Daily hassles- evaluation

Question 1

2 strengths

Answer 1

• Gordon Flerr et al (1995)
• Kanner et al (1981)

Question 2

Strength- Gordon Flerr et al (1995)

Answer 2

• emphasized the impact of social support when relating to daily hassles
• used 320 students who read a story decribing different life events or daily hassles and statigthe levels of social support that they would recieve.

This study represents how perhaps one of the reasons daily hassles cause so much stress is since we do not seek or receive adequate social support to deal with them

Question 3

Kanner et al (1981)

Answer 3

• Identified the close relationship between the daily hassles and illness in their study which proved this relationship to be stronger than the relationship between life events and illness
• Identified the three factors which caused this relationship: accumulation effect, amplification and a lack of social support

Question 4

Kanner et al. (1981)- what were the 3 factors which caused the relationship between life events and illness?

Answer 4

1- Accumulation effect
2- amplification
3- a lack of social support

Question 5

Kanner et al (1981)-Amplification

Answer 5

The chronic stress experienced through life changes makes people vulnerable to the effects of daily hassles

Question 6

Kanner et al (1981)- accumulation effect

Answer 6

the build up of stressors overtime, leading to negative effects

Question 7

2 weaknesses

Answer 7

• self-report measures
• Leo Sher (2004)

Question 8

Self- report measures

Answer 8

• Higher risk of social desirability bias (experiencing these hassles could be viewed as negative, people would be reluctant to indicate that they have experienced them
• When using the HSUP scale, it does not allow individuals to select anything less than ‘somewhat severe’ for each event

-It therefore does not allowfor an individual to select whether they experienced a hassle but werent effected by it in any way.

• Therefore, the use of self- report measures could be unreliable and invalid in presenting the relationship between stress and daily hassles

Question 9

Leo Sher (2004)

Answer 9

• Found that daily hassles correlated with increased cortisol levels in healthy individuals whilst also contributing to the development of depression in vulnerable individuals
• This suggests that it causes a biological response, arguing against the idea that daily hassles cause stress.