Stress in everyday life

Bodys response to stressors

Stress and Immune System

Life Changes

Workplace Stressors

Stress as a bodily response Stress and Cardiovascular System

Sources of stress Individual Differences

Stress management Physiological Approaches Psychological Approaches

Define life changes Describe APFCC for a study into life changes as a source of stress Apply your knowledge to exam questions

What are the big life changes that lead to stress and stress-related illness? What are the daily hassles that lead to stress and stress-related illness? Which are more important?

Describe how the SRRS was devised. Describe and evaluate Rahe et al s 1970 study into life changes and illness. Use the alternative idea of daily hassles and uplifts to evaluate the life changes research.

Events (such as divorce or bereavement) that necessitate a significant adjustment in various aspects of a person s life. As such, they can be seen as significant sources of stress

43 life events taken from 5000 patient records. 400 participants gave numerical values to each in terms of amount or readjustment needed compared to marriage. Each event assigned 0-100 life change units (LCUs) based on average scores.

Rank Life event (LCU) 1 Death of a spouse (100) 2 Divorce (73) 3 Marital separation (65) 4 Jail term (63) 5 Death of a close family member (63) 6 Personal injury or illness (50) 7 Marriage (53) 8 Fired at work (47) 9 Marital reconciliation (45) 10 Retirement (45)

How many LCUs has Phil notched up in the last 18 months?

To use the SRRS to test Holmes and Rahe s hypothesis that the number of life events experienced are positively correlated with illness, and to specifically look at a normal population.

Military version of SRRS completed by 2700 men aboard three US Navy Cruisers for previous 6 months, producing LCU (life change units) score. Record kept during tour of duty (6 months) of number, type and severity of all illnesses to produce an illness score.

Significant, positive correlation (+0.118) between LCU and illness. Significant means although small it is very unlikely to be due to chance.

Do life changes cause physical illness? Is it stress that is causing the illness? Are positive changes as bad as negative ones? How important do life changes seem to be compared to other possible causes of illness?

Supports link between life changes and physical illness. Link may be stress life changes cause stress and stress causes illness. Change seems to be important, not negativity. As correlation is not perfect, life events cannot be the only factor in contributing to illness.

Problems with recall of life events? Individual Differences? Correlation and causality Is sample valid? Is SRRS valid? Other scales?

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Describe how Holmes and Rahe (1967) devised the SRRS. (3) What is the culture criticism of this process? (2) What question did Rahe et al (1970) ask when they used the SRRS in research on US Navy personnel? (1) What is important about the size of their sample? (2) What type of correlation did they find between life change units and illness? (2) What was their conclusion? (2)

How hassled are you? In what way is this approach better than life changes ?

DeLongis et al. (1988) What are daily hassles and uplifts? Findings: Found a significant positive correlation of +0.59 between hassles and next-day illness. What is the conclusion?

DeLongis et al. (1988) Findings: Found a significant positive correlation of +0.59 between hassles and next-day illness. Conclusions: Daily hassles may be a better predictor of stress than life events. They are clearly not the only factor, but this is a fairly strong correlation.

Jacobs and Charles (1980). Families of children with cancer and a control group filled out life-change questionnaires cancer group had more life changes.

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Explain what is meant by life changes and stress (3 + 3 marks) Describe the procedures and findings of one study that has investigated life changes (6 marks) Give two criticisms of a study that has investigated life changes (6 marks) Outline findings of research into life changes (6 marks)

A study of life changes as a source of stress (Rahe et al, 1970) Procedures: A military version of the SRRS was given to all the men aboard three US Navy cruisers, a total of over 2, 700 men. The men filled in the questionnaire just before a tour of duty, noting all the life events experienced over the previous 6 months. An illness score was calculated on the basis of the number, type and severity of all illnesses recorded during the tour of duty (about 6 months). Findings: An LCU score and an illness score was calculated for each man. Rahe et al. found a positive correlation between these scores of +0.118. This is not a very strong correlation because stressful life events and incidence of physical illness. However, given the number of participants involved, it is significant.