Women and Stress

No abstract available for this article.     

Stress and psychoticism

The EPQ, a stress questionnaire, and a bodily symptom questionnaire were completed by 21 female and 12 male psychiatric patients. The P score correlated with a high stress score, and certain stress items differentiated extreme high and low P scorers. In addition, high P scorers were found to have a tendency to increase, rather than decrease some of their bodily symptoms after treatment. A different approach to treatment for high P scorers is suggested.     

Music and Stress

Myths about the power of music to regulate and change emotional states are found in each culture. Googling the words “music and stress” produces promises for different types of music specially designed to assist managing stress. Music therapists are familiar with using different techniques to reduce stress with different populations. This paper examines both the application of music to stress management and the neurological and physiological mechanisms of stress that can be modulated by music.     

Stress and Adaptation

ABSTRACT— Animal models have contributed considerably to the current understanding of mechanisms underlying the role of stress in health and disease. Despite the progress made already, much more can be made by more carefully exploiting animals' and humans' shared biology, using ecologically relevant models. This allows a fundamental analysis of factors modulating individual adaptive capacity and hence individual vulnerability to disease. This article highlights an emerging scientific approach that uses a framework of interpretation that is more biologically oriented than previous approaches, to evaluate both the adaptive and maladaptive nature of the stress response in relation to existing environmental demands.     

Stress and family health

This study investigates the difference between perceived everyday individual stress and levels of family health. Subjects completed the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scale (FACES III), the Derogatis Stress Profile, and a personal data form. Quota sampling of 121 subjects was used to obtain 25 subjects in each of three groups: balanced, mid-range, and extreme family types. Individuals identified as members of mid-range families reported less overall stress than balanced or extreme family members. Significant differences appeared between the balanced and mid-range groups. Balanced individual family members reported slightly higher levels of stress than extreme family members.     

Psychotraumatic Stress and Anxiety

Abstract

A systematic review of all available treatment studies for music performance anxiety was undertaken. Interventions were categorised into psychological treatments and pharmacological treatments. Psychological treatments included behavioral, cognitive, cognitive-behavioral, combined treatments and other therapies. Issues such as the number of studies in each treatment modality, their sample sizes and the methodological quality of most of the studies reviewed precluded firm conclusions about the effectiveness of any of the treatments assessed for music performance anxiety. The field is in urgent need of larger scale, methodologically rigorous studies to assist the large minority of musicians who suffer from performance impairing music performance anxiety.     

Family Structure and Stress

This report presents an evolving theoretical model of the relationship between normative and severe stresses and a family's organizational structure. It is useful for understanding these processes and for planning treatment intervention for families at several levels of function: competent, dominant-submissive, chronically conflicted, and severely disturbed.     

Stress and recurrent miscarriage

Our current understanding into the role of stress in unexplained recurrent miscarriages comes from two different research strategies. The majority of research has examined the role of psychological support within this patient population. This support has been provided in a number of ways ranging from weekly interviews with a psychiatrist or gynaecologist and or visual re-assurance in the form of ultrasound scans. A comparison of psychological support with an absence of such intervention has found differences in successful pregnancy outcome varying from as great as 84 versus 26%, respectively. It has been assumed that psychological support reduces the miscarriage rate by reducing “stress”within this patient population. In addition it provides indirect support for a role of stress in the aetiology of unexplained recurrent miscarriage. Other studies have attempted to directly assess the effect of personality characteristics on miscarriage rate; these studies have yielded conflicting results.The mechanism by which stress may be causal in the aetiology of unexplained recurrent miscarriage has not been examined in humans. Animal studies, however, have found that psychological distress can alter immune parameters that may be intricately involved with implantation. These parameters include an elevation of the “abortive” cytokine TNF-a and a reduction in the “anti-abortive” cytokine TGF-P2. Cells that are involved in the release of TNF-a at the feto-maternal interface include T cells, macrophages and mast cells.Mechanisms through which stress may act on these cells are explored and an integrated model is postulated.     

Emotion Regulation and Stress

This paper examines the similarities and differences between emotion regulation and stress coping and reviews research that suggests that the association between emotion regulation and stress may be explained by the common neural structures. Developmental changes related to emotion regulation and stress are also discussed. Overall, the research suggests that individuals vary in their ability to regulate emotions and cope with stress, and these abilities may differ across age. Little is known, however, about the factors that influence individual differences in emotion regulation and stress coping. We suggest that behavioral genetic designs may be an important avenue for future research. Such research would indicate the extent to which variation in emotion regulation and stress are due to genetic and/or environmental influences and further the extent to which common genetic and/or environmental factors explain the links between emotion regulation and stress.     

Stress and open-office noise

Forty female clerical workers were randomly assigned to a control condition or to 3-hr exposure to low-intensity noise designed to simulate typical open-office noise levels. The simulated open-office noise elevated workers' urinary epinephrine levels, but not their norepinephrine or cortisol levels, and it produced behavioral aftereffects (fewer attempts at unsolvable puzzles) indicative of motivational deficits. Participants were also less likely to make ergonomic, postural adjustments in their computer work station while working under noisy, relative to quiet, conditions. Postural invariance is a risk factor for musculoskeletal disorder. Although participants in the noise condition perceived their work setting as significantly noisier than those working under quiet conditions did, the groups did not differ in perceived stress. Potential health consequences of long-term exposure to low-intensity office noise are discussed.     

Teacher Beliefs and Stress

The first of two studies provided validity data on the Teacher Irrational Belief Scale that measures a set of beliefs of teachers previous research has found to be associated with teacher stress. Employing a sample of 850 primary and secondary teachers in Australia, an exploratory factor analysis resulted in four distinct factors: Self-downing, Authoritarianism, Demands for Justice, and Low Frustration Tolerance. These four sub-scales demonstrated adequate internal reliability and correlated with self-ratings of stress occasioned by different teaching stressors. In a second study, 140 teachers and 26 teachers retired from teaching because of stress completed the Teacher Irrational Belief Scale and a measure of teacher stress. Teachers retired from teaching due to stress scored higher on sub-scales of Self-downing and Low Frustration Tolerance than teachers still teaching. These results are discussed in terms of Ellis’ theory of REBT and implications for consultants and teacher educators offering stress management programs and support for teachers.     

Stress Generation and Adolescent Depression: Contribution of Interpersonal Stress Responses

This research examined the proposal that ineffective responses to common interpersonal problems disrupt youths’ relationships, which, in turn, contributes to depression during adolescence. Youth (86 girls, 81 boys; M age = 12.41, SD = 1.19) and their primary female caregivers participated in a three-wave longitudinal study. Youth completed a measure assessing interpersonal stress responses; youth and caregivers completed semi-structured interviews assessing youths’ life stress and psychopathology. Consistent with the hypothesized model, ineffective stress responses (low levels of effortful engagement, high levels of involuntary engagement and disengagement) predicted the generation of subsequent interpersonal stress, which partially accounted for the association between stress responses and depression over time. Moreover, results revealed that self-generated interpersonal, but not noninterpersonal stress, predicted depression, and that this explanatory model was specific to the prediction of depression but not anxiety. This research builds on interpersonal stress generation models of depression, and highlights the importance of implementing depression-focused intervention programs that promote effective stress responses and adaptive interpersonal relationships during adolescence.     

The Relationship Between Work-Related Stress and Boundary-Related Stress Within the Clerical Profession

The concepts of work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict have been studied extensively in recent years. We propose a different means of understanding clergy work and family stressors because the boundaries between family and work are blurred within the clerical profession. We suggest, therefore, that the stressors associated with ordained ministry can be better analyzed if separated into two related, but distinct categories: (1) stressors stemming from the demands of the work (work-related stress) and (2) stressors stemming from the way the work impinges upon clerical family boundaries (boundary-related stress). Utilizing the Pulpit and Pew Clergy Leadership Survey of 2001, we explore the association between these two forms of stress. Correlation analysis and simple and multiple regression models are used. A strong association between work-related stress and boundary-related stress is detected; length of time spent in the profession is related to reduced levels of boundary- and work-related stress.     

Divorce Stress,Stepfamily Stress,and Depression among Emerging Adult Stepchildren

Several decades of research have shown that parental divorce can be a stressful experience for children and may lead to depression and other negative outcomes. Similarly, research has highlighted the stressors often induced by stepfamily formation and their effects on children. Although singular family transitions can exert influence, few studies explore how the combined stress from two family transitions may interact to influence long-term outcomes. Our study addresses this gap by using national data from 1142 respondents who experienced parental divorce and a subsequent transition to stepfamily life. Congruent with prior research, we find that retrospective reports of divorce and stepfamily stress is associated with higher depressive symptoms in emerging adults (18–30 years of age). We also find that stress induced by parental divorce and subsequent stepfamily formation significantly interact to increase depressive symptoms in this population. The research and clinical implications of our findings are discussed.     

The Brief Stress and Coping Inventory: A Useful Stress Management Instrument

The Brief Stress and Coping Inventory (BSCI) was designed to gather stress and coping information from an individual in 15 minutes, compared to a nearly 1-hour completion time required for the parent instrument. All BSCI scales are described, along with our scoring methodology. Intercorrelations between scales are presented. Reliability and validity estimates were seen to be satisfactory to highly satisfactory. A multiple regression analysis identified 3 out of 8 scales that contributed significantly and uniquely to an optimal predictive equation for illness symptoms (R = .70). Frequency distributions of group results, which greatly help work site managers to understand results from stress management programs, are illustrated.     

倦怠、应激和抑郁

倦怠是“在以人为服务对象的职业领域中,个体的一种情感耗竭、人格解体和个人成就感降低的症状”。在倦怠研究的文献中,存在着严重的倦怠、应激和抑郁的概念混淆现象。文章对工作倦怠、工作应激和抑郁的联系与区别进行了详细阐述,并指明了未来的研究方向,具有重要的理论意义。     

Stress and the American worker

Stress and stress-related diseases are considered as they relate to American worker productivity and global competitiveness. Occupational trends, current and future federal government efforts to address stress in the workplace, as well as external factors that contribute to stress are discussed.     

Employee Control and Occupational Stress

Occupational stress has been recognized as a major health issue for modern work organizations. Conditions of the workplace have been shown to lead to negative emotional reactions (e.g., anxiety), physical health problems in both the short term (e.g., headache or stomach distress) and the long term (cardiovascular disease), and counterproductive behavior at work. Perceptions of control play an important role in this process, being associated with all of these variables. Evidence is growing that enhanced control at work can be an important element in employees'health and well–being. These relationships can be understood in the context of the control–stress model.     

心理应激与DNA损害

心理应激不仅能使人的行为特征发生变化,而且也能使人的生理状况发生改变,因此,被认为是某些身心疾病的诱因。在此过程中,DNA损害是心理应激造成的最终结果之一。有关DNA损害,虽然以往的研究者以人或动物为对象进行了一系列急性应激和慢性应激的实验研究,但是,心理应激是如何造成DNA损害的过程还不清楚,具体的生理心理机制还未阐明。该文利用健康心理学提出的理论模型对此进行了分析,阐述了心理应激与DNA损害之间联系的可能的机制,强调了氧化应激在这一过程中的重要作用。同时,为临床制订预防疾病的干预措施提供了思路     

Stress and cardiac beta adrenoceptors

Most modern theories about stress recognize that although stress is not a disease, it may be the trigger for the majority of diseases when allostatic overload has been generated. During stress, the glucocorticoids and catecholamines play a key role in the regulation of physiological parameters and homeostasis during stress. In the heart, positive chronotropic, inotropic, and lusitropic responses to catecholamines are mediated by various subtypes of adrenergic receptors (beta-ARs), mainly beta1- and beta2-adrenergic receptors. beta-ARs also control cardiomyocyte growth and death, thus contributing to cardiac remodelling. The structural basis of each beta-AR subtype, as well as their signalling pathways, and adaptive responses to stress are discussed. The participation of beta3- and putative beta4-ARs in the control of cardiac function is also discussed, with emphasis on low affinity beta-AR isoforms and the role they play in the response to the catecholamines under stress. The changes in beta-AR signalling under pathogenic conditions as well as under stress are reviewed.