stress hormones as well as exacerbating symptomatology and disrupting self-care
behaviours in a number of chronic illness conditions. Moreover, this work suggests
that stress management programmes may prove to be very beneficial for longer-term
well-being (see Chapter 4 for more detail on approaches to stress management).
WHERE IS STRESS LOCATED?
Recent theorizing by Segerstrom and O’Connor (2012) has built upon each of the
approaches outlined and suggested that identifying where stress is located is important
to improve its conceptualization and assessment. Specifically, in keeping with Lazarus
and Folkman (1984), it is argued that stress can be located in the environment, in
appraisal or in response (i.e. emotions or physiology), however, in order to fully
understand the stress process, there is a need to investigate how each of these locales
interact. For example, the experience of a major life event, such as unemployment or
divorce, is likely to have a knock-on effect on the frequency and intensity of minor
daily stressors such as being late for a meeting or having an argument with your partner,
and conversely, minor daily stressors may reduce the ability to cope with a major life
event; thus the system is reciprocal (Segerstrom and O’Connor, 2012). Both types of
stressor are located in the environment; however, the relationship between these events
is dynamic, bi-directional and will change frequently over time.
Therefore, a major challenge for stress research is to ‘appropriately and explicitly
locate stress and to understand the effects on other stress locations’ (Segerstrom and
O’Connor, 2012: 131). In order to do this, it is imperative that researchers adopt an
integrated approach to measurement and ensure that the different locations of stress
are assessed using a variety of longitudinal, panel, multi-level and daily research designs.
For example, a major life stressor such as unemployment is likely to lead to an increased
number of minor daily stressors (e.g. financial stressors), which are likely to influence
appraisals of threat, challenge and loss, which may generalize to other situations and
stressors, thereby resulting in increased levels of psychological distress. However,
importantly, such a cascade will also depend on personality (see Ferguson, 2013). For
example, losing one’s job may result in reduced stress (assuming all else is equal in terms
of financial constraints) in people who tend to be cautious, methodical and emotionally
stable.
Conservation of resources theory – a resource-based
model of stress
An approach to stress, which poses a challenge to the transactional model, is the
conservation of resources model (COR) (Hobfoll, 1989, 2001). This represents a shift
away from the emphasis placed on appraisal in the transactional model back towards
a more objective approach. This model suggests that resources (not demands) are the
key variables of importance and that people strive to ‘retain, protect and build
resources’ (Hobfoll, 1989: 516). Stress is defined as a reaction to loss, a threatened loss,
or a failure to gain resources following an investment of resources. This may include
personal resources (such as a sense of mastery) and social resources (such as social
support), which have been well studied outside of the context of this theory (see
60 STRESS AND HEALTH