Topic Summaries

Sources of stress

A-Level > Psychology > AQA > A-Level Psychology Topic Summaries > Stress > Sources of stress
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Addiction

  • Life changes: any life changes positive or negative can be stressful as they require adaptations which are supported by stress. Therefore, it’s hard to judge if there is a positive correlation between an increasing extent of adaptation required and the increasingly high level of stress associated with life change.
    • Stress associated with life changes can be quantitatively measured using the social readjustment rating scale. Every stressful event is given a different life change unit (LCU). 👥 Holmes and Rahe (1967) found a positive correlation between increasing LCU and increasing likelihood of developing an illness.
    • In 👥 Rahe’s (1970) double blind study found a positive correlation between Navy personnel who had experienced highly stressful life events six months before deployment and a higher likelihood of illness during their deployment.
      • Ignores individual differences: we can’t make universal assumptions based on people’s life events as they’re subjective. For example, a teenager moving out of home may be a negative life event for some, but if their household was abusive then it is a positive life event which actually alleviate stress.
      • Cause and effect: all studies of life changes are correlational. There is no cause and effect relationship, so it’s difficult to draw conclusions based on this research, decreasing its external validity.
  • Daily hassles: are predictable, everyday occurrences that can be a proximal cause of stress as they indirectly result in a stress response, especially if they are unaddressed for a long time. 👥 Lazarus and Folkman (1984) suggested that each time we experienced daily hassle we go through two processes: assessing the severity of a hassle, and considering how to cope.
  • Workplace stress:
    • Workload and control are the 2 main factors associated with workplace stress. This was theorised by the job demand-control model which suggests that the degree of control that an individual has over their work is more important than the workload in terms of determining stress levels. If two people have the same workload and one person is less stressed than the other, this means they have a higher degree of control over their work.
    • 👥 Bosma (1997) found no correlation between stress related illnesses and workload in a sample of 10,000 civil servants but a strong negative correlation between a decreasing degree of control over work and increasing levels of stress.
    • 👥 Johansson at al. (1988) found that workers who had little control over their work had higher levels of adrenaline in their urine samples compared to those in the same factory who had high control over their work. The concentrations of the hormones increase throughout the day, with increasing rates of stress-related illnesses.

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