Stress - Sources of stress

Question 1

What is meant by ‘sources of stress’?

Answer 1

Sources of stress refers to what factors in the environment lead to a triggering of the stress response.

Question 2

What are life changes and how can they lead to stress?

Answer 2

Life changes are major, but relatively rarely-occurring, events in our lives, for example moving house, or the death of a close family member.
They require a large amount of psychological energy to adjust to, which can lead to stress.
It is thought that this is the case for positive and negative life events, as in both cases psychological readjustment is needed.

Question 3

What is the social readjustment rating scale and how does it show life changes link to stress?

Answer 3

To assess whether there is a link between life changes and stress, Holmes and Rahe (1967) developed the ‘Social Readjustment Rating Scale’ (SRRS), which assigned a score out of 100 (100 being most stressful) to a series of life events.
Early research using this showed that when participants indicated which events they had experienced in the past year, an LCU (life change unit) score of 300 or more meant there was an 80% likelihood of that person also reporting illnesses in the next year.
A score of 150-300 meant a 50% likelihood of reporting illness.

Question 4

Describe a study into the SRRS scale - navy

Answer 4

Rahe et al (1970)

• Researchers investigated the link between life changes and illness using the SRRS.
• US navy personnel were studied, having to complete a version of the SRRS considering the 6 months before they went on a tour of duty.
• Whilst on the tour of duty, illness was recorded for each participant by getting them to report every time they felt unwell to a medical officer, who made records of illnesses, calculating a score (considering frequency and seriousness of illness).
• The findings were that there was a positive correlation between LCU scores and illness scores. Due to the high number of participants, this correlation was statistically significant. The conclusion was that life changes are linked with illness.

Question 5

Evaluate life changes leading to illness - asthma

Answer 5

A study found that high levels of life changes were a predictor for the onset of asthma in 160,000 participants, none of whom had asthma before. This supports the links between life changes and illness, and supports Rahe’s study.

Question 6

Evaluate the SRRS - individual differences

Answer 6

Measures such as the SRRS do not account for the fact that individuals will perceive the event in very different ways. For example, the death of a spouse will be highly stressful if they are young and die unexpectedly. However, the expected death of a spouse following a long illness may not provoke the same intensity of feeling. This weakens the validity of the life changes-stress link as individual differences are not considered.

Question 7

Evaluate the SSRS - positive vs negative

Answer 7

There is evidence that negative life changes are more likely to cause stress than positive ones. This weakens the original proposal of the link between life changes and stress, which was that it is the amount of readjustment needed which causes stress, rather than if the event is positive or negative.

Question 8

What are daily hassles?

Answer 8

Daily hassles are minor, fairly frequently-occurring events which cause frustration and stress. Hassles include train delays, traffic, losing something, and so on.

Question 9

What did Lazarus propose about daily hassles?

Answer 9

Lazarus et al (1980) proposed that daily hassles are more likely to be a cause of stress than life events due to the fact that life events are quite rare, but everyone experiences daily hassles quite frequently.

Lazarus suggested that when a daily hassle is experienced, the person engages in ‘primary appraisal’- considering how threatening the event is to well-being.
If it is judged as threatening, the person then engages in ‘secondary appraisal’- considering if they can cope with it.

Question 10

What is the link between life changes and daily hassles?

Answer 10

There is a link between these two, in that if a person is experiencing a major life event (or has done recently), this will amplify the effect of daily hassles. What were previously minor irritations that could be ignored become significant sources of stress.

Question 11

Outline a study into daily hassles - Kanner

Answer 11

Researchers investigated whether daily hassles were a more significant source of stress than life events.

• Participants completed a ‘Hassles Scale’ of 117 items, where they indicated what hassles they experienced each month for 9 months.
• They also completed a measure similar to the SRRS to consider life changes experienced just before starting the study and 10 months into it.
• Finally, they completed a checklist, measuring how anxious and depressed they were.
• The findings were that there were significant positive correlations between the amount of hassles experienced and measures of anxiety/depression, for men and women. Hassles were more of a reliable predictor for signs of psychological illness than life events, suggesting hassles are a more significant source of stress.

Question 12

Evaluate the link between hassles and stress - correlational

Answer 12

It is hard to establish a cause-effect link with hassles and stress, as research is correlational. Therefore, it could be that feelings of depression and anxiety lead a person to report more hassles, and experience them more negatively, rather than the hassles causing the depression. This weakens the proposed link between hassles and stress.

Question 13

Evaluate research into daily hassles - recall

Answer 13

The research into daily hassles often involves retrospective recall, for example keeping a diary of hassles experienced that day/yesterday/last week/last month. As hassles are minor events, they may be easily forgotten or misremembered. This questions the validity of the findings of research into daily hassles, so weakens the link between hassles and stress.

Question 14

Evaluate the link between daily hassles and stress - better predictors

Answer 14

A study found that daily hassles were better predictors than life events for poor health, worse job performance, and more time off work. This supports the link between daily hassles and stress, and supports that they are more significant than life changes.

Question 15

What factors are sources of stress in the workplace?

Answer 15

Two factors have been identified as being key sources of stress in the workplace:
Workload (the amount of work a person needs to do in a given time)
Control (the degree of freedom a person has in their job, e.g. the ability to make decisions about their working conditions).

Question 16

Outline the job demand-control model

Answer 16

Karasek (1979) suggested that stressful elements of a job, including high workload and demand, can lead to stress-related illness and absenteeism (time off work). However, the effects of this are reduced when a person has control over their work. This has been investigated in research.

Question 17

Outline a study into the effect of workplace control on stress and illness - civil servants

Answer 17

• Study of 10,000 UK civil service employees.
• They were of varying ‘grades’ (levels of importance) so had varying levels of workloads and control.
• Participants completed a questionnaire to measure workload and control, and were examined for signs of coronary heart disease (CHD). There was a follow up after 5 years.
• The findings were that there was no correlation between workload and illness, however a lack of control was strongly associated with CHD developing, even accounting for lifestyle factors, and personality differences.
• The conclusion was that workload does not seem to affect stress and illness, but a lack of control in a job does affect stress and illness.

Question 18

Outline a study into the effect of high demand and lack of control in the workplace on stress and illness - finishers

Answer 18

• This study looked at Swedish sawmill workers, comparing the ‘finishers’ to ‘cleaners’.
• The finishers had a lack of control over their work (it was determined by machine), but also a high responsibility and demand
• Cleaners were able to work at their own pace and had less responsibility.
• Measures of illness and absenteeism were collected from both groups, along with levels of stress hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline during the day.
• The findings were that the finishers group had higher levels of stress hormones (even before starting work) than the cleaners, and these levels increased during the day.
• Illness and absenteeism rates were also higher amongst the finishers.
• The conclusion was that high demand, together with a lack of control, is linked with stress-related illness.

Question 19

Evaluate the job demands-control model of workplace stress - oversimplified

Answer 19

The job demands- control model is likely to be over-simplistic. There are a range of factors, including support from colleagues, the kind of work done, and how the person perceives the amount of workload and control they have, which are not really considered, lowering the validity of the explanation.

Question 20

Evaluate the job demands-control model of workplace stress - cultural differences?

Answer 20

Some research has suggested that, in collectivist cultures, having control at work is actually seen as less desirable, potentially meaning that research in this area is culturally biased- it may not be appropriate to class control as a source of stress in the workplace everywhere.

However, Liu et al (2007) found that there were no significant cultural differences in perception of workload as stressful, meaning that this concept is likely to be applicable across all cultures.
(Control may not be applicable to all, workload likely is)

Question 21

Evaluate the job demands-control model of workplace stress - self-efficiacy

Answer 21

Meier et al (2008) found that people with low self-efficacy (confidence in the ability to carry out actions and successfully complete tasks) experienced more stress, not less, when they had more control at work. People with high self-efficacy found a lack of control stressful. Therefore, it is not the amount of control that may be important, but the personality of the individual, which weakens the original suggestion that a lack of control is associated with stress.