but frequent, frustrations and annoyances of everyday life.
Their emotional effects are fairly short-lived.

Question 2

what are some examples of daily hassles

Answer 2

Homework
Losing keys
Crowded public transport
Bad traffic

Question 3

The Hassles and Uplifts Scale (HSUP) - a self-report measure who devised it

Answer 3

Kanner, Lazurus and colleagues devised the Hassles Scale (Kanner et al., 1981), a self-report measure.

Question 4

how many items did the Uplifts and Hassles have

Answer 4

The original scale had 117 items.
If a hassle has occurred in the past month, then it is circled and then rated, from 1-3, in terms of its severity.

Question 5

It was thought that positive events could…..

Answer 5

….offset the impact of daily hassles, can you think of any examples?

Question 6

what did kanner introduce to the HSUP

Answer 6

Kanner introduced an Uplifts Scale with 135 items e.g. relating well to friends, feeling healthy, getting enough sleep  (‘sources of peace, satisfaction, or joy’)
Respondents have to circle any uplifts listed that have made them feel good in the past month and indicate how often each of the circled uplifts has occurred (in the last month).

Question 7

A Daily Hassles Scale for Students

Answer 7

This scale was developed by Schafer for use with students.
These are hassles that college students commonly find irritating.
Indicate how often each item irritates you by entering one of three numbers in the space provided in your booklet:
0 = almost never;
5 = sometimes;
10 = frequently

Question 8

Key Study: Kanner et al. (1991) aim

Answer 8

Aim: To investigate the view that daily hassles might be a better predictor of illness than life changes.

Question 9

Key Study: Kanner et al. (1991) procedure

Answer 9

100 participants (48 men and 52 women) aged 45-67 completed the Hassles and Uplifts Scale (HSUP) for events over the previous month and continued to do this once a month for nine months.
Participants also completed a life events scale for the six months preceding the beginning of the study and also for the two-yearly periods prior to that. Finally, they completed it again at the end of the study.
Two measures were used to assess psychological well-being, which participants filled out each month:
the Hopkins Symptom Checklist, which assess symptoms such as anxiety and depression;
the Bradburn Morale Scale, which assesses positive and negative emotion.

Question 10

Key Study: Kanner et al. (1991) findings

Answer 10

The five most common hassles and uplifts identified in this study were as follows:
Hassles: concerns about weight; health of a family; rising prices of goods; home maintenance; too many things to do.
Uplifts: relating well with spouse/lover and friends; completing a task; feeling healthy; getting enough sleep.
Generally, the hassles and uplifts identified differed to those selected by a group of students. For example, they identified more problems related to having too much to do and not being able to relax.

Question 11

Key Study: Kanner et al. (1991)conclusions

Answer 11

There was a significant negative correlation between frequency of hassles and psychological well-being - therefore, participants with the fewest hassles showed the highest level of well-being.
Hassles were also a better predictor of illness than life events.
Overall, it was found that hassles were a better predictor of well-being than both life events and uplifts.

This research suggests that there is a stronger relationship between daily hassles and both psychological and physical well-being than life events and well-being

Question 12

Key Study: Kanner et al. (1991)
Stress levels amongst the participants were assessed using a self-report measure (questionnaire). One of the key issues with using self-report measures such as the HSUP scale to assess daily hassles is social desirability bias. Explain what is meant by this term and the impact that this might have had on the reporting of daily hassles.

Answer 12

Respondents may be keen to present themselves in a positive light and this may influence their answers, therefore the responses given on the scale (both in terms of hassles and uplifts) may not always be truthful e.g. people might not want to admit they have problems with their children.

Question 13

Reliability of recall: At the start of the study, participants were asked to recall hassles, uplifts and life events experienced in previous months and years. What is the problem with this retrospective reporting?

Answer 13

The usefulness of any data that relies on retrospective recall depends on how accurate the participants’ memories are.
This is a particularly problematic issue for research into daily hassles, such as losing keys or being fed-up with the weather, because such hassles are by definition minor (and even trivial) happenings and so may very easily be forgotten.
Therefore, the validity of hassles research may be doubtful because the chances are that people underestimate the number of daily hassles they experience.

Question 14

Further research support: Courtois et al. (2007)

Answer 14

Used self report scales to measure the influence of life events and daily hassles on teenage drinking and smoking (activities often related to stress).
They found that although life event scores were associated with greater levels of smoking and drinking, daily hassles were associated even more so, with teenagers smoking and drinking at an earlier age and in greater amounts with elevated levels of daily hassles.

Question 15

Further research support: Courtois et al. (2007)
what does this suppirt

Answer 15

This supports the idea of daily hassles, through their repetitive and constant nature, raising stress levels (and therefore vulnerability to illness) more than life changes.

Question 16

what is the accumulation effect

Answer 16

Accumulation effect: Hassles accumulate over a series of days to create persistent irritations, frustrations and overloads, which then result in more serious stress reactions such as anxiety and depression.
It is suggested that the frequency of hassles could be a better predictor of physical and psychological health than relatively large and rare life changes.

Question 17

what is the amplification effect

Answer 17

Amplification effect: If people recently experienced a major life change, they may be more vulnerable to daily hassles.
Coping with chronic stress may deplete a person’s resources, so they are less able to cope with minor stressors (a precipitating factor).

Question 18

Alternatively, it might be the case that daily hassles are a greater source of stress in terms of their impact on well-being because individuals receive less social and emotional support from others than for life changes.
Research conducted by Flett et al. (1995)…

Answer 18

…adds support to this idea:
320 students who read a scenario describing an individual who experienced either a daily hassle or a life change rated those experiencing the life change as needing, and receiving, more support

Question 19

:(Correlational research: Similar to research conducted into life changes, much of the research into daily hassles is correlational (e.g. Kanner).
Although correlational data can identify key links between daily hassles and well-being that may be unethical to study experimentally, what is the problem with relying too heavily on this research technique?

Answer 19

We cannot draw causal conclusions about the relationship between daily hassles and well-being.
It is not necessarily clear which direction the cause might be.
It could be argued that someone who is depressed (intervening variable) is more likely to be thinking negatively and would record higher severity of hassles – so the depression is causing the hassles rather than vice versa

Question 20

Individual differences: Research suggests that there are gender differences in what constitutes a ‘hassle’.

Miller et al. (1992) studied male and female pet owners:

Answer 20

They found that pets appear to serve different role for female and male pet owners.
For females, pets were commonly associated with uplifts (e.g. leisure and lack of psychological pressure).
For males, pets were more likely to be associated with hassles (e.g. time and money necessary to care for them; cleaning up after them etc.)
Therefore, there are individual/gender differences in perceptions of hassles.

Question 21

Life Changes, Daily Hassles and Illness

Answer 21

Life changes exert their effects on well-being through daily hassles.
Major changes such as serious illness severely disrupt the normal everyday routines that we are used to.
Having been ill, it can be a struggle to get back to the usual ways of doing things. Everything is more difficult, and the little things that you used to take for granted and would cause you no problem are now, literally hassles.
So life changes have indirect effects – they are distal sources of stress.
Daily hassles are proximal sources of stress because their effects are direct and immediate.
A more valid approach might be to look more closely at how both sources of stress interact, rather than considering them in isolation.