Stress and Health 427cited trouble at school or work. Adults found fighting among family members the great-
est source of stress, whereas the elderly people in the study cited a lack of money.
In that same study, the researchers were somewhat surprised to find that elderly
people were much more strongly affected by such hassles as going shopping, doctor ’s
appointments, and bad weather than the children and younger adults were. It may be
that while a young person may view going shopping as an opportunity to socialize, older
adults find it threatening: Physically, they are less able to get to a place to shop and may
have to rely on others to drive them and help them get around and, thus, may take much
more time for shopping and doing errands than a younger person would. Mentally, shop-
ping could be seen as threatening because of a lack of financial resources to pay for needed
items. Even the need to make decisions might be seen as unpleasant to an older person.
Psychological Stressors: What, Me Worry?
11.3 Identify psychological factors in stress.
Although several specific stressors (such as marriage, car problems, etc.) have already
been mentioned, the psychological reasons people find these events stressful fall into
several categories.
PRESSURE When there are urgent demands or expectations for a person’s behavior
coming from an outside source, that person is experiencing pressure. Pressure occurs
when people feel that they must work harder or faster or do more, as when meeting a
deadline or studying for final exams.
Time pressure is one of the most common forms of pressure. Although some peo-
ple claim to “work well under pressure,” the truth is that pressure can have a negative
impact on a person’s ability to be creative. Psychologist Teresa Amabile has gathered
research within actual work settings strongly indicating that when time pressure is
applied to workers who are trying to come up with creative, innovative ideas, creativity
levels decrease dramatically—even though the workers may think they have been quite
productive because of the effort they have made (Amabile et al., 2002).
UNCONTROLLABILITY Another factor that increases a person’s experience
of stress is the degree of control that the person has over a particular event
or situation. The less control a person has, the greater the degree of stress.
Researchers in both clinical interviews and experimental studies have
found that lack of control in a situation actually increases stress disorder
symptoms (Breier et al., 1987; Henderson et al., 2012).
In studies carried out in a nursing home with the elderly residents
as the participants, researchers Rodin and Langer (Langer & Rodin, 1976;
Rodin & Langer, 1977) found that those residents who were given more con-
trol over their lives (e.g., being able to choose activities and their timing) were
more vigorous, active, and sociable than those in the control group. Employ-
ees at mental health clinics who have more input into and control over pol-
icy changes experience less stress than those who believe themselves to have
little control (Johnson et al., 2006). A more recent study found that retirees
experience more happiness and less stress when retirement is by their choice
and not forced upon them, regardless of whether the retirement was rapid or
gradual (Calvo et al., 2009).
The stress-increasing effects of lack of control explain the relationship between
unpredictability and stress as well. When potentially stressful situations are unpredict-
able, as in police work, the degree of stress experienced is increased. An unpredictable
situation is one that is not controllable, which may at least partially explain the increase
in stress (Zucchi et al., 2009). In one study, rats were either given an electric shock after
a warning tone or given a shock with no warning. The rats receiving the unpredictable
shocks developed severe stomach ulcers (Weiss, 1972).
pressure
the psychological experience produced
by urgent demands or expectations for
a Rersonos Dehavior that come from an
outside source.Residents in retirement homes and nursing homes benefit
both physically and psychologically when they can choose for
themselves the activities in which they wish to participate, such
as this exercise class. What are some other means of control
residents might experience?