Question

Chapter 14 Health and Stress – Case Study (14 marks)

Rationale: Given the role that stress plays in our lives, students are well-served by considering the symptoms of stress and the differences between adaptive and maladaptive coping.

Instructions: Read the Stress Case Studies below and answer the questions that follow.

Stress Case Studies

Read the following case studies, which detail typical daily routines.

Case study 2

Mel, 46, is a Business Analyst. She, her husband and three children aged 8, 12, and 16, live in Oshawa and she commutes to Toronto. This is her typical day:

6.00am: Alarm goes and I have an hour to wake up and get ready. I make a packed lunch and my husband drives me to the station. The kids are still in bed.

6.59am: Catch the train. Usually see friends on the train and chat. The train is supposed to get in at 8.30am allowing me half an hour to start work at 9.00am but the trains are so unreliable that I'm late about three times a week. I enjoy most parts of my job but I get very nervous about giving presentations. There is also the constant pressure of finding my next contract.

6.00pm: Leave work and catch the 6.30pm train. I try to finish any bits of work on the train.

8.10pm: I'm home, if the train is on time. My husband has made dinner and the whole family eats together. The kids then go on the Internet and do homework and I'm not usually energetic enough for much more than watching TV by this point. Commuting is the main stressor in my life and late trains make me furious. I'm aware that my husband has to do most of the housework and looking after the children - there is always football training and music lessons to taxi them around to. He also works part time, so I do feel guilty. Fortunately we have a very strong relationship and I try to spend as much time as possible with my family on weekends.

Answer the questions below:

1.Life events – Identify ONE stressor that qualify as long term or life-changing.

2.Daily hassles - Identify TWO day-to-day stressors - the kind which almost everybody experiences every day.

Answer 1

Hello, thank you for your question! :)

SOME BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Stress is a person’s subjective response to events in their lives that they perceive as being threatening or challenging, or out of control to them. Since it is a subjective perception, a stressor(any event that causes stress) may not be the same for all people. For e.g., driving to work may be stressful for some but not to all people. However, the biological/ physiological responses are similar to everyone. Exposure to stressors generates a rise in hormone secretions of the adrenal glands, an increase in heart rate. It also leads to physiological symptoms such as high blood pressure, headaches, backaches, indigestion, fatigue, constipation, etc

Stressors are events or situations that cause a person to feel stressed. Some of them include divorce, unemployment, breakup, poverty, discrimination, violence, war, death, illness, exams, peer pressure, driving to work, meeting assignment deadlines, choosing an outfit for work, etc.

Answer the questions below:

1. Life events – Identify ONE stressor that qualifies as long term or life-changing.

Life events are bigger and a common form of a stressor to many people. They have a higher level of intensity and impact on a person’s life. They are also of a longer duration.

• Work pressures of keeping up with the constantly changing requirements (she finds that most of her energy gets spent in her job and when she comes home she is exhausted. She also finds it difficult giving presentations and finding new clients)
• Commuting back and forth from work to home by train is a problem for her as the trains can be unreliable. Also, the journey she has to make is quite long and exhausting every day.

2.Daily hassles - Identify TWO day-to-day stressors - the kind which almost everybody experiences every day.

Hassles are daily disturbances that are temporary and lower in intensity and impact. However, they occur more frequently.

Some of the daily hassles mentioned in the case study are

• getting to work on time
• managing children’s activities
• completing work assignments
• making enough time to spend with family

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