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Flashcards

Stress Key Studies

Benjamin Smith Psychology AS level English 48 cards

Cards in this deck (48)

  1. 1Stress Key StudiesSelye (1936)
    Was the first to use the term stress in a psychological context. He viewed the response as an attempt by the body to adapt to the stressor. This is an effective protective response in the short-term, to an acute stressor. If the stressor is prolonged serious damage can occur, including stress-related illnesses. Selye believed that the process of adapting to a stressor goes through 3 stages, which he called the General Adaptive Syndrome: Alarm reaction, Resistance and Exhaustion.
  2. 2Selye (1936) Supported his model with research. He intially experimented with rats, subjecting them to various stressors including extreme cold, excessive muscular exercise and surgical injury. This was a general response of the body that could not be attributed to any specific injury, a bodily reaction to damage that appeared after 6 to 48 hours. Selye was then able to track the rats response to continuing stressor through the resistance and exhaustion stages, providing the first evidence for the GAS. This shows that the body's general response to a stressor is a physiological reality, at least in ratsMason (1971)
    Replicated Selye's procedures using 7 stressors in studies of monkeys rather than rats. He measured the monkeys' levels of urinary cortisol and found varied effects depending on the stressor. For instance, extreme cold increased cortisol levels, extreme heat reduced them, and excessive exercise produced no changes.
  3. 3Taylor (2006) Argued that the stress response explained on these pages is characteristic of males only. More adaptive in females is the 'tend and befriend' response, in which a threat is met with tending of offspring and befriending of other females to provide social support.Larazus (1999)
    Argues that we make appraisals of a stressor by actively working out if it is a threat and whether we have the resources to cope with it
  4. 4Speisman et al (1964) Asked students to watch a primitive (and gruesome) medical procedure on film while their heart rates were measured. Changes to heart rate depended on how the students interpreted what was happening in the film. If they believed the procedure was traumatic, their heart rate increased. But if they interpreted the procedure to be part of voluntary and joyful rite rates increased. But if they interpreted the procedure to be part of a voluntary and joyful rite of passage, their heart rates actually decreasedKiecolt-Glaser et al (1984)
    Investigated the effects of exams: 75 medical students gave blood samples twice, one month before an exam period (low-stress) and on the day of the first exam (high-stress). They also completed questionnaires measuring sources of stress and self-reported psychological symptoms. The researchers found that the activity of NK and killer T cells decreases between the first and second samples, evidence of an immune response being suppressed by a common stressor. This decline was most apparent in students who reported feeling most lonely and in those experiencing other sources of stress such as significant events in their lifes
  5. 5Kiecolt-Glaser et al (1991) Carried out a longitudinal study in which they compared the health and immune functioning two groups of people: caregivers looking after a relative with Alzheimer's disease, and a matched group of non-caregivers. Over a period of 13 months, the caregivers showed an increase in antibodies to the Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), a herpes virus. There was no such increase in the control participants. This funding is a clear indicator of a weaker cell-based immune response. The caregivers also had an infectious illness on significantly more days and higher levels of depression with 32% of the caregivers meeting the criteria for clinical depression (only 6% in the control group)Rahe et al (1970)
    Procedure
    Studies US navy personnel assigned to three ships. The participants completed a version of a scale called the Schedule of Recent Experiences (forerunner to the SRRS). This covered the six months before their deployment on a tour of duty. A total LCU calculated for each participant for this retrospective six-month period. Once on board the tour of duty, every illness, no matter how trivial, had to be reported to the medical unit. After the ships returned from their missions, an independent researcher reviewed all the medical records and calculated an illness score for each participant. Neither the participants nor the onboard medical staff was aware of the purpose of the study or what the data was being used for
  6. 6Rahe et al (1970) Findings The reseachers found a significant positive correlation between the LCU scores for the 6 months before departure and the score for illnesses aboard ship. In other words, those who experienced the most stressful life changes in the final 6 months before leaving on active service, also had the most illnesses in the following 6 months aboard shipLiezen et al (2011)
    Used data from the health and Social support study and Finland to follow over 160,000 adults who didn't have asthma at the start of the study. They found that a high level of life change stress was a reliable predictor of asthma onset.
  7. 7Turner and Wheaton (1995) Asked their participants to rate the desirability of the life changes they selected on the SRRS. They found that undesirable or negative life events caused most of the stress measured by the scale and not life changes as such. They propose that this might be due to the frustration associated with negative life changes that aren't associated with positive eventsDelongis et al (1988)
    Studied the effects of hassles in 75 married couples over a 6-month period. They found that the more hassles their participants experienced, the more likely they were to suffer consequent health problems
  8. 8Lazarus et al (1980) Questioned whether stress is best charaterised by the big life changes that by definition happen to us only infrequently and often unpredictably. They suggested that looking at daily hassles instead could give us a better understanding of how stress can make us illKanner et al (1981)
    Procedure
    They constructed a Hassles Scale which 100 participants completed every month for nine consecutive months, along with a measure of life changes. It uses a checklist to measure 117 hassles in terms of how often they occur, and how severe they are. The participants also twice completed a scale to measure life changes. The first occasion was one month before the study began and the second was during the tenth month. This meant the researchers had two measures of life changes: one for the 10 months of the study, and another for the two and half years prior to the start of the study. Finally, the participants completed the Hopkins Symptom Checklist, a scale to measure psychological symptoms of anxiety and depression, such as feeling lonely and worthless and crying for no reason
  9. 9Kanner et al (1981) Findings Found significant positive correlations between hassles frequency and psychological symptoms at the start and the end of the study, for both men and women. So the more hassles the participants experienced, the more severe were their psychological symptoms of depression and anxiety. Most importantly, again for both men and women, hassles were a stronger predictor of psychological symptoms than life changes. This was true regardless of whether life changes were measured over the two and a half years before the study or ten months during itIvancevich (1986)
    The participants in this study completed the Hassles and Uplifts scale plus the SRE. Assessments of general health, performance and absenteeism were also taken. Ivancevich found that daily hassles were superior predictors of poor health, poor job performance and absenteeism from work compared with life changes. So in terms of these organisational measures, it seems to be the day-in-day-out stressors that matter more than the significant life changes experienced only rarely.
  10. 10Luo Li (1991) Said that the hassle becomes 'last straw' that nudges us over the edge into psychological symptoms or physical illness. But it is the life change that is the real culprit, and the daily hassle is just the immediate precipitating factorHelms et al (2010)
    Argue that because men and women have different roles within most families, they experience the same everyday events differently. Feminist researchers have been keen to point out that a domestic chore performed rarely may be bearable, enjoyable even
  11. 11Karasek (1979) Created the job demands-control model of workplace stress. The model states that the stressful demands of a job, such as work overload, can lead to poor health, dissatisfaction and absenteeism. But, crucially, this relationship can be modified by the amount of control the employee has over their work. So when 2 people have equally demanding jobs, only one of them becomes ill, the one who lacks control over their work. Having job control acts as a buffer against the negative effects of demandsBosma et al (1997)
    Procedure
    The study used a detailed questionnaire to measure various aspect of workload and job control. Participants have also examined for symptoms of coronary heart disease (CHD) and followed up after five years.
  12. 12Bosma et al (1997) Findings The researchers found no correlation between workload and illness, so job demands appeared not to be significant workplace stressor. As for control the study painted a very different picture . Those employees who reported having a low degree of control at the start of the study were more likely to have CHD 5 years later, even when other risk factors were statistically accounted for. This was true across all job grades. So the status and the support is given to higher grade civil servants didn't offset the risk of developing CHD, if their jobs lacked control. A later analysis confirmed that his relationship was not affected by an individual difference in personality or by coping skillsJohnansson et al (1978)
    Part 1
    Carried out a natural experiment comparing two very different groups of workers in a Swedish sawmill. One group consisted of 14 wood 'finishers', whose job was to prepare the timber that came out of the sawmill. The job was repetitive and the finishers were cut off from the other workers. Because it was dictated by machine these employees had little control over their work. Yet the job was demanding because it was complex, skilled and carried a lot of responsiblity. The wages of everyone else on the production line depended on the finishers' productivity. The second group consisted of cleaners, who had a very different role. They had more control, greater flexibility, more contact with other workers, and much less responsibility.
  13. 13Johansson et al (1978) Part 2 The researcher's measures levels of employee illness and absenteeism from personnel records. They also measured levels of the stress hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline in the workers' urine, once before leaving home in the morning and then at work 3 times in a day. They found a higher level of stress hormones in the finishers group overall. The first samples of each day showed the finishers already had higher hormone levels than the cleaners, even before they got to work. Also, the finishers' hormone levels increased over the day, but the cleaners' level decreased. Finally, there were more stress-related illnesses among the finishers, and absenteeism was higher.Gyorkos et al (2012)
    Reviewed cross-cultural studies and found that lack of control was seen as stressful in individualist cultures such as the UK and USA. But in collective cultures control was considered less desirable. The very concept of job control may be a Western notion reflecting individualist ideals of equity and personal rights. It may not generalise to non-Western cultures which prioritise the good of the wider group, community and society
  14. 14Cong Liu et al (2007) Found no significant cultural differences in terms of workload. It was rated as the third most stressful workplace stressor in both individualist and collectivist cultures. It would appear that workload is a culturally generalisable concept and understood as stressful in the world work is doneMeier et al (2008)
    Used a detailed questionnaire to measure feelings of stress. Employees with a low sense of self-efficacy reported feeling more stain in jobs that gave them more control. The reverse was true for employees with high self-efficacy beliefs - low control was more stressful
  15. 15Holmes and Rahe (1967) Part 1 Studied the medical records of thousands of hospital patients, identifying the events in the patients' lives that happened not long before they were ill. The SRRS presents a list of 43 of these life changes. However, it was obvious that not all of these events were equally stressful because they didn't require the same degree of adjustment to adapt to them. Therefore they knew they would need to attach a value to each life change to reflect the degree of adjustment needed.Holmes and Rahe (1967)
    Part 2
    So they asked several hundred participants to rate each item for the amount of life change needed to adapt between 1 and 1000. As a guide, the raters had to imagine that marriage was 500 units of life change. The researchers calculated means for each item and further divided these figures by ten. This created the LCU (life change units) score for each change. The changes were then ranked from highest to lowest.
  16. 16Kanner et al (1961) Part 1 Proposed that the combined effects of daily hassles and uplifts would be more useful indicators of stress, and developed the Hassles and Uplifts scale to measure them. The Hassles scale consists of 117 items selected by the researchers from 7 categories: work, health, family, friends, environment, practical considerations and chance occurrence. The scale measures the severity of each hassle on a 3-point scale: somewhat, moderately or extremely severe. The severity measure reflects the fact that the psychological meaning of each hassle to the individual is more important than how often it happens.Kanner et al (1961)
    Part 2
    The uplifts scale was constructed in a similar process: 135 items were produced from the same content areas as the hassles scale. The individual identifies all of the uplifts that apply and then indicates how often they have experienced them over a specified time period. After several years of research with the Hassles and Uplifts Scale, some limitations were identified, so was updated by Anita DeLongis et al (1988) and became the Hassles and Uplifts Questionnaire
  17. 17Dohrenwend et al (1990) In which participants were asked what they thought the items meant. To take just 2 examples: 'serious illness and injury' was interpreted in a huge variety of ways from 'flu' to a 'sprained arm' to 'a life-threatening heart attack'. 'Death of a close friend' was understood by some participants to refer to childhood friends they had not been in touch with for years.Dohrenwend (2006)
    Points out people experiencing the greatest degree of stress when they complete a self-report scale place the most negative interpretations on the items
  18. 18Gary Stern et al (1982) Completed the SRRS in the usual checklist fashion. But they were also asked to indicate which items they believed were controllable life changes and which were uncontrollable. The uncontrollable life changes were reasonably reliable changes were reasonably reliable predictors of later physical illness whereas the controllable changes were not.Friedman and Rosenman (1959)
    They suspected that their patients - who mostly had coronary heart disease (CHD) - shared some common personality characteristics. The hypothesis was that CHD was associated with a certain pattern of behaviour which they called Type A personality.
  19. 19Friedman (1996) Later described Type A in terms of 3 major groups of behaviours. He suggested that people with a Type A personality demonstrated high levels of: - Competitiveness: They are driven, achievement-motivated, ambitious, aware of their own and other people's status, and view life in terms of challenges, goals and targets - Time urgency: Type As are fast-talking, impatient, determinedly proactive, see creative pursuits as a waste of time, and have a distinct preference for multi-tasking - Hostility: They are aggressive, intolerant, inflexible and quick to anger.Friedman and Rosenman also identified the characteristics of Type B personalities. Basically, these contrast in every way with the features of Type A. People who are Type B are more relaxed, tolerant, reflective, 'laid back' and less competitive than Type As
  20. 20Friedman and Rosenman (1974) Procedure The men were all medically assessed as free of CHD at the start of the study. They were also assessed fro personality type, by being asked 25 questions in a structured interview. The questions concerned their responses to everyday irrations, such as having to wait in queues. The interviews were conducted in a way designed to incite Type A-related behaviour in the participants. For example, the interviewer would be aggressive and frequently interrupt. Behaviour was observed and measured, and this enabled the researchers to classify participants as Type A or Type BFriedman and Rosenman (1974)
    Findings
    8 1/2 years later, 257 men had developed CHD; 70% of these individuals had been assessed at the start of the study as Type A. This was almost twice as many as the Type Bs who developed CHD, even when known CHD risk factors were accounted for. Type As had higher levels of the stress hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline and higher blood pressure and cholesterol levels. This suggests that type A people, because of their personality, are vulnerable to stressors. Their impatience and hostility causes a raised physiological stress response, which in turn makes them prone to CHD
  21. 21Temoshok (1987) Proposed the third personality type, Type C, which is linked to cancer. Type C people have memorably been described as manifesting pathological niceness. Because they are 'people pleasers', they strive t be compliant, patient beyond all reason, passive and self-sacrificing. However, there is a serious downside. Because they wish above all else to avoid conflict, they frequently repress their emotions. This is linked to cancer-pronenessDattore et al (1980)
    Studied 200 veterans of the Vietnam War. 75 of them were cancer patients and the rest formed a control group of people with non-cancer diagnosis. They had all completed scales to repression of emotions and symptoms of depression several years before they were diagnosed. So this was a prospective study. The researchers found that the cancer patients reported significantly greater emotional repression and fewer depression symptoms than the non-cancer controls. The finding related to depression may appear surpising, but ut supports the view that people who repress their emotions are unlikely to acknowlegde they are depressed. This is evidence of a link between Type C and cancer-proneness
  22. 22Jose Edigo et al (2012) Studied 150 Spanish men and women, under 65 years old, who had a stroke, and compared them with a matched control group. The researchers found that the stroke sufferers were more likely to have Type A personalities. This was true of men and women and could not be explained by traditional lifestyle-associated risk factorsRagland and Brand (1998)
    Followed-up men from the original WCGS who survived a heart attack. They confirmed Friedman and Rosenman's finding that there were more Type As in this group. but after further follow-up period, the researchers found that survivors who were Type B were more likely to die than Type As
  23. 23Dembroski et al (1989) Reanalysed the data from the WCGS and found that rating of hostility significantly predicted later incidence of CHDCarmelli et al (1991)
    Confirmed Dembroski conclusion by finding exceptionally high CHD death rates in a subgroup of men with high hostility scores
  24. 24Friedman et al (1985) Modified the classification because research produced many inconsistent and even contradictory findings. They argued that 'Type A' is not the same as 'coronary-proneness'. Some type As can be described as confident and active, and these people are unlikely to develop CHD. On the other hand. some Type Bs are quiet and unaggressive because they are suppressing their ambition and hostility. These people may well develop CHD, despite being assessed as Type BGreer and Morris (1975)
    Found a link between the emotional suppression typical of Type C, and breast cancer, but only in women under the age of 50. Reseaarch inot the links between Type C and cancer is plagued by inconsistent findings and failures to replicate apparently significant results. If Type C is associated with cancer-proneness, it appears that the relationship is not straightforward and is probably moderated by age and other factors
  25. 25Kobasa (1979) Proposed that hardiness is an aspect of personality, a set of characteristics that some people have but others don'tMaddi (1986)
    Said that hardiness gives us existential courage, the will or determination to keep going despite all the setbacks life throws at us and the uncertainties we have about what the future might bring. Early research identified 3 dimensions to hardiness, collectively known as the 3 Cs: Commitment, Challenge and Control
  26. 26Kobasa (1979) Procedure Measured the life changes of 670 male American middle and senior managers aged between 40 and 49 years. She used the schedule of recent experiences (the forerunner of the SRRS) to identify those who had experienced high levels of stress over the previous 3 years. When she came to look at their absenteeism records and levels of illness (measured by the Seriousness of Illness Survey), she found some wide variationsKobasa (1979)
    Findings
    The managers didn't all respond to the same degree of stress int he same way. Some of them appeared to be more resilient because they could tolerate high levels of stress without becoming ill or taking time off work. She interpreted this finding as confirming the role of hardiness. Sure enough, when they were assessed, this subset of resilient managers scored highly on the 3 C's of challenge, commitment and control
  27. 27Maddi (1987) Procedure Spent several years studying 400 managers and supervisors at the Bell Telephone company in the US. During this time, the company underwent one of the biggest reorganisations in American corporate history. Thousands of people lost their jobs and it was an extremely stressful experience for the employees who stayed with the companyMaddi (1987)
    Findings
    There were significant declines in performance and health in about two-thirds of the study participants, with outcomes including heart attacks, strokes, depression and drug abuse. But the rest of the managers (about one-third) were not affected in this way. Instead, they flourished: their health didn't deteriorate, they felt happier and more fulfilled at work than ever and seemed to be rejuvenated by the whole stressful experience. Just as Kobasa had done, Maddi found that these resilient managers scored highly on measures of the 3 Cs. They basically welcomed the reorganisation as a challenge over which they could exercise control, and threw themselves into making it 'work for them'
  28. 28Funk (1992) Pointed out that the most popular scales measure hardiness by asking questions about negative traits such as powerlessness and alienation. A hardy individual will get low scores on these items, so a lack of these negative traits is taken to indicate hardiness. Therefore these scales may be measuring a lack of neuroticism rather than hardiness as such because neuroticism is charaterised by anxiety, fear, moodiness and worry,Bartone (2000)
    Developed the Dispositional Resilience Scale to avoid the confounding of hardiness with neuroticism, providing a more valid measue
  29. 29Hull et al (1987) Recommended that research focuses on control and commitment only and abandons the challenge component altogetherContrada (1989)
    Found that hardy people had lower blood pressure, but he was not able to choose between two explanations of this finding. One possibility is that being a hardy person could reduce the physiological effects of stressors on the body. The alternative explanation is that hardy people might be better at engaging in healthy behaviours, such as taking regular exercise and not smoking, this indirectly reduces their risk of becoming ill.
  30. 30Contrada (1989) Studied male students' responses to a stressful laboratory task. He found that those students who scored highest on a measure of hardiness had lower levels of blood pressure in response to the stressor. Interestingly, the lowest blood pressure levels were found in students who were not only hardy but also had Type B personalitiesBartone et al (2008)
    Measured hardiness in a sample of candidates applying for positions within the US Army Species Forces. This is a particularly stressful role within the US military, so candidates have to endure a tough selection procedure including a 4-week assessment course. The researchers found that those who passed the course were significantly hardier than those who didn't
  31. 31Bartone (1999) Showed that hardiness is linked to resilience in the face of combat stressBaldwin et al (2013)
    Concluded that there is good evidence that BZs are significantly more effective than placebo in treating acute anxiety, but that some BZ drugs are more effective than others.
  32. 32Kelly (1980) Concluded that beta blockers were effective for treating everyday anxieties associated with public speaking, exam nerves, and even the civil disturbances of living in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. Beta blockers can be useful for people with social anxiety disorder, in which fear of speaking in public is a major stressor. Sufferers in these situations are acutely aware of their physiological responses, and this makes them even more anxious. Because beta blockes reduce this arousel, they can prevent further anxiety developingHayes and Schulz (1987)
    Demonstrated that bate blockers are an effective treatment for the physical symptoms of stress but maybe even more useful in combination with other drugs such as BZs
  33. 33Gaind and Jacoby (1978) BZ's have well-known side effects including drowsiness, weight gain, respiration problems and some cases, according to them, paradoxical reactions. This is the opposite outcomes to the ones you expect from treatment by the drug. They include criminal behaviours such as shoplifting, other impulsive behaviour and uncontrollable emotional responses like weepingMeichenbuam and Cameron (1973)
    Identified 3 phases of SIT. Each phase focuses on the practical steps needed to help the client. The phases are not completely distinct, they overlap and there may be some working backwards to an earlier phase to refresh before moving on
  34. 34Meichenbaum (2007) There should be a warm and collaborative rapport. The therapist is supportive and has a facilitating role, but the client retains responsibility for their progress. It is the client who is the expert on his or her own stress experiences, not the therapistLitz et al (2004)
    Said that SIT can be used with individuals, couples, groups large and small, families and a wide variety of settings. Duration of training can last from 20 mins to 40 or more hours over several months. Techniques can be tailored to specific needs; for example, some skills might be especially suitable for elderly people, or people with learning difficulties. It has even been adapted for online use
  35. 35Stiegler (2012) Said that SIT is so flexible that it has the potential to be an effective method of managing any form of stress, including in situations where people face racism and homophobiaSaunders et al (1996)
    Conducted a meta-analysis of 37 studies into SIT effective for reducing anxiety in performance situations and for enhancing performance under stress. they also found SIT was as effective for people experiencing extreme anxiety as it was for those with moderate or normal levels.
  36. 36Thomas Budzynski (1973) Identified 3 main phases to biofeedback training: - The client learns to become aware of their physiological response and how it can be adjusted in the desired direction - The client learns how to use various techniques to control the response - Control of the response has to be transferred to everyday life, so the client practises in stressful situations rather than in the safety and comfort of a therapy roomDavis (1986)
    Used EMG biofeedback with breast cancer patients. There were 13 45-minute sessions held over an 8-week period, during which the patients learnt deep-breathing and relaxation techniques. After eight months, levels of urinary cortisol and self-reported anxiety were significantly lower in these patients than they had been at the start of the study. In a group of control participants, who had no form of therapy, cortisol levels increased. The researchers concluded that this was evidence of established of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system by biofeedback
  37. 37Lemaire et al (2011) Used medical doctors as their participants and trained them to use a biofeedback device. They used it 3 times a day over a 28 day period and also completed a questionnaire measuring their perception of how stressed they were. The mean stress score for the biofeedback users fell significantly over the course of the study. The corresponding score for a control group also fell, but by a much smaller amountLemaire et al (2011)
    Took measurements of heart-rate, blood pressure and cortisol levels on each occasion biofeedback were used over the 28-day duration of the study. There were no significant changes in these physiological measurements between the start and end of this period, suggesting that biofeedback had a very little effect on objective, physiological indicators of the stress response
  38. 38Greenhalgh et al (2009) Reviewed 36 studies (1660 patients) of biofeedback treatment for hypertension (persistent high blood pressure) a physiological outcome. They concluded that biofeedback was no more effective than other treatments such as drugs for treating hypertension, cognitive behaviour therapy and self-monitoring. It was also no more effective than placebo or even no treatment at allBussone et al (1998)
    Treated children suffering from tension headaches with either relaxation on its own or with BART (relaxation plus biofeedback). Headache frequency reduced in both groups by 55% 3 months after treatment. However, improvements were greater in the BART group after one year and 3 years
  39. 39Lazarus and Folkman (1984) Made the distinction between problem- and emotional-focused coping was first. Problem-focused methods reduce stress by tackling its root causes in a direct, practical and rational way. This typically involves taking control to remove or escape from the stress and learning new skills such as time management or relaxation techniques. Emotional-focused methods reduce stress indirectly by tackling the anxiety associated with a stressor. Ways of doing this include various forms of avoidance, such as distraction and keeping busy. It is also possible to use the cognitive appraisal to think about the stressor more positivelyPeterson et al (2006)
    Assessed the coping strategies of men and women who had been diagnosed as infertile. They used several measures including the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (Folkman et al (1986)). Men and women used a variety of strategies, but a key difference emerged. Women were more likely to accept blame and use various avoidance tactics, both of which are thought to be charateristic of an emotion-focused approach. Men were more likely to use planful problem-solving, a feature of a problem-focused approach
  40. 40Taylor et al (2000) Pointed out that most research into the fight or flight response has been conducted on male participants. This means that it may not describe the stress response of women well. From an evolutionary perspective, flight or fight is disadvantageous for a female because confronting or fleeing from a predator would make it difficult for her to protect her offspring. Therefore females have evolved a different response to stressor called 'tend and befriend'. Tending is protecting, calming and nurturing offspring and blending in with the environment rather than confronting a threat. Befriending involves seeking support from social networks at times of stress in order to cope.Luckow et al (1998)
    Reviewed 26 studies of gender differences in 'seeking and using social support' as a way of coping with stress. Women were more likely to use this method in 25 of these studies. So it seems that women very strongly favour befriending in stressful situations, much more so than men.
  41. 41Lewis and Linder (2000) Found that most of their female participants, when confronted with a stressful experience, preferred to wait for female support rather than seek it from a man. This may in part have evolved as a mechanism for protecting females and their offspring against threatening males, even close family membersTaylor et al (2002)
    Found that higher levels of oxytocin were linked to were linked with lower cortisol levels in their females participants only. There was also a quicker recovery of the HPA system after exposure to a stressful task. It appears that the female sex hormone oestrogen increases the effects of oxytocin, but male hormones (androgens) reduce them. Thus oxytocin effects are stronger in women, generally creating a reduced stress response
  42. 42Matud (2004) Found that women and men experienced similar numbers of stressful life changes but of different types. Women reported more family-related stressors and men more work-related ones. Women also perceived their stressors as more negative and less controllable, and their coping style was more emotion-focused than that of menPeterson et al (2006)
    Studied infertility stress in men and women referred for IVF. They found some gender differences, but more importantly, they discovered that men and women used coping methods that didn't fit the classic distinction between emotion-focused and problem-focused like which is social support. In fact, some can be classed as either or both. Women use social support extensively, sometimes to seek information (problem-focused) and sometimes for emotional support (emotion-focused)
  43. 43Tamres et al (2002) Carried out a meta-analysis of 26 studies comparing the coping strategies of men and women. Women were significantly more likely than men to seek social support, a coping method that is central part of the befriending response to stressful situations.Feldman et al (2007)
    Measured oxytocin in women during pregnancy and soon after they had given birth. They found that women with the highest oxytocin levels formed stronger bonds with their newborn babies
  44. 44Porter and Stone (1995) Measured coping behaviour daily throughout their study. Women reported more relationship-related stressors and men more work-related ones, as other research has shown. But when this variation in stressors in stressors was accounted for, there were no gender differences in coping methods. The choice of coping style doesn't depend on gender but on the nature of the stressful situationDe Ridder (2000)
    Found that women reported using emotion-focused coping more than men, but only when recalling retrospectively. This difference disappeared when participants used ecological momentary assessment (EMA), a method of reporting coping strategies at regular intervals during the day
  45. 45Schaefer et al (1981) Identified at least 3 distinct forms of social support: - Instrumental support, practical help such as lendings money, cooking a meal, providing information - Emotional support, giving someone a 'shoulder to cry on' to help them feel better - Esteem support, helping someone to attach greater value to themselves so they view their abilities with greater confidenceCohen et al (2015)
    Procedure
    They telephoned 404 healthy adult participants every evening for 14 consecutive days to measure the number of hugs they received each day. The participants also completed a questionnaire to assess perceived social support. Stress was measured in terms of daily interpersonal conflicts. The researchers then placed the participants in quarantine, exposed them to a common cold virus, and monitored them for signs of illness (remember that stress acts as an immunosuppressant, therefore, we expect people who are more stressed to become ill)
  46. 46Cohen et al (2015) Findings The participants who experience the most interpersonal conflicts were most likely to become ill. But those who perceived they had greater social support had a significantly reduced risk of illness. Hugs accounted for up to 1/3rd of the protective effect of social support. Participants who had the most frequent hugs were less likely to become infected and, for those who did, the symptoms were less severe than those who had fewer hugs. Perceived social support acts as a buffer against stress, and hugs are a behavioural sign of actual emotional supportFawzy Fawzy et al (1993)
    Randomly allocated patients with malignant melanoma to a support group for just 6 weeks, 1 sessions a week. The groups provided an opportunity for patients to express their feelings (emotional support) but also to get information and advice about their illness. 6 years later, the support group patients had better NK cell functioning and were more likely to be alive and free of cancer than patients in a control group
  47. 47Luckow et al (1998) Reviewed 26 studies that investigated gender differences in social support coping. One of the studies showed no difference, but 25 found that women used social support as a means of coping with stress more than men did. This difference was especially pronounced in the case of emotional supportTaylor et al (2004)
    Compared Americans of European and Asian origins. They found that Asian-Americans were much less likely to seek and use social support networks in times of stress. They were concerned not ot disrupt the harmony of their communities by bringing their own problems to everybody's attention. European-Americans viewed relationships as resouced to draw upno to help cope with stressful situations
  48. 48Cohen and Wills (1985) Said social support is benefical because it protects us against negative effects of stressors by creating a psychological distance. But the hypothesis also argues that social support provides few benefits when stress is absent. Support acts as a reserve that dampens the impact of stressors and allows us to cope better

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AS level Psychology Flashcards on Stress Key Studies, created by Benjamin Smith on 06/03/2018.
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