Psychology
Daily Hassles
Daily hassles refer to the minor, everyday stressors and irritations that individuals encounter in their lives, such as traffic jams, household chores, or work deadlines. These small but frequent stressors can accumulate and contribute to overall feelings of stress and can have a significant impact on an individual's well-being and mental health.
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- Amy E. Wenzel(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- SAGE Publications, Inc(Publisher)
Early stress research examined biological responses to uniquely high-stress situations. This trend continued as researchers examined the impact of trauma (e.g., war, violent crime) and life event stressors (e.g., loss of a job, death of a loved one) on psychological and physical health. Daily Hassles research began largely in the 1980s. Daily Hassles can be distinguished from other types of stressors by their more minor and repeated nature. They are experienced on an ongoing basis, whereas although trauma and life events may evoke a greater initial impact, they are relatively rarely experienced. Some have suggested that Daily Hassles may have an even stronger impact on health and well-being than trauma and life event stressors given their ongoing and repeated nature.The ongoing and repeated nature of daily stress includes an important distinction: daily stress that is chronic in nature as opposed to true Daily Hassles. Although both chronic stress and hassles manifest on a daily basis, chronic stress has been characterized as stress that is persistent in a particular domain of life, such as an intensely demanding career. Thus, whereas having a job that is extremely taxing day in and day out would be classified as chronic stress, having a particularly stressful day at work would be considered a hassle. Scholars maintain that Daily Hassles and chronic stressors occupy distinct niches and are unique types of stress, both theoretically as well as in their impacts on health and well-being. For example, although chronic stressors may activate a prolonged immune response and deplete psychological resources, there is also evidence that individuals adjust, or habituate, to chronic stressors. Daily Hassles, on the other hand, may be more unexpected.Pile Up and Spillover
Hassles can be experienced in a variety of domains in life. For example, Daily Hassles may include interpersonal conflicts, family demands, work demands, or household chores. Hassles in one domain of life can spill over into other domains as well. For example, a stressful day at work can spill over into decreased quality of interactions with the spouse and children later that evening, creating hassles at home as well. Furthermore, although individual hassles may not have a great impact, they can pile up when combined with all of the other Daily Hassles being experienced across other domains. Indeed, some have suggested that the reason why the stress from Daily Hassles is so concerning is that they may lead to both an immediate spike in arousal as well as a pile up over a series of days. The stress from such an overload may be associated with more serious reactions, such as anxiety and depression.
eBook - ePub- Gregory L. Weiss(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
In order to determine the effects of these specific life events on stress level, researchers have employed three kinds of techniques: (1) studies of the psychiatric effects of specific events, such as reactions to combat and natural and human disasters, (2) comparison of the number and types of life events experienced by psychiatric patients prior to their hospital admission with those for a non-patient control group, and (3) general population surveys examining the relationship between life events, stress, and illness. Researchers have developed a variety of specific scales to measure exposure to stressful life events. One popular scale—the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (Holmes and Rahe, 1967)—contains a list of 43 events that were evaluated by a panel of judges with regard to the level of readjustment that each required. The most stressful life events were identified as being the death of a spouse, a divorce, marital separation, and a jail term. At the other end of the scale were minor violations of the law, Christmas, vacations, and a change in eating habits.Does experiencing undesirable life events have a negative impact on health? Yes, although even in cases where the life event is traumatizing, the effect may not be large, and in most cases it does not persist over a long period of time. Researchers do continue to detect a relationship between adverse life events and certain depressive disorders (Dohrenwend, 2000), but the effects are not large and they generally dissipate within 3 months (Avison and Turner, 1988).Chronic Strains. The second major type of stressor—now often referred to as chronic strains—refers to the relatively enduring problems, conflicts, and threats that people typically face in their daily lives. The most common bases for these types of stressors are family problems with partners, parents, or children; love or sex problems; problems at work or in school; and problems in any site that involves competition. A meaningful way to organize these chronic stressors is to focus on problems that occur within the boundaries of major social roles and role sets. These are likely to be important problems because the relationships that exist in role sets are usually enduring. Because they also tend to be extremely important relationships (e.g., with a partner, child, boss, or teacher), strains that develop are likely to be of great significance to the individual (Pearlin, 1989).Pearlin (1989:245) uses the concept of “role strain” to refer to “the hardships, challenges, and conflicts or other problems that people come to experience as they engage over time in normal social roles.” The five most common types of role strain are listed below.1.Role overload
eBook - ePubDevelopment of Psychopathology
A Vulnerability-Stress Perspective
- Benjamin L. Hankin, John R. Z. Abela(Authors)
- 2005(Publication Date)
- SAGE Publications, Inc(Publisher)
Definitions of stress encompass a number of facets. In general, however, stress falls into a limited number of broad categories. One major category of stress is conceptualized as the occurrence of significant life events that are interpreted by the person as undesirable (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Luthar & Zigler, 1991; Monroe & Peterman, 1988; Monroe & Simons, 1991). The accumulation of minor events or hassles represents another kind of stress (Dohrenwend & Shrout, 1985; Lazarus, 1990). Socioeconomic factors have also been implicated in stress, in that variables such as low maternal educational status or membership in an ethnic minority group may reflect stressful living circumstances (Luthar & Zigler).Although it is clear from these descriptions that the definitions of stress are many, we can view stress in the context of this chapter as the life events (major or minor) that disrupt those mechanisms that maintain the stability of individuals’ physiology, emotion, and cognition. Indeed, Selye's (1963) classic description of stress notes that such events represent a strain on the person's adaptive capability that cause an interruption of the person's routine or habitual functioning. Stress thus reflects those factors that interfere with the system's physiological and psychological homeostasis.Even though stress is frequently conceptualized as the occurrence of “externally” ordained processes, two sets of factors suggest an important role for “internal” forces in the occurrence of stress. First, although some stressful events may simply befall people, several researchers have persuasively argued, and empirically demonstrated, that other events are the results of individuals’ own actions (Depue & Monroe, 1986; Hammen, 1991; Monroe & Simons, 1991; Rutter, 1986). For instance, a person with social skills deficits (e.g., inappropriately critical of others) may engender tumultuous relationships with acquaintances, coworkers, and romantic partners that result in the generation of significant stress. Vulnerable individuals, or those in a disordered state, may therefore play a role in creating their own stresses (Ingram et al., 1998). Later in this chapter, we expand on the implications of this idea as it pertains to diathesis-stress models.
eBook - ePubMotivation
Biological, Psychological, and Environmental
- Lambert Deckers(Author)
- 2022(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
The extent person can alter, change, or reduce the effects of a stressor. .TABLE 6.1Characteristics of StressorsCharacteristics Description Essentials of StressorsChallenge Requires more than usual amount of effort to be managed or coped with Demand Must be managed or coped with in order for person to function well, ably Threat Potential to be psychologically or physically harmful Features of StressorsControllable Range from uncontrollable (can do nothing) to controllable (can cope, manage) Duration Range from discrete with sudden onset and offset to chronic and long-lasting Magnitude Intensity or amount that a stressor is challenging, demanding, and enduring Predictable Likelihood or chance that the stressor will occur, which ranges from unlikely to certain Types of StressorsChronic Stressors that develop gradually and deceptively; longer duration than life-change events Daily Hassles Demands of daily life that are irritating, annoying, and distressing Life-change events Stressors that have clear, observable beginnings and ends Non-event Desired anticipated or hoped-for event that fails to occur Traumatic Severe enough to threaten a person with death or injury; has long lasting effects Negative Life Events as Stressors
Both positive and negative life events motivate coping actions. Repairing a printer, tolerating a neighbor's noisy stereo, or suffering disappointment are negative events a person would like to escape. Starting a romance, accepting new responsibilities at work, or planning a surprise birthday party are positive events that motivate a person to act. Early stress researchers often disregarded whether an event was positive or negative; both were considered stressful (Holmes & Rahe, 1967 ; Selye, 1976 ). Physiological arousal that resulted from positive events was calledeustress Physiological arousal that results from positive events; considered positive stress and is the opposite of distress.(Selye, 1976), especially if the level of arousal was just right—not too low or not too high.Distress Term that emphasis stress as being psychologically negative, i.e., negative stress.
