outcomes, research that has focused on the appraisal of stress (e.g. drawing on
transactional theory) and research that has shed light on physiological processes. Across
this research gradually stronger links are emerging between stressors, the processes
whereby stressors lead to disease (e.g. impaired immune functioning) and actual
disease outcomes. However, we are still a long way from knowing for sure the extent
to which stress is implicated in most diseases.
At the start of this chapter we asked you to consider whether stress has increased
in recent years. It is of course not possible to give a definitive answer to this question.
Clearly the types of stressors we experience have changed over the last 50 years. For
most in Western society, standards of living, working conditions, life expectancy and
health have improved. Thus it might seem we have little to complain about. However,
the pace of life seems to be ever increasing and the rate of change in technology and
employment (for example) imposes new stressors. It is certainly the case that people
are more aware of stress due to the work of psychologists and social scientists and the
publicity that this has generated. Some have even suggested that stress is produced, or
at least exacerbated by the increased awareness and expectation of stress in society (e.g.
Pollock, 1988). While this may be a negative impact of our increased knowledge of
stress, information about the impacts of psychological (as well as physiological)
processes is essential for improving individual health and well-being.
SUMMARY
References to ‘stress’ are widespread in society but the term is used in different ways
in different contexts. Lazarus suggested that stress is best regarded as a rubric or umbrella
term, which covers a wide range of variables (including stressors such as life events or
hassles and strain outcomes, such as physical symptoms or depression). Historically,
stress has been variously viewed as a stimulus, a response or in terms of an interaction
between the two. Selye’s influential work on the general adaptation syndrome focused
particularly on the physiological response. More recent approaches to research on
allostatic load, which build on Selye’s work, have helped to explain the ways in which
stressors lead to disease.
Psychologists have developed a range of different perspectives on stress. Life events
researchers claim that major life events are a key predictor of disease. Transactional
researchers have focused on appraisals of stress and specifically the impacts of appraisals
of minor day-to-day hassles and uplifts. Conservation of resource theorists focus on
the impact of loss of resources as the main predictor of stressors. These approaches are
sometimes seen as in conflict but can also be viewed as all contributing a useful
perspective on a complex phenomenon. All have had some success in predicting
negative health and psychological outcomes. However, links between stressors and
major physical health outcomes such as breast cancer have not been established.
People do clearly differ in their individual responses to stress, so some will get ill
in response to stressors while others will not. For example, it is likely that some people
are physiologically more reactive to stressors and/or take longer to recover and worry,
rumination and repetitive thought appear to play an important role in stress-disease
relationships.
STRESS THEORY AND RESEARCH 65