Measuring Stress
Health Psychology
Reasons
1.
2.
Clinical diagnosis
Research
Three different types of
measurement
1.
2.
3.
Physiological
Psychological
Behavioural
Physiological
One way to assess arousal is to use
electrical/mechanical equipment to take
measurements of blood pressure, heart rate,
respiration rate, or galvanic skin response (G. S.
R.). The Polygraph measures all of these
simultaneously. Miniature Polygraphs can be
carried around. Researchers using a miniature
Polygraph were able to find that ambulance
workers had higher blood pressure whilst at work
compared with when they were at home
(Goldstein et al. 1992). However, being wired to a
polygraph could increase stress.
Polygraph test
Blood or urine samples
Blood or urine samples can be assessed for the
level of hormones that the adrenal glands secrete.
There are two main classes of hormones:
corticosteroids (for example cortisol) and
catecholamines (for example, adrenaline and
noradrenaline. Measurements need to be analysed
by a chemist using special procedures and
equipment. However, having blood taken could
cause stress.
Evaluation
There are several advantages to using measures of
physiological arousal to assess stress.
Physiological measures are reasonably direct and
objective, quite reliable, and easily quantified. The
disadvantages are that the techniques are
expensive, the technique is stressful for some
people and the measures are affected by factors
such as gender, weight, activity prior to
measurement and such substances as caffeine.
Psychological stress does not always produce
physiological arousal.
Psychological
Life events
Holmes and Rahe (1967)
Psychological
The most widely used scale of life events has been
the 'social readjustment rating scale (SRRS.)'
developed by Holmes and Rahe (1967). The scale
was made by constructing a list of events that
were derived from clinical experience. Hundreds
of men and women of various ages and
backgrounds rated the amount of readjustment
needed by people experiencing each of the
stressful events. They were asked to give the
average degree of readjustment.
Holmes and Rahe (1967)
To measure the amount of stress
people have experienced subjects
check off each life event they have
experienced during the past 24 months.
The values of the check items are then
totalled to give the stress score.
Holmes and Rahe (1967)
Death of spouse 100
Divorce 73
Separation 65
Jail term 63
Death of close family member 63
Personal illness or injury 53
Marriage 50
Fired at work 47
Marital reconciliation 45
Retirement 45
Holmes and Rahe (1967)
Change in health of family member 44
Pregnancy 40
Sex difficulties 39
Gain of new family member 39
Business readjustment 38
Change in financial state 38
Death of close friend 37
Change to a different line of work 36
Change in number of arguments with spouse
35
Holmes and Rahe (1967)
Foreclosure of mortgage or loan 30
Change in responsibilities at work 29
Son or daughter leaving home 29
Trouble with in-laws 29
Outstanding personal achievement 28
Spouse begins or stops work 26
Begin or end of school or college 26
Change in living conditions 25
Change in personal habits 24
Trouble with boss 23
Holmes and Rahe (1967)
Change in work hours or conditions 20
Change in residence 20
Change in school or college 20
Change in recreation 19
Change in church activities 19
Change in social activities 18
A moderate loan or mortgage 17
Change in sleeping habits 16
Change in number of family get-togethers 15
Change in eating habits 15
Holmes and Rahe (1967)
Holiday 13
Christmas 12
Minor violations of law 11
Holmes and Rahe (1967)
A survey of nearly two thousand eight
hundred adults who filled in a version of
the SRRS found that 15% experienced
none of the events during the prior year,
and 18% reported five or more. The
three most frequent events were "took a
vacation" (43%), "the death of a loved
one or other important person" (22%),
and "illness or injury" (21%).
Holmes and Rahe (1967)
The older the person the fewer life
events reported and the more educated
the person more life events were
reported. Single, separated, and
divorced people reported a larger
number of events compared with
married and widowed individuals
(Goldberg & Comstock, 1980).
Problems with the scale
Major life events are rare therefore low scores
Some items are ambiguous. Items in the SRRS
are vague or ambiguous (Hough et al, 1976).
For example, "change in responsibilities at
work" does not take into account how much
change or whether there is more or less
responsibility. "Personal injury or illness" does
not take into account the seriousness of the
illness. This reduces the precision of the
instrument.
Problems with the scale
Value of items vary depending on what
group the respondent belongs to.
Large individual differences in ability to
cope
Large cultural differences in our
experience of events.
Value of events change over time. So text
loses its validity.
Problems with the scale
A weakness of the SRRS is that there is a
poor correlation (about .30) between the
score and illness (Dohrenwend &
Dohrenwend, 1981). One reason could
be that there are other many possible
reasons for why people get sick and have
accidents.
Problems with the scale
The scale does not consider the meaning or
impact of an event for the individual (Cohen et
al, 1983). For example, two people who each
had a mortgage for 20,000 dollars would get
the same score for "mortgage over 10,000
dollars" even though one of them made ten
times the income of the other. The amount of
stress caused by the "death of spouse" could
depend upon the age, dependence on the
spouse, and the length and happiness of the
marriage. This again reduces the precision of
the instrument.
Problems with the scale
The scale does not distinguish between
desirable and undesirable events. "Marriage" or
"outstanding personal achievement" are often
viewed as desirable; but "sex difficulties" and
"jail term" are obviously seen as undesirable.
Some items can be viewed either way, for
example, "change in financial state"; the score
is the same regardless of whether the finances
improve or worsen. Studies have found that
undesirable life events are correlated with
illness, but desirable events are not (McFarlane
et al, 1983).
Evaluation
High correlation between men and women,
Catholics and Protestants. Not so high for
Black Vs White.
The SRRS has face validity because many of
the events listed are easily recognisable as
stressful events. The values Allocated to each
stress event have been carefully calculated
from data provided by the opinions of many
people. The survey form can be filled out
easily and quickly.
Daily hassles
Kanner et al (1981) - minor stressors and
pleasures of everyday life might have a
more significant effect on health than the
big events. - Takes account of the
cumulative nature of stress.
Daily hassles
Richard Lazarus and his associates designed
this scale. It concentrates on recent
stressors, the annoying things that happened
to everybody everyday. The hassles are
rated as having been "somewhat,"
"moderately," or "extremely" severe.
Daily Hassles
100 middle-aged adults were tested monthly
over a nine-month period. The 10 most
frequent hassles reported were:

Concerns about weight

Health of a family member

Rising prices of common goods

Home maintenance

Too many things to do

Misplacing or losing things.

Outside home maintenance
Daily Hassles

Property, investment or taxes

Crime

Physical appearance
Uplifts scale
In addition to the hassles scale there is
another instrument, the uplifts scale, which
measures the good events in life. It is
reasonable to assume that experiencing
events that bring peace, satisfaction, or joy
would allow people to endure the hassles of
daily life. Uplifts experienced in the past
month are recorded on a three-point scale.
Uplifts scale
The uplifts are rated as having been
"somewhat," "moderately," or "extremely"
strong. The 10 most frequent uplifts
reported were:

Relating well to spouse or lover

Relating well with friends

Completing a task

Feeling healthy

Getting enough Sleep

Eating out
Uplifts scale

Meeting your responsibilities

Visiting, phoning or writing to someone

Spending time with the family

Home pleasing to you
Hassles, Uplifts and Life events
One study tested middle-aged adults, using
4 instruments:

The hassles scale

The uplifts scale

A life events scale that includes no desirable items

The health status Questionnaire, containing questions
about general health (Delongis et al., 1982).
Hassles, Uplifts and Life events
There is a weak correlation between hassles
scores and health status, as well as between
life event scores and health status. Hassles
were more strongly associated with health
than life events. There was no association
found between uplifts scores and health
status for men, but there was for women.
Test - re-test reliability
Self-report measures of life events are
unreliable. A study had subjects fill out a
scale regarding life events they experienced
during the prior year. The subjects then
filled out the same Questionnaire every
month for a year. Towards the end of the
year the reports were quite different from
the ones made at the beginning of the year
(Raphael, et al. 1991).
Other methods of measuring
stress
Above methods only provide a snapshot.
Stress varies from day to day.
Gulian et al (1990) - study of British
drivers. Completed psychometric tests (e.g.
Rotter's Internal - External Locus of Control
Scale).
Also filled in a diary of their feelings while
driving over 5 days.
Results
More stress in the evening and midweek.
Stress varied with age and experience,
health condition, sleep quality, driving
conditions, driver's perception of driving as
stressful.
Douglas et al (1988)
Douglas et al (1988) used diary and
physiological measures
100 fire fighters from 12 stations.
Heart rate recorded for minimum of 48
hours (used portable electrocardiogram)
Douglas et al (1988)
Results yielded a 'Ventricular cardiac strain
score'.
High scores were found to correspond with
number of call-outs, level of seniority, and
stressful events recorded in diaries.
The end