The Effects of Daily Life on Stress Levels by Chad Clippingdale & Shannon Birk

Abstract Daily hassles, life experiences, and work are all predictors of stress, while sleep, exercise, and social support have been found to reduce stress. To replicate these findings, thirty participants, 15 males and 15 females (mean age of 30.4) were surveyed with a variety of questionnaires. Significant positive correlations were found between stress and the factors of daily hassles, life experiences, and work hours, while social support and stress were significantly negatively correlated. However, expected relationships between sleep and stress, and between exercise and stress, were not significant.

Introduction Stress is a part of everyday life (Weiten, 2001). We experience stress each day, sometimes positively and sometimes negatively. Without stress life would be dull; however, we must learn to cope with all forms of stress to prevent it affecting our psychological and physical health (Weiten, 2001). Kohn, Lafreniere & Gurevich (as cited in Weiten, 2001) found that routine daily hassles can have a significant effect on our mental health. Although minor hassles alone may not be stressful, many hassles may build up and overwhelm an individual, causing stress. Also, Holmes & Rahe (as cited in Weiten, 2001) and others have found that changes in life, positive or negative, require adjustment. During this time of adjustment, one may be more susceptible to

stress. More changes in one's life may increase one's susceptibility to stress. However, not all life experiences are stressful. Social support is very important to reducing stress (House, Landis & Umberson, 1988). Having someone to listen and give empathy helps to justify our feelings and makes us feel better. According to Davis, Morris & Kraus (1998), there is an inverse correlation between social support and mental health. Exercise and getting a good night sleep are also very important to coping with stress. Exercise provides an opportunity to release frustrations and increases resistance to stress, while sleep deprivation decreases it. When deprived of sleep, one might under-perform on cognitive tasks, which itself may increase stress levels (Weiten, 2001). Work stress is another important factor that has been the subject of much research. Weiten (2001) noted that "pressure has turned out to be more strongly related to measures of mental health than the SSRS" (p. 534), a measure of life change. A heavy workload, a hectic work schedule, a poor work environment, and low job security are all factors that can cause stress at work (Weiten, 2001). When one spends longer hours exposed to these factors, stress levels may become greater. This study was designed to replicate past research and investigate the correlations between stress and daily hassles; social support; life experiences; exercise; sleep; and work levels.

Method Participants There were 30 participants in this study, 15 men and 15 women. Ages ranged from 13 to 59. The mean age was 30.4. Participants were attending school, work, or both. Materials Information was gathered using the Hassles Scale (Delongis, Folkman, & Lazarus, 1988), Life Experiences Survey (Sarason, Johnson, & Siegel, 1978), Stress Test (Weiten, 2001), and Social Support Scale (Weiten, 2001). Participants were also asked to report their average hours of work or school per week, average hours of sleep per night, and average hours of exercise per week. Procedure Each participant was asked to complete the questionnaire package. Confidentiality was emphasized and participants were asked not to include their names. The researchers then scored the tests and correlated the results using the Pearson product-moment correlation.

Results Pearson product-moment correlations were computed to measure the relationship between stress levels and the other factors studied. The following table presents the findings. Table 1 n = 30 Correlations between Stress & Various Stress Factors Factors Daily Hassles Social support Life experiences Weekly exercise Hrs of sleep Hrs of work ** p <.01, * p <.05 Daily hassles, life experiences, and hours of work were all significantly correlated with stress. This indicates significant positive relationships exist between these factors and stress levels. As hassles, life experiences, or work hours increase, so does stress. The correlation between social support and stress was r = -.35 (p<.05), indicating a significant negative relationship between the two. (That is, lower levels of social support are associated with higher levels of stress, and vice versa). Stress .47** -.35* .42* -.08 -.21 .39*

However, the correlations between exercise and stress (r= -.08) and between sleep and stress (r = -.21) were not significant. Discussion The finding of a significant positive correlation (r = +.47, p < .01) between daily hassles and stress levels supports Kohn et al.'s research on the stress effects of daily hassles (as cited in Weiten, 2001). One hassle by itself may be small and insignificant, but when hassles start to build up they may cause a great deal of stress. The finding of a negative correlation (r = -.35, p < .05) between social support and stress also supports past research (Davis, Morris & Kraus, 1998; House, Landis & Umberson, 1988). Social support can be very important in reducing stress because it allows people to talk about, and have others listen to their problems. The significant positive correlation (r = +.42, p < .05) between life experience and stress also supports Holmes & Rahe's research (as cited in Weiten, 2001) that the more changes in life one has, the more susceptible to stress one becomes. The significant positive correlation (r = +.39, p < .05) between work hours and stress supports Weiten's (2001) research on the subject. The work environment can be a very stressful place and the more time one spends there, the higher their stress levels may become. However, the absence of the expected inverse correlation between exercise (Brown, 1991) and stress was unexpected. Brown has shown that exercise can be beneficial to reducing stress levels. Perhaps more participants were needed in order to show an accurate correlation. Social desirability bias (Weiten, 2001) may also have been a factor. The participants may have reported the amount of exercise that they believed to be socially acceptable instead of the amount of exercise they actually did.

The negative correlation between sleep and stress was not significant (r = -.21). A stronger, more significant correlation was expected. A good night's sleep is essential to resisting stress. One reason for these results might be that hours of sleep in this survey were all around eight hours, while stress levels were scattered over a much larger range. Again, the small sample size might be a factor; more participants might increase the accuracy of the results.

References Brown, J. D. (1991). Staying fit and staying well: Physical fitness as a moderator of life stress [Abstract]. Journal of Psychology and Social Psychology, 60, 555-561. Davis, M. H., Morris, M. M., & Kraus, L. A. (1998). Relationship-specific and global perception of social support: Associations with well-being and attachments. Journal of Psychology and Social Psychology, 74, 468-481. Delongis, A., Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. S. (1988). The impact of daily stress on health and mood: Psychological and social resources as mediators. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 486496. House, J. S., Landis, K. R. & Umberson, D. (1988). Social relationships and health. Science, 241, 540-545.

Sarason, I. G., Johnson, J. H., Siegel, J. M. (1978). Assessing the impact of life changes: Development of the Life Experiences Survey. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 46, 943-946. Weiten, W. (2010). Psychology: Themes and variations (2nd Cdn. ed.). Toronto: Wadsworth.