Stress Flashcards
stress
- non-specific response of the body to any demand made upon it
- Defined culturally, personally (individual differences in interpretation and reaction), and by gender (women tend to report more stress than men)
- Range from normal to prolonged stress
- Some stress is a motivator, too much is debilitating
- The more predictable stress is, the less stressful it is – if you’ve habituated to a source of stress, it’ll be less stressful
stressors
- situations, events that cause stress
- Can be internal (self-generated), relational (relationship-related), environmental (the physical space)
types of stressors
- Normative stressor events: normal, expected, we all have it
- Non-normative stressor events: atypical, unexpected, unanticipated
- Non-events and stress: anticipated event didn’t occur
what are top sources of stress?
- Most stressful: too many demands/hours, little control
- Middle: interpersonal relationships
- Lower: risk of getting laid off (unless there’s a recession happening)
how occupation and scheduling predicts workplace stress
- Self-employed report different stressors
- Full-time workers report more stress
- Rotating shift workers worry about accidents
- Managers stress over hours
- Primary industry workers stress about safety
sources of work stress
- Workload
- Work responsibilities
- Work environment
when is work stress viewed as positive?
- When workers…
- Feel dedicated to their job
- Have clear opportunity for personal growth
- Feel valued and supported by the organization
gender differences in effective workplace coping
- Men: planning and management to deal directly with the source of pressure/stress
- Women: social support seeking (ie. Looking to others for instrumental and emotional support)
burnout
- Overlap of exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy
- Symptoms:
– Physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion
– Depersonalization; insensitivity; feeling closed-off, callous, cynical, or hostile toward others
– Helplessness or low feelings of accomplishment because efforts seem wasted - Typically felt by people in “helping” professions
Indicates that a change is needed (can be attitudinal, new job, etc.)
types of stressors
- traumatic events (ie. natural disasters)
- life events
- daily hassles
top 10 stressful events for adults (highest to lowest)
- Death of spouse
- Divorce
- Marital separation
- Imprisonment
- Death of family member
- Personal injury or illness
- Marriage
- Dismissal from work
- Marital reconciliation
- Retirement
top 10 stressful events for non-adults (highest to lowest)
- Death of a parent
- Unplanned pregnancy/abortion
- Getting married
- Divorce of parents
- Acquiring visible deformity
- Fathering a child
- Jail sentence of parent
- Marital separation of parents
- Death of sibling
- Change in acceptance by peers
Canadian life event data
- Illness or injury of close friend/family is most common
- 66% had one major stressful life event in 1 year
- 25% had 2 major stressful life events
- 16% had 3 or more stressful life events
how can you manage daily hassles?
by re-framing negative hassles into something more positive
stress and systems theory
stress comes from various sources (inputs) and has various outcomes (outputs)
gender differences in stress
Women react to more stressors than men and feel stressed more often
crises
events that require changes in normal patterns of behaviour; often initiate stress
stress overload, pileup, and spillover
the cumulative effect of many stresses building up at one time
ABCD-XYZ Resource Management Model of Stress
- A: stressor event
- B: coping resources
- C: definition of situation
- D: Demands of situation
- X: crisis or stress
- Y: cognitive coping and management
- Z: adaptive behaviour
outsourcing
- paying someone else to do one’s work
- Increasing due to 3 factors:
- More women working
- Older population
- Bigger middle class (middle class are responsible for increasing trend)
theory of comparative advantage
individuals and companies do best when they focus on activities they can add the most value to, and outsource the rest to specialists
comfort zone
combination of habit and everyday expectations mixed with adventure and novelty; the space where stress level feels right
domino effect
passing work stress on to family and onto individuals
external vs. internal stress
- External stress: stress is brought on from outside the individual
- Internal stress: stress originating from one’s own mind/body (ex. Setting unrealistic standards for yourself, having body image issues, etc.)
types of external stress
- Acute major stress: result of a recent event (ie. Car accident, death of loved one)
- Ongoing, role-oriented stress: caused by chronic difficulties in one’s work or family role
- Lifetime trauma stress: result of severe trauma, such as exposure to war, natural disasters, or death of parents as a child
Hans Selye
- Father of stress research
- Showed that there are 2 types of stress: eustress and distress
- Eustress: beneficial stress (ie. Feeling excited or adventurous)
- Distress: harmful stress (ie. Feeling anxious and afraid)
psychological hardiness
having a sense of control over their lives and don’t fear change; suffer less in stressful situations
3 C’s of Stress Resiliency
Commitment, control, and challenge
theory of adaptive range
some change is vital to everyone’s health and well-being
stages of body response to stress
- Alarm reaction: body prepares to react to stressful event (fight-or-flight takes place, pupils widen, heart races, etc.)
- Resistance: body adapts to the demand
- Exhaustion: danger has passed and person feels tired and is susceptible to illness
who tends to seek help for stress management?
- People who aren’t super stressed, but are health conscious and want to prevent it
- People who are distressed, angry, or depressed
- People with medical problems related to stress
type A vs. type B personality
- Type A: striving behaviour, high job involvement, impatience, competitiveness, desire for control and power, aggressiveness, and hostility (more likely to experience stress, but don’t internalize it)
- Type B: more relaxed, easygoing, reflective, and cooperative (less likely to experience stress, but internalize it)
2 types of coping
- Problem-focused: attempts to change the stressful relationships, behaviours, and environments
- Emotion-focused: focuses on regulating the emotional distress caused by the harm or threat
job stress
- harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the demands of the job don’t fit the worker
- Experienced most by low-level workers with little control
Karoshi
Japanese word meaning “death by overwork”
extreme work
jobs that require 60+ hour workweek, or jobs that require lots of travel or a 24/7 on-call schedule
brownout
predecessor to burnout; fatigue and irritability show up, eating and sleeping patterns may be disturbed, cynicism and indecision set in, and if nothing changes, burnout will result
children and stress
- Children can experience stress too, and rely on adults to teach them coping mechanisms
- Children are stressed about the grown-ups in their lives, about global things such as war, and because they’re being forced to take on too many responsibilities and grow up too fast
adolescents/young adults and stress
- High school and college students can also suffer from burnout
- Time-managing behaviours good at reducing stress
- Female undergrads better at this than males
- Women have higher academic stress and anxiety
fatigue vs. insomnia vs. chronic fatigue syndrome
- fatigue: lack of energy or motivation and a strong desire to stop, rest, or sleep; is not always related to stress
- insomnia: perception or complaint of inadequate or poor-quality sleep
- chronic fatigue syndrome: debilitating and complex disorder characterized by profound fatigue that is not improved by bed rest and can be worsened by physical or mental activity
REM vs. non-REM sleep
- REM: rapid eye movement sleep (light sleep, dreaming)
- NREM: inactive, deep sleep
sleep hygiene
promotion of regular sleep
