The Popular Definitions of Stress - Essay Example

Stress and Symptoms Introduction 1 Any living organism at some point has deal with exaggerated conditions that are attributed to the external conditions in which they find themselves either intentionally or accidentally. This results into internal responses to such situations which are outside the normal behavior. It can be physiological or psychological and this is what is often referred to as stress. Some of the popular definitions of stress include a response of the body to the environmental conditions which surpass the adaptive capacity of an organism yielding a psychological or physical conditions that place the individual at risk of a disease. There are various ways of dealing with stress among different people and this depends on the age and the sex of a person. Most of the young people would resort to violence or even alcohol while the older people would resort to not speaking about their problems. 1.2This study seeks to evaluate the relationship between stress, symptoms and age. This was carried out by classifying the students in terms of their sex and then observing their characteristics when they are faced with different circumstances (Segrin & Flora, 2005). There is a significant relationship between the stress levels and the symptoms of being ill. High stress levels cause symptoms of disease. Methods 2.1 The research had a total of 133 participants, both males and females. The frequency with which they exhibited symptoms of stress was recorded then expressed as a percentage of the total observations that were made. They were then categorized in terms of male and female data in the same data. The scales of measurement were the nature of the environment that the participants would find themselves in and how they would react to such situations. For instance, how stressful they found having too little money or very little time to do something, how they feel about themselves or how they perceive their friends. The variables include age, sex and the symptoms of illnesses. 2.2 There were 23 males and 110 females. The percentage of the males is 17.3 of the total population while that of the females is 82.7 expressed in terms of the total population. The cumulative percentage is 17.3 and then 100 percent. The minimum age was 17 and the maximum age 46. The mean age is 21.96 and the standard deviation 5.903. This shows that majority of the participants were females and consequently the focus was on them. 2.3 Two scales in the questionnaire were the perceived stress levels and the symptoms of illness that the participants would experience (Segrin & Flora, 2005). The perceived stress levels were measured in terms of how a person would view a situation as not being stressful at all, being slightly stressful, stressful, moderately stressful, and very stressful and being extremely stressful when they are subjected to various conditions. The items on this scale were thirty nine. Since majority of the activities cannot be easily measured, there was no maximum score or minimum score. Examples of questions on this scale include how a person would find it stressful when other people’s perceptions about themselves change or how they would react to being very broke. The symptoms of stress were measured by their frequency of occurrence in the participant. In this case, the frequencies were expressed as a percentage of the total observations that were made and hence there were no minimum and maximum scores. 2.4 The data collection process involved the identification of the potential participants then seeking for their consent to participate in the study. The participants answered open ended questions regarding the frequency with which they experienced various illnesses. They were also asked to rate the stress levels that they would perceive of various situations suppose they found themselves faced with these circumstances. After collection of this information, the mean was calculated as well as the standard deviation. Results 3.1 The results of the descriptive statistics included the stress score and the symptoms score. The total observations were 133 for the stress score. The minimum score for the stress score was 39 and the maximum score 188. The mean was 116.40 with a standard deviation of 32.405. The symptoms score had a total of 133 observations and the minimum score was 17 and the maximum score 46. The mean was 26.17 and the standard deviation 5.253. The relationship between these characteristics was established by the use of the correlation coefficient which will be discussed in the later sections of the report. Since the focus of the research was to determine the relationship between the stress levels and the frequency of illness among the participants, the examination of results obtained is that high stress levels resulted into high rates of illnesses among people who took part in the research. By answering to the open ended questionnaire and evaluating the data the result was that the relationship between the stress levels and the illnesses was directly related to the level and frequency of illness among the participants. Most of those who experienced high levels of stress were highly likely to fall sick (Segrin & Flora, 2005). The age factor also determined the frequency of being stressed and consequently falling ill. Majority of those in the age bracket of twenty to thirty were likely to experience high stress levels and this was exhibited in the high stress score levels. High stress levels was associated with extreme conditions which the subjects did not have immediate control over them. 3.2 The correlation results indicated that the Pearson correlation using a one tailed test at 0.01 significance level method indicate that the score is 1 and the symptoms score is 0.315. On the other hand, the Pearson correlation coefficient using the one tailed test indicate that the stress score is 0.315 and the symptoms score as 1. On a linear scale, there was a positive correlation between the symptoms and the stress score levels as shown in the diagram below. There was a relation between the perceived stress levels and the illness that the participants experienced. This was evaluated by using multiple regression analyses in which there was observation of the different sexes separately, then relationship was established. Examination of the correlation between the stress score and the symptoms score revealed that the kind of support that the participants received from their parents affected the levels of illness they would experience. To evaluate this, the hierarchical regression analysis was performed on the participants. The males were coded with 0 while the females were coded with 1.The research site were coded as follows: public university as 1 while private university were coded 2 and entered on the first step as covariates, the perceived stress, parental support, symptom frequency and illness attitudes(Segrin & Flora, 2005). Separate analyses were conducted for different illnesses responses by attending to private colleges and greater endorsement of consideration attitude. The denial was negatively predicted by the received parental support and positively predicted by desired parental support. Students who were more stressed and they would not get any support from their parents or they could not trust their parents with their problems were more subject to falling ill than children who would confide in their parents with their problems. Similarly, the rate at which these students who confided in their parents frequently fell ill was less than those who did not. Although some of these students did not report having experiences of illness in the course of the semester, there were cases where they would experience symptoms of illnesses. To determine the frequency with which the symptoms of illnesses were experienced, the number of reported visits to a health care facility were established. More visits meant more cases of illnesses reported and vice versa. This was placed side by side with the consideration attitudes of the participants. The fact that there was a strong correlation between the frequency of the symptoms and the frequency of illness among the participants of the study suggests that controlling either of these factors would affect the results expected to be obtained from the any given situation. Discussion The objective of this research was to establish the relationship between the frequency of becoming ill and the stress levels that they believed that they were facing. The questionnaire that was used to assess the stress levels was very much subjective to the students’ view of the situation that they were facing (Segrin & Flora, 2005). For instance, consider the question concerning a scenario of being broke and the student had no hope of getting money from anywhere. Those students who are brought up in rich families are likely to regard the situation as very stressful since it is likely to be an unimaginable situation to them and they would not imagine operating without guarantee of easy money somewhere. For those in the poor situations, they are likely to treat the situation as being stressful or even better or worse as being moderately stressful. This could lead to the conclusion that stressful situations are subjective to a person’s previous experiences or how they would prefer to treat the situation as it is. The positive relationship between the perceived stress level and the symptom frequency is consistent with the previous studies conducted on the same topic (Segrin & Flora, 2005). This implies that students who regarded their environments as posing challenges to them that was beyond their coping ability exhibited more symptoms of illness. The negative relationship between the stress levels and the support that the students got when they are subjected to such conditions such as parental support are likely to improve the ability of the participants who are stressed to cope well with the stressful conditions that they are experiencing. The denial was negatively predicted by the received parental support and positively predicted by desired parental support. This served to help the people who are stressed to form opinions about the situation that causing the stress. If the stress if believed to be something too big to manage the frequency of illness was more and this was confirmed by the frequent visits to health facilities. This is due to the fact that a person gets sapped of their emotional energy and it then takes a toll on their physiological energy hence the frequency illness. Stress and the environment conditions are counterproductive and this means that the two factors have to be coordinated well for good health of a person. The relationship between the illness support and the parental support, the frequency of illness, the perceived stress and the illness attitudes serve to determine the recovery from the stress levels a person is facing. The willingness to seek help from a physician is correlated to both forms of social support and the illness attitudes (Miller et al. 2004). With the regression analysis, it was positively predicted by the received support and the consideration towards what is causing the stress. In a situation whereby medical care is a resource, the children who receive parental resources may have the expectation that such care can be made available to them so that they can return to normalcy. On the contrary, given the fact that positive support positively predicted consideration, it is worth considering that for some other students, the physician support can be looked at in terms of what cannot be obtained from the parents (Miczo & Johnson, 2006). The interaction between the symptoms and release was strongest at low signs of symptoms, moderate at medium levels of symptoms and intermediate at higher levels. At the low levels, the participants can use their attitudes to decide when the medical attention is appropriate in dealing with their stresses. In the event that the symptoms surpass the social attitudes, they become their motivations for seeking care. At high levels of symptoms, the social considerations will have to be considered since more serious long term illness will tend to have an impact on the social stability of the individual in question. The stress levels that a person experiences can either be propelled or reduced by the environmental situations in which they are operating from (Segrin & Flora, 2005). If there is more of the stress causative factors then it implies that the situation will only get worse while on the other hand if they absent it implies that the situation can be kept at minimum or manageable levels. Limitations Just like any other research study the study had to face challenges in the behavioral characteristics of the participants. Some would give answers based on their gut feelings, others would give misleading information while others did not just answer some of the questions asked. Besides, in as much as the participants were taken from different sites, there were significant differences that were not foreseen and were not catered for in the design of the research study. Conclusion Stress can be accidental or in some cases it comes due to situations that permit for its growth. The ability to keep it at manageable levels depends on how well they can be controlled (Miczo & Johnson, 2006). The symptoms that are associated with stressful conditions can be kept at bay if the causative factors are kept at manageable levels. Since it is evident that the social support that is available affects the responses of people to illness, those who find themselves in stressful conditions get trapped between desiring for more support by downplaying the very signs that can be used to elicit support. This affects their response to illness conditions and eventually affects the recovery process. It is therefore worth evaluating the root causes of stressful conditions and diagnosing them from these situations. References Miczo, N., Miczo, L. A., & Johnson, M. (January 01, 2006). Parental Support, Perceived Stress, and Illness-Related Variables Among First-Year College Students. Journal of Family Communication, 6, 2, 97-117. Miller-Day, M.,&Dodd, A. H. (2004). Toward a descriptive model of parent–offspring communication about alcohol and other drugs. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 21, 69–91. Segrin, C., & Flora, J. (2005). Family communication. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Read More