Showing papers on "Stressor published in 1988"

Biocultural perspectives on stress in prehistoric, historical, and contemporary population research

Abstract: Stress, a concept addressing the consequences of disruptive events on individuals and populations, can be a useful integrative idea. The stress process has much in common with its sister concept of adaptation. However, where adaptation focuses on “adaptive” or positive consequences, stress redresses an imbalance by focusing on the costs and limits of adaptation. In this paper we first review the interdisciplinary roots of the stress concept. While most stress research derives from research in environmental physiology, Selyean concepts of stress (involving increased catecholamine and corticosteroid output) have forced an expansion toward greater concern for perceptual and psychosocial stressors. What is largely missing from all traditions, however, is concern for sociopolitical processes which are not easily adapted to and consequently are persistent and pervasive causes of stress. Studies of stress in prehistoric, historical, and contemporary populations by biological anthropologists vary, in a complementary way, as to ability to delineate aspects of the stress process. Whereas the paleopathological methods of the prehistorian provide a suite of skeletal indicators of stress response, and the demographic measures of the historian provide a detailed analysis of consequence, a wide variety of techniques for examining all levels of the stress process are potentially available to those studying contemporary populations. In order to better utilize information from different levels of analysis one needs to focus on measures of stress, such as infant mortality, which are accessible at all levels. Biological anthropologists are in a unique position to elucidate the human condition if, via concepts such as stress, attention is paid to both human adaptive and political economic processes.

Self-reported stressors and hypertension: evidence of an inverse association

Abstract: This paper presents an analysis of self-reported stressors and blood pressure in a population of 1,428 San Francisco bus drivers surveyed from 1983 to 1985 as part of an occupational health study. To test the hypothesis of a positive association between psychosocial stressors and hypertension, the authors derived a stressor index from a survey instrument that assessed subjects' appraisal of work-related problems. A logistic regression analysis revealed an unexpected inverse association between the stressor index and hypertension that remained significant after adjustment for 12 potential confounding variables (standardized odds ratio = 0.84, p = 0.038). An analysis restricted to the 1,040 normotensive subjects, with mean blood pressure level as the outcome variable, also yielded inverse findings. To assess whether the results were specific to blood pressure, the authors repeated the multiple logistic analysis for gastrointestinal, respiratory, and musculoskeletal problems. In contrast to the inverse association found for hypertension, highly significant positive associations were found between the stressor index and these health problems. When prevalence of disease was examined by level of stressor score, a significant inverse gradient was observed for hypertension and significant positive gradients were observed for gastrointestinal, respiratory, and musculoskeletal problems (p values less than 0.001). An etiologic implication of these findings is that there may be a direct inverse association between subjective appraisal of stressors and blood pressure. A methodological implication is that subjective appraisal of stressors by persons with heightened blood pressure may be an invalid measure of objective, verifiable stressors.

Consistency and variability in causal attributions and coping with stress.

Abstract: Temporal and cross-situational consistency in causal attributions and coping were examined in reference to two ongoing stressors over a period of 4 weeks. Patterns of coping were characterized by moderate consistency in response to the same stressor over time and low consistency across two different types of stress (academic and interpersonal stressors). Causal attributions were moderately to highly consistent in response to the same stressor over time, but levels of consistency in attributions were low across the two stressors. There were individual differences in the degree of coping consistency, with some individuals displaying more stability in coping than others. Higher levels of consistency in coping were associated with higher levels of negative affect; negative emotions predicted significant portions of the variance in subsequent consistency in coping, but consistency in coping did not predict later emotions.

Psychological Resilience Among Widowed Men and Women: A 10-Year Follow-up of a National Sample

Abstract: Students of stress, illness, and adaptation have taken a particular interest in bereavement, and with good reason. Death of a spouse is consistently rated as the most stressful of normative events (Holmes & Rahe, 1967), requiring the maximal readjustment in life; it is also a common experience, which nearly half the population will eventually face. The intensity and frequency of this stressor make it of undeniable social importance. At the same time, there are powerful methodological advantages to the study of bereavement for an understanding of stress, coping, and adaptational processes. Because death of spouse is an objectively verifiable event generally beyond the control of the widowed individual, artifacts that plague the study of stress and illness (Schroeder & Costa, 1984) can be minimized. The results of bereavement studies provide mixed support for the view that life stress causes subsequent mental and physical illness and mortality. Some studies show excess mortality, particularly for males, in the year or two following bereavement (Helsing, Szklo, & Comstock, 1981; Parkes, Benjamin, & Fitzgerald, 1969), but there are methodological difficulties with most studies of mortality (M. Stroebe, Stroebe, Gergen, & Gergen, 1981; Susser, 1981). Studies of health after bereavement are also complicated by the problems of disentangling subjective health perceptions from objective disease processes (Costa & McCrae, 1985a), and one of the few studies to use as control variables baseline measures taken before the loss event concluded that, “using a variety of health indicators, the effects of these [bereavement] events were either nonexistent or slight and brief.

Chronic family adversity and school-age children's adjustment.

Abstract: Four factors—parental conflict, maternal depression, overcrowding, and family income—were examined in relation to the psychological functioning of school-age children. A sample of 116 predominantly lower-class families was separated into three groups, based on the number of Stressors present. Stressor groupings were significantly related to children's internalizing and externalizing problems and to children's perceived social competence. Additionally, Stressor grouping also was associated with clinically elevated child behavior problems and below-average perceived social competence and IQ. Some of the implications of multiple Stressors on children's functioning are discussed, including how certain Stressors, e.g., parental conflict, may affect the family system despite differences in family structure. J. Am Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 1988. 27. 2:200–206.

Psychosocial components of the stress process in bulimia

Abstract: Increasingly, investigators have sought to relate stress to the etiology and maintenance of bulimia. The current research literature on stress in general now views stress as a process that includes not only stimulus and response but mediators such as appraisal, control, coping, and social support that may predispose one to experience stress or to be more reactive to potential stressors. We suggest that viewing the stress process comprehensively may have heuristic value in the study of bulimia. Such an approach provides a clearly articulated, testable model and facilitates organization of a currently confusing literature. We review current research on stress and bulimia in this context and try to identify what knowledge exists, where the gaps are, and what kinds of questions must be asked in future research.

Identification of stressors and use of coping methods in chronic hemodialysis patients.

Abstract: To explore relationships among treatment-related stressors, coping methods, and length of time on hemodialysis the Baldree, Murphy, and Powers (1982) study was replicated. Sixty-eight subjects completed the Hemodialysis Stressor Scale and the Jalowiec Coping Scale. Although Baldree et al. reported no significant difference in ratings of physiological and psychosocial stressors, results of this study showed that physiological stressors were more troublesome than psychosocial stressors, t = 10.85, p less than .0001. Subjects used problem-oriented coping more often than affective methods to handle stress, t = 10.93, p less than .0001, supporting the Baldree et al. findings. The results did not duplicate previous study findings of no significant relationships between stressor and coping scores. Total hemodialysis stressor scores were related to total coping scores, r = .43, and physiological stressors to affective coping, r = .38. However, psychosocial stressors were associated with affective-oriented, r = .43, and problem-oriented coping, r = .33. Length of time of hemodialysis was associated with problem-oriented coping, r = .26.

Workplace Stress and Indicators of Coronary-Disease Risk

Abstract: The article focuses on a study which evaluates the effects of perceived job stressors, job satisfaction and stressful life events on biochemical indicators of stress and a composite index of stress...

Stress of AIDS caregiving: A preliminary overview of the issues

Abstract: This paper describes the stressors experienced by lovers and friends who were caregivers to AIDS patients and the social supports and coping strategies they drew on in efforts to mediate stress. From exploratory, intensive interviews with San Francisco men who provided care in their homes or those of the patients, three types of stressor were identified. One involves exigencies within the caregiver role itself, such as the demands and burdens encountered in housekeeping and nursing activities and in the management of financial and legal affairs. A second type of stressor involves the uncertainties caregivers experience concerning their own future, uncertainties that arise from the fact that homosexual caregivers are often exposed to the same set of health risk factors as the patients. Third, being a caregiver can create stressful problems in other roles. Thus, the demands of caregivmg can disrupt multiple areas of life-occupational, economic, and social. Once disrupted, these become independent s...

Critical periods associated with stressor effects on antibody titers and on the plaque-forming cell response to sheep red blood cells.

Abstract: A series of experiments assessed the effects of stressors on the antibody response in mice. A critical period existed (72 h following antigen administration; sheep red blood cells 106 cells, ip) at which footshock reduced the plaque-forming cell (PFC) response in CD-1 mice. When shock was applied at other intervals following immunization (0, 24, 48, or 95 h) the PFC response was unaffected. The immunosuppression was unrelated to the time between stressor application and sacrifice, in that the reduced PFC response was evident both 24 and 48 h after stressor application, and reduced serum antibody titers (IgG) were evident 1 week after stressor exposure. The reduction of the PFC response was dependent on the severity of the stressor, but was not related to stressor controllability, being evident after both escapable and inescapable shock. It appears that stressful events may profoundly influence the immune response but the time between antigen administration and subsequent exposure to a stressor is critical in determining whether such an effect will be evident.

Mastery, Intimacy, and Stress Resistance during War

Abstract: The relationship between war-related stressors and emotional and behavioral adjustment during the Israel-Lebanon war was studied on a sample of 220 Israeli students, many of whom had been in combat. Mastery had direct effects on the well-being of both sexes. There was limited support for the stress-buffering effect of intimacy for men, such that those who had less intimate ties were increasingly negatively affected by greater exposure to war-related stressors, whereas those with more intimate relationships were relatively unaffected; the buffering effect applied both to emotions and behavior. No stress-buffering effect of intimate ties was found for women, but women were not affected by war-related stress at this time. The diagnosis post-traumatic stress disorder is examined in terms of the fact that normally healthy populations may be at increased risk of long-term adjustment difficulties following exposure to extreme stress if the threat of recurrence of the stressor continues. Implications for Vietnam veterans are also discussed.

Early Adolescents' Perceptions of Stress

Abstract: This study examined the types of events that early adolescents described as stressful, including the affective response (e.g., anger, sadness, anxiety) and impact (e.g., disruption of daily routine) associated with each event occurrence. Eighty-four male and female 4th-6th graders provided a corpus of 575 stressful events (X = 7.37). Few students described the events most commonly studied by stress researchers. Death of a pet was the most frequently mentioned stressor (69%), followed by death of a relative (60%), grades (32%), and illness/injury (32%). While self concerns, such as physical appearance, and moving to a new home produced the most wide ranging impacts associated with individual stressors, school emerged as the most stressful of the domains considered, generating the highest number of disruptive impacts and the second highest number of affective responses. These data underscore a need to obtain additional information concerning the stressors of early adolescence, as they are perceived by adole...

Perception and experience of types of social stress and self-image among adolescents

Abstract: Eighty-four 16–18-year-old male and female volunteers were sampled to test the relationship of ratings and experience of four types of social stressors (developmental transitions, induced transitions, daily hassles, and circumscribed events). Also the relationship of self-image as measured by the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire to each type of stressor was studied. Contrary to previous research, we did not find correlations between ratings and experience, and observed minimal gender differences in ratings, experience levels, and psychopathology. Several differences in impact were found when stressor types were differentiated. Apparently, developmental transitions are least stressful for adolescents and daily hassles are most influential on their self-image. Gender differences were noted in the perceived change required by types of stressors and the manner in which stressors impacted on self-image. These results suggest that it is important to distinguish type of Stressors by type of adjustment process required, and that previously reported gender differences are less a matter of global differences or affects of specific Stressors than a matter of variations in perceived adjustment required and aspect of functioning impacted.

Cardiovascular responses to an extended aversive video game task.

Abstract: Active coping stressors, which tend to produce increases in cardiac output disproportionate to metabolic need, may elicit compensatory autoregulatory responses elevating peripheral resistance if exposure is prolonged. Two studies (total N=24) were conducted in which healthy male undergraduates participated in both one-hour shock avoidance and separate counterbalanced baseline sessions. In an attempt to maximize subject involvement, a somewhat unconventional, complex shock avoidance procedure was employed. The subject could avoid mild electric shocks depending on video game performance. The primary dependent measures were heart rate, digital blood volume pulse (DBVP), and blood pressure. In both studies, most subjects exhibited immediate and pronounced increases in heart rate in response to the stressor, followed by some habituation. In contrast, DBVP responses did not usually habituate. Similarly, blood pressure was more or less constantly elevated by the stressor. The results of multiple regression analyses indicated that individual differences in mean arterial blood pressure response to the stressor were significantly related to individual differences in heart rate response to the first 15 minutes, but increasingly unrelated to heart rate response, and more related to DBVP response, as the session progressed.

Post-traumatic stress disorder in victims of rape

Abstract: Rape is a stressor that legitimately can be included in experiences that cause post-traumatic stress. A review of the professional literature on rape shows evidence for each of the criteria for PTSD. A sample of convenience of 29 rape victims showed a range of PTSD patterns, but 25 (86%) were either moderately or severely stressed. Victims consistently scored higher on standard stress measures than normal or out-patient samples. Implications of the study are discussed in terms of reframing the rape victim's experience as a response to traumatic stress.

Difficulties in assessing depressive-like reactions to chronic severe external stress as exemplified by spouse caregivers of Alzheimer patients.

Abstract: Problems in making differential diagnoses and severity ratings of depressive-like reactions in chronically, heavily stressed persons are described. These assessment concerns are especially pertinent to older persons. The assessment concern discussed relates to difficulties in determining the extent to which stress reactions are inevitable consequences of stressor demands versus excessive pathological reactions versus natural manifestations of aging. The newly revised criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd edition (DSM-III-R) and its associated structured interviews do not lessen the difficulties described. However, they reflect progress in specifying the amount of cross-sectional and longitudinal consistency required before maladaptive behaviours meet diagnostic and/or severity criteria as pathological indicators. Stressor level is important among the criteria for the less severe DSM-III-R depression-related disorders, but the specific response demands of the stressors are ignored. By contrast, biomedical factors are consistently given significant weight. To clarify these matters, the five DSM-III-R diagnostic axes, depressive diagnostic criteria, and associated structured interviews for eliciting relevant data are reviewed.

Work-related Stress, Self-efficacy, and Well-being of Female Clerical Workers

Abstract: This study examines individual differences (self-efficacy, marital status) and environmental factors (work stressors, personal and work supports) as predictors of two measures of well-being (trait anxiety and work performance). The data were collected from 56 female clerical workers employed by a large university. Multiple regression analyses showed that individual differences and environmental factors were significant predictors of well-being. For the criterion variable trait anxiety, self-efficacy and perceptions of work stress significantly contributed to the explained variance. However, the relationship between work stress and trait anxiety was greater for single than for married women. Self-efficacy and perceptions of work stress also predicted work performance impairment; that is, women with diminished selfefficacy and high work stress tended to report greater impairment of work performance. These results are discussed in relation to an individual counseling approach to the study and remedi...

Familial abuse and post‐traumatic stress disorder

Abstract: Previous study of a sample of 149 adolescent runaways showed that youths who left home because of familial physical abuse were more likely than youths who left home for other reasons to report symptomatology consistent with the diagnostic criteria of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The literature suggests that stress reactions, such as PTSD, are not direct responses to stressors, such as familial abuse. Rather, these relationships are mediated by factors which influence a person's ability to cope with stressors. This paper reports the results of exploring two factors which influence coping ability: (1) perceptions of control over the stressor, and (2) the availability of intrafamilial social support. Using information from the same sample of 149 adolescent runaways, we compared youth who left home because of familial physical abuse to youth who did not on the basis of these two coping resources. Results show that victims of familial physical abuse are significantly more likely than are other runaways to believe that they could not have changed or controlled the events that led to their running. Further, the intrafamilial social support systems of these young victims are highly dysfunctional. Study findings support the contention that factors which decreased the coping ability of runaway victims of familial abuse heightened the probability of their developing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Maternal Modulation of Pituitary-Adrenal Activity During Ontogeny

Abstract: The fundamental contribution of adrenal corticoid steroid hormones (CORT) in the regulation of a wide range of physiological and behavioral phenomena have now been well documented (Munck et al., 1984). Hormones secreted from the adrenal cortex have been shown to be essential for gene expression, metabolic processes, functions of the immune system and effect of brain function which concern not only the regulation of the adrenal cortex but also contribute to specific aspects of behavior, including learning and memory. In view of the profound role that these hormones play in the regulation of bodily functions, it is not surprising that the regulation of their secretion has been studied extensively. Studies of regulation have been conducted at every level of the regulatory system which includes the adrenal, pituitary, hypothalamus, and many other structures in the central nervous system. Based primarily on the classic contributions of Hans Selye, secretion of these hormones have generally been associated with stressful events. Early stress research emphasized that responses of the organism to a wide variety of stimuli were non-specific. These studies demonstrated increased activity in the adrenal cortex to a variety of “physical” stressors (Selye, 1950). However, in 1975, Mason suggested that much of the early research on stress, especially that involving exposure to a variety of physical stimuli, shared one important characteristic. One of the primary qualities of the stressful experience was exposure of the animal to a novel strange or unfamiliar environment. Therefore, a common element that may have accounted for the adrenal responses was the psychological relevance of the event rather than the particular physical stressors to which they were exposed. Mason was able to demonstrate that exposure of the animals to different physical stimuli, including heat, cold, reduction of caloric intake, was not always accompanied by activation of CORT (corticosterone-cortisol = CORT) particularly, when the stress was imposed in such a way that the animal could not readily detect changes in the environment.

Gifted Children's Responses to a Cognitive Stressor.

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in physiological responses to an induced cognitive stressor when comparing intellectually gifted children with nongifted children. After the administration of a color-discrimination stressor, the skin temperature change for 30 intellectually gifted junior high school students was compared to that of 30 nongifted students. The temperature change of the gifted sample was significantly less than that of the nongifted group, and the recovery time of the gifted group was considerably faster. The findings indicate that gifted children may be less prone to react to cognitive stressors and recover more rapidly than nongifted children.

Teacher stress and coping strategies: a study of Eastlake Comprehensive

Abstract: This paper represents a summary and discussion of the findings of a single site case study which investigated the causes, reactions, and coping strategies relating to teacher stress in a comprehensive high school. Data analysis suggested that the problem of stress was multi‐dimensional in nature; levels of stress depended upon the interaction of any number of stressors which may be modified by experience, status, and the individual coping process. Coping strategies were found to be complex patterns of actions which were palliative or direct‐action, used in sequence or simultaneously to combat stress. The findings suggest pointers for the multi‐level management of stress which may need to extend beyond self‐management strategies.

Psychological stress increases pituitary cyclic AMP.

Abstract: Exposure to physical stressors has been shown to produce increases in pituitary cyclic AMP in laboratory rats. In this experiment, the generality of these findings has been extended to include a psychological stressor, defined as returning the animals to a situation in which they had been exposed to footshock for four days. Rats in the psychological stress group exhibited increases in pituitary cyclic AMP and in plasma corticosterone and prolactin which were similar to those seen in animals that received the physical stressor on the test day. At present it is not known whether the effects are due to associative conditioning or to sensitization of the neuroendocrine system following repeated presentations of the physical stressor.