Stress Flashcards
Research on daily hassles:
KANNER ET AL
A: investigate whether it is daily hassles, rather than major life events that are most stressful
P: developed a 117 item scale + 135 daily uplifts scale to examine relationship between hassles&health. Opportunity sample of 100 USA P’s, well educated white middle class were asked to circle the events on both scales they had experienced the previous month and rate each according to severity&frequency. Each P was tested once a month for 10 months with another 2 tests for psychological well being
F: found that there is a stronger correlation between health and hassles than there was between health and life events. Also found that daily uplifts had a positive effect on the stress levels of women, but not men
Research on daily hassles:
BOUTEYRE ET AL
A: investigate the relationship between daily hassles and mental health of students
P: first year students completed a hassles questionnaire and BPI as a measure of any symptoms of depression that might attribute to the hassles of the transition
F: 41% suffered from depressive symptoms and there was a positive correlation between scores on the hassles scale and the incidence of depressive symptoms
Evaluation of KANNER ET AL + BOUTEYRE ET AL study
- Research is UNETHICAL as stress is a sensitive topic and asking P’s to think about their stress on a regular basis may provoke psychological harm and in fact cause more stress
- The data is CORRELATIONAL and doesn’t prove that stress causes illness, only that there is a relationship
- The sample is CULTURALLY BIAS as was done on Americans who may have different ways of dealing with stress and their stressors may be different than other cultures, therefore can’t generalise the results
- May lack VALIDITY due to social desire ability bias as people may lie to appear that they are coping with their stress. Used self report techniques
Research on life events:
HOLMES + RAHE
Developed a questionnaire called the SOCIAL READJUSTMENT RATING SCALE for identifying major stressful life events
A: investigate whether scores on the SRRS were correlated with the onset of illness
P: 2500 male sailors were given the SRRS to asses how many life events they had experienced in the previous 6 months and records were kept of each’s health status
F: there was a positive correlation between life change scores and illness. Although the correlation was small, it showed their was a meaningful relationship between the 2 scores. As life change unit increased so did frequency of illness
Evaluation of RAHE study
- SRRS doesn’t take INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES into consideration. The scale assumes that each stressor affects people the same way eg for some people divorce is extremely stressful while it can be a relief for some
- Research is UNETHICAL as stress is sensitive topic and could cause more
- Data is CORRELATIONAL and doesn’t prove a cause and effect
- The sample is GENDER BIAS as only done on male sailors who may have different ways of dealing with stress than women. Therefore lacks POPULATION VALIDITY
- Most people experience major life events very infrequently therefore a better measure of stress might look at daily hassles
- May lack VALIDITY due to SOCIAL DESIRABILITY BIAS - sympathy or embarrassed
Research study on workplace stress:
JOHANSSON
P: 14 sawmill employees studied, their work being highly repetitive and had no control over the pace they work at. They was compared with a group of 10 low stress worker who had more control. Levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline in their urine was measured both at work and in their free time along with absence record
F: p’s in high stress group had higher levels of stress hormones while at work than low group and their levels of illness and absence were higher
Evaluation of JOHANSSON study
- Measure of stress hormones in urine is an OBJECTIVE MEASURE of stress levels - reduces the change of investigator effects and has higher validity than self report measures
- REAL LIFE APPLICATION as change what’s stressful at work and make solutions such as job rotation and more control
- CULTURALLY BIAS as only on Swedish people who might find machine based work more stressful than other cultures
Research on personality factors:
FREIDMAN & ROSENMAN
A: investigated whether there was a link between type A and CHD
P: 3000 American men between 39-59 were interviewed to identify whether they are type A and they were monitored for 8 years with their lifestyle and levels of health recorded
F: 257 men had developed CHD with 70% of them being type A personality
Biological methods of stress:
BETA BLOCKERS & Bz’s
BETABLOCKERS: slow down activity in the sympathetic branch of the ANS by reducing levels of ADRENALINE & NORADRENALINE, reducing blood pressure heart rate and producing a feeling of calm
Bz’s: slow the activity of the central nervous system and enhance activity of GABA causing relaxation
Evaluation of biological methods of stress management
- Acts FAST compared to therapy
- Drugs treat the SYMPTOM and not the CAUSE
- Has potential SIDE EFFECTS which can cause more problems
- Long term taking of drugs can result in tolerance - higher doses are eventually needed to produce the same effect
Psychological methods of stress management
- SIT
2. CBT
STRESS INOCULATION THERAPY
Perceives some as catastrophising stress and seeing them as more damaging than they actually are and aims to enable such individuals to become immune to stressors by exposing them to a mildly stressful dose of them
- Conceptualisation - therapist helps the person to identify their stressors and how they respond to these
- Skills acquisition - therapist teaches the client coping skills that may be general or event focused. Replace the negative thoughts with positive ones. Rehearsal
- Application to real life - apply it
Evaluation of SIT
- Doesn’t have any SIDE EFFECTS that might be encountered with drug treatments. No risk of addiction or withdrawal symptoms
- Addresses the root of the cause of the problem and why the client is stressed rather than just removing the symptoms. LONGER LASTING EFFECT
- Compared to using drugs it is EXPENSIVE and TIME CONSUMING as SIT could take weeks to follow the 3 stages and change a clients behaviour
- SIT requires the client to be motivated and driven they have to be prepared to practice new skills and apply them in the real world
Research study on hardiness:
KOBASA
P: studied 800 American business executives, assessing stress using the SRRS. 150 were classified as high stress, while some had low illness records and some had high, suggesting their was something else modifying the effects of stress because the individuals were experiencing the same stress levels but had different illness records
F: a hardy personality type encourages resilience. Individuals in high stress/low illness group scored high on all 3 characteristics, whereas high stress/high illness scored lower
Evaluation of KOBASA
- Problems with measurement - self report questionnaires could have social desirability bias therefore low validity
- KOBASA didn’t state whether all 3 characterises were equally important or if one was more responsible
- Research has only shown a correlation, no cause and effect
