How Stressful Is My Life Self Assessment

Stress has a profound effect on health becoming a topic under health psychology, a subfield of psychology dealing with ways psychological factors influence the causes, treatment of physical illness and maintenance of health. Stress has a multitude of sources from natural disasters to small annoyances that interrupts people’s daily lives. Research from Brown and McGill has also shown that positive events can also generate stress due to readjustment or unpreparedness. Unfortunately in life people will experience chronic stressors which are sources of stress that occur continuously or repeatedly. Accumulation of small stressors such as bullying and money troubles can lead up to distress and illness. These daily stressors are reported to have more psychological and physical symptoms which can have a greater and long lasting impact than major life

Stress can come from anything we do in our daily lives, even if it is a positive or negative change. To measure the amount of stress a single event can cause two men named Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe came up with the Social Readjustment Rating Scale. Over time this scale has been modified to accommodated for

(February 2014) Similar to this study I used a stress scale although, I reduced mine to a scale between: 1-5. “5” being the highest level of stress. The Stress in America study used a Perceived Stress Scale that participants self-monitored their stress levels by answering where they would answer such questions as “how often have you felt irritable and angry in the last month” and they could answer,(very often, sometimes, never etc.) For my purposes I asked myself the following three questions and used the following rating system to determine my stress levels that day.(Angus, n.d.)

The higher the score the less stressful the week was, and the less the score the more stressful your week has been. This stress scale has really opened the eyes of individuals based on how just one intervention can change the stress scale score tremendously. The Perceived Stress Scale is very valuable when determining how stressed and individual is each week. Cohen (1994) stated, “ A Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) is supposed to very effective, easy to understand, and alternatives are easy to grasp.” So, therefore, the PSS helps evaluate the stress levels of individuals per

The Stress Map is a unique tool that has allowed me to become more aware of the areas I hold stress in my life. By becoming aware of my own stress, I am able to identify areas of concern that may be causing an impact on others. The stress map has enabled me to develop self awareness and strive to improve my stressors to avoid impacting my performance and focus on other important aspects in my life. The Stress Map survey is a useful tool for improving perspective and promoting a balanced lifestyle. Additionally, this tool has increased my awareness for the various stresses others may be experiencing. This tool will encourage me to

Our book describes stress as “any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten one’s well-being and tax one’s coping ability” (Weiten, 2014). Stress is not necessarily a traumatic, life destroying event. It can be as simple a small change in one’s daily schedule. People will have multiple stresses throughout their lifetime. Some will be little and daily, but overtime these add up and can affect you in many ways. Stress can be positive or negative and can take many forms; a few being frustration, internal conflict, change, and pressure. All of which make almost a daily appearance in my life (Weiten, 2014).

After marking the points for the Holmes-Rahe life stress inventory and reading what the point value means, I definitely disagree with the assessment. There are two reasons I disagree with the inventory; the first being, this inventory takes a snapshot of past events and does not reference future factors that may or may not affect the events you had selected. The second reason is, I do not understand how some of the events one the inventory would add a higher chance of having a stress related health breakdown. For example, a promotion, vacation, or holidays should be life events which lowers stress for an individual. I agree that individuals deal with life events and stress in different ways, which is why I believe inventories, health quizzes, and health questions should be tailored to the individual taking them. Perhaps then people will have a more accurate picture in order to properly plan, organize, and prioritize their life events thereby limiting stress and allowing more control over stress related health.

1. Randall, R., Cox, T. & Griffiths, A. (2007). Participants ' accounts of a stress

Stress is one of the number one causes that contribute to people’s health problems. According to Weber.edu, “in Healthy People 2000, a report from the U.S.

The stress process model is an attempt to measure the social origins of one’s physical and mental health. A stressor is some event or stimulus that causes stress such as discrimination, or even just breaking a nail. Stressors can either be a minor annoyance or a major trauma, and it can occur just one time, or be a recurring problem in one’s life. Stress is one’s physical response to stressors, and is many times referred to as “wear and tear” on the body, which can result in health issues such as tissue damage, pain, and chemical reactions. Distress is the anguish or other adverse mental health outcomes that stem from being overwhelmed by stress, such as depression or anxiety.

A total of 129 participants, both male and female aged 18-29 years were involved in this study. The participants were given verbal mental arithmetic and stress recall tasks and asked them to rates their stress on a perceived stress scale. This scale determined their ability to cope with stress and if they perceived themselves as having a sense of control over the tasks. An electrocardiogram (ECG) was also preformed on the participants during the tasks. It was determined that the relationship between chronic stress and cardiovascular disease was the strongest. Chronic stress was also a determinant for longer cardiac recovery. Male participants also reported considerably less stress than the female participants in this study (Chatkoff, Maier, & Klein,

My life is fairly stress-free, which makes it difficult for me to give a good detailed example. However, like other students, school work is a main stressor. I tend to complete work the day it becomes available to me, I view it as a challenge, rather than a hindrance. So, my need to complete work right away; rather than relaxing and completing it over time is my main source of stress. I would consider this a challenge stressor since I start with an elevated level of stress, and relax later after completion. Once I am finished, I often experience positive emotions, from knowing I no longer need to worry. In conclusion, I would say I have pretty good control over my stress, which leads me to believe I do not poses the Type A behavior

The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-14; Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983) is a 14-item self-reported assessment used to measure an individual’s perception of stress levels. Using a 5-point Likert scale participants rate each area within the last month ranging from never (0) to very often (4). An example of “In the last month, how often have you felt you were on top of things?” The higher the score the more evident the presence of increased levels of perceived stress. This scale has proven to be reliable in previous research as well as been proven to be adequate with test-retest reliability. This assessment is easy to administer to participants and offers a wide range of stressors to

The results of the attached Stress Hybrid Assignment Questionnaire No. 1 (See Appendix A) indicate that my stress level is slightly higher than average in the age and gender category, and moderately lower in the marital status category. However, my total scores on the College Stress on-line test (See Appendix A) “…places [me] well below the average of colleges student in terms of the amount of stress experienced in the last year”.

      Stress is an ongoing dilemma that occurs in each and everyone’s life. It is a factor that is undoubtedly a part of daily living. Due to the trivial problems that occur in people’s daily lives massive amounts of stress can arise. People perceive and manage stress in many different ways. The causes and effects of stress are numerous and one’s ability to manage stress is vital in maintaining healthy living.