This thesis is concerned with the role of individual differences in personality and social support in mitigating work-related stress. The model of work stress described by House (1981) served as a general theoretical framework for two questionnaire studies of white-collar workers carried out in the course of this research. The present work also draws upon the demand-discretion model developed by Karasek (1979). The first study was carried out with a sample (N=117) of employees and self-employed business men and women. The main aims were to investigate: (i) individual differences in perceived social support; (ii) the stress-buffering role of support resources in moderating work-related stress. The results showed significant differences in personality and work characteristics between the occupational groups. There was evidence of interactive relationships between nAch, extroversion and locus of control in predicting perceived social support. Work and non-work support showed different moderating effects on job stressors in relation to job satisfaction and GHQ. A negative buffering effect of social support on job demand was also found in the prediction of GHQ. The findings suggest the importance of investigating further the role of individual differences in the way people develop and access socially supportive networks. The main objectives of the second study were: (i) to extend, in longitudinal data, previous findings concerning the buffering role of social support and individual differences in mediating the stress-illness relationship; (ii) to test the Johnson demand-control-support model of work stress. Work-related demands, social support, personality traits, and psychological health were assessed among a group of new graduates (N=121) in their first year of employment. The results showed significant changes in the overall levels of perceived demand, work-related support and psychological well-being between Time 1 and Time 2, and replicated the stress-buffering effects of social support found in the first study. More importantly, the findings suggest that the efficacious moderating effects of supportive relationships is dependent on the timing and matching of "stressors" with specific support resources; work-related social support showed weaker stress-buffering effects at initial assessment but was significantly stronger in moderating job stressors at Time 2. Analyses of individual difference variables showed that neuroticism, locus of control, and individual preferences for particular types of work characteristics acted as moderator variables. Consistent with Karasek and Johnson's models, significant demand-discretion and demand-discretion-support interactions was also found. However, in some instances, the three-way demand-control-support interactions were not of the form predicted. Overall, the present studies provide further information concerning the stress-buffering role of social support and individual differences at work. Further research should also focus on the sequencing of the stress-support process in order to provide a clearer understanding of how supportive relationships moderate work-related demands.

A study was done to investigate the contribution of small units of stress, anxiety, and demographic factors in the occurrence of various stress-related diseases. Three groups of thirty subjects each, having three distinct medical diagnoses categories (hypertensives, stress-related disorders, and general medical problems), were compared using a variety of anxiety and stress questionnaires. Subjects were matched in terms of sex, age, race, military history, and place of treatment. Devices administered to the subjects and used to compare the three groups included: A Sociodemographic Questionnaire; The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; The Cognitive-Somatic Anxiety Questionnaire, and The Hassles and Uplifts Scales. A comparison of groups via demographic factors indicated distinctive similarities between groups on most items except for educational background, obesity ratio, and family history of hypertension. Groups were not found to be significantly different from each other in terms of anxiety styles, and reported stressors and reinforcers on a discriminant function analysis. A multiple regression analysis of the hypertensive group revealed that age; reported stressors and reinforcers; family history of hypertension; cigarette smoking, and obesity contributed to this disease. Measures of actual stressors were proven to be more accurate than anxiety measures in predicting hypertension. Descriptive analysis of the three groups indicated that hypertensives reported a higher number of anxiety type stressors than the other two groups, and the stress-related groups reported more health-related complaints. Theories for the lack of significance between groups are provided as well as suggestions for future studies and applications.

NF-kB, découvert en 1986 dans des lymphocytes B mature, est un groupe de facteurs de transcription impliqué dans plusieurs processus cellulaires différents tels les réponses immunitaires et inflammatoires, les processus du développement et de la croissance cellulaire ainsi que l'apoptose. L'activité de NF-kB est régulée par IkB ; lors de la phosphorylation de ce dernier, NF-kB est relocalisé vers le noyau. L'apoptose, une mort programmée identifiée en 1972, est caractérisée par une fragmentation de l'ADN et la formation de corps apoptotiques. Les mécanismes contrôlant ce phénomène sont très complexes. Un de ces mécanismes nécessite des protéases à cystéine aspartate-dépendantes que l'on nomme caspases. En utilisant le modèle cellulaire neuronal Neuro 2A, l'objectif de cette étude a été de déterminer si un stress oxydatif (H₂O₂) et un stress thermique (40 à 43°C) pouvaient induire l'apoptose par les mêmes mécanismes et si NF-kB avait un rôle dans la réponse cellulaire à ces deux stress. Une condensation de la chromatine, une caractéristique de l'apoptose, a été observée lors d'un stress oxydatif comme lors d'un stress thermique dans les Neuro 2A. Bien qu'une diminution de la polarité des membranes mitochondriale n'a été observée que pour le choc thermique, l'activation de l'apoptose serait induite au moins par la voie mitochondriale puisqu'il y a eu activation de la caspase 9 dans les deux stress. L'implication de la voie des récepteurs de mort est moins évidente; une activité de la caspase 8 est détectée dans les deux stress mais n'est que peu ou pas augmentée par rapport à l'absence de stress. La présence de H₂O₂ (0 à 25 µM) ne stimule pas l'activité de la caspase 3, mais active significativement l'activité de la caspase 6. Au contraire, durant le choc thermique (42 à 43°C), l'induction de la caspase 3 est très significative, soit environ près de dix fois celle des cellules témoins (37°C), et l'activité de la caspase 6 ne varie pas. La présence de l'inhibiteur Bay 11-7082 (inhibiteur de la phosphorylation de IkB, 4 µM) a peu d'influence sur l'activité des caspases 3 et 6 lors du stress oxydatif mais multiplie l'activité de la caspase 3 d'environ vingt fois lors d'un stress thermique. En conclusion, nos résultats ont permis de montrer l'implication de la voie mitochondriale (caspase 9) dans la mort apoptotique induite par H₂O₂ et le choc thermique et cela, dans la lignée neuronale Neuro 2A. La caspase effectrice 6 serait activée dans le stress oxydatif mais non thermique. Les résultats pour la caspase 6 dans le choc thermique demeurent à être vérifiés en analysant l'activité de cette caspase plus tardivement. En effet, la caspase 6 est située en aval de la caspase 3 dans les mécanismes apoptotiques. L'utilisation de Bay 11-7082 dans le choc thermique montre que NF-kB aurait un effet inhibiteur sur l'activation de la caspase 3. Le Bay 11-7082 en combinaison avec le choc thermique pourrait trouver application dans le traitement de tumeurs neuronales.

Distressed and impaired professionals represent a problem to the professions and the consumers of their services. Little data is available on the distressed psychologist. This study, endorsed by the Board of Professional Affairs of the American Psychological Association, was concerned with developing a data base in the following areas: (1) the prevalence and types of mental disorder among psychologists, (2) characteristics of distressed psychologists, (3) ethical and legal violations committed by distressed psychologists, (4) procedures for identifying and handling these psychologists, and (5) treatment resources. A questionnaire was sent to the fifty state licensing boards in psychology, the fifty state psychological associations, and one percent of the total number of licensed psychologists listed in the National Register of Health Service Providers. This one percent was selected by a stratified random sampling by state. Results indicated that distressed psychologists represent a significant problem to the profession due to the ethical/legal violations they commit and the adverse impact of their distress on professional performance. Distressed psychologists were also found to rate the impact of their distress on performance significantly less adversely than did their colleagues. Most frequently occurring problems among distressed psychologists were depression, alcohol abuse/dependence, and personality disorder. Differences were found on the following dimensions between distressed psychologists who committed no known violations and those who committed violations: rated adverse impact of distress on performance, type of problem, the frequency with which colleagues intervened, the frequency with which the distressed psychologists themselves took some action in regard to their problems, types of intervention made, and outcome. State licensing boards and psychological associations were found to have little contact with distressed psychologists who commit no violations and few means of identifying the distressed among those who do commit violations. A few state psychological associations are exploring the issue of distressed psychologists in their states and developing referral and outreach programs. State boards who responded have not made special efforts for distressed psychologists. No special treatment programs were discovered. The profession is considered to be insufficiently prepared for assisting distressed psychologists and client care is endangered. Implications of findings for programming are discussed.

SAMMANFATTNING Bakgrund Sjuksköterskeyrket har visat sig vara ett stressfyllt yrke med många olika stressfaktorer såsom hot och våld, bristande kunskap, oregelbundna arbetstider samt den fysiska och psykiska arbetsmiljön. Långvarig stress kan leda till allvarliga konsekvenser, både för sjuksköterskan som individ och även för den vård sjuksköterskan utför, vilket i sin tur kan påverka patientsäkerheten. Därför är det av största vikt att finna effektiva metoder att hantera stress för sjuksköterskor. Syfte Att beskriva hur sjuksköterskan med hjälp av coping och mindfulness kan hantera arbetsrelaterad stress inom den sjukvård som bedrivs på akutsjukhus samt effekten av dessa. Metod Metoden som valdes för denna studie var litteraturöversikt. Databassökningar gjordes i CINAHL, PubMed och PsycINFO. Arton artiklar inkluderades och granskades i studien. Resultat Tre teman framkom efter granskning: coping, mindfulness och socialt stöd. Val av använd metod att hantera stress visade sig vara individuell och effektiviteten av stresshanteringen varierade mellan individer och mellan de olika metoderna. Problemfokuserad coping visade sig vara mer effektiv gentemot stress än emotionsfokuserad coping. Mindfulness i form av mindfulnessbaserad stressreduktion och socialt stöd visade sig effektivt vid stresshantering, inte bara för individen utan även för arbetsgruppen. Slutsats En god stresshantering hos sjuksköterskan i form av problemfokuserad coping, mindfulnessbaserad stressreduktion och socialt stöd kan med fördel leda till förbättrad fysisk och psykisk hälsa hos sjuksköterskan samt främja omvårdnadsarbetet.

The purpose of this study was to validate an abbreviated interview schedule for the assessment of adolescent life stress based on the original Life Events and Difficulties Schedule (LEDS) by Brown and Harris (1978). The main objective of the abbreviated instruments was to elicit the severe stressors shown to be of etiological significance for predicting psychiatric disorder without requiring two hours to administer. A non-clinical sample of 58 adolescents (mean age = 15.67 years) completed the Childhood Depression Inventory (Kovacs, 1982), the Abbreviated Life Event and Difficulty Schedule - Adolescent version (ALEDS-A), and the full-length LEDS-Adolescent Version (LEDS-A). The abbreviated instrument elicited significantly fewer minor stressors, while retaining its ability to solicit the most severe stressors in a 30-minute time period. Results are interpreted with reference to Brown and Harris's (1978) sociological theory of major life stress and depression.

No description available.

The present research compared a newly developed interview measure of adolescent life stress, the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule (Brown & Harris, 1978), to a self-report checklist The Adolescent Perceived Events Scale (Compas, Davis, Forsythe, & Wagner, 1997). Participants consisted of a community-based sample, of 58 adolescents in grades 9--11. The life strew interview and checklist were compared on a number of factors, namely accuracy and comprehensiveness of obtained stressor data and accuracy of stressor dating. Moreover, the relative performance of the two measures in predicting current depressive symptomatology was assessed. Results revealed differences in the stress profiles obtained by the two measures. Respondents reported stressors in a redundant manner on the checklist and reported a number of stressors on the checklist that did not qualify as stressors according to interview criteria. The checklist was found to lack in comprehensiveness, as many stressors elicited during the interview had no counterpart on the checklist. Respondents were unable to precisely date stressors on the self-report checklist. Results indicated that stressor data obtained by the interview was more associated and more, predictive of current levels of depressive symptomatology than stressor data obtained by the checklist. The implications of these results in reference to life stress assessment and research in the area of adolescent life stress and depression is discussed.

I conduct two experiments to examine the effects of different types of stress on individuals' willingness to cooperate. The experience of stress is characterized by the primary cognitive appraisal of threat. It activates the emotion of anxiety and induces stress coping behaviors. I posit that because different types of stress differ in terms of the secondary dimension of cognitive appraisal, the responsibility of possible failure, they lead to different stress coping behaviors in collaborative contexts. Based on the attribution of threat, I classify stress into two types, ego and external stress. Under ego stress, the possible failure is attributed to one's capabilities. Ego stressors, such as lack of skill, cause individuals to worry about their capabilities, posing a threat to goal achievement. I argue that ego stress motivates an individual to seek affiliations for joint protection. I provide experimental evidence that ego stress increases cooperation. Under external stress, on the other hand, the possible failure is attributed to factors in the environment. External stressors, such as environmental uncertainty, cause individuals to worry about threat related factors in the environment, which also may hinder goal achievement. I argue that external stress motivates people to avoid risks, including the risk of being exploited by a partner. I provide evidence that external stress reduces cooperation.

The purpose of this study was to investigate management of stress among educators in schools in Mafikeng area. It was hoped that a broader understanding of the distinctive factors that account for identification of stressors and how educators try to cope with or manage them and highlight the effects of these stressful experience on the physical domain, emotional health, mental functions, behavioural efficiency, interpersonal relationships and personal productivity on educators, and to provide some guidelines to ways of controlling, managing and combating stress among educators. A multi-faced instrument technique, comprising a questionnaire and document reviews were employed to gather data. The research paradigm that was used to underpin this study was the survey method where both qualitative and quantitative data were obtained from questionnaire. The study revealed that educators were stressed up due to numerous factors such as, salary not commensurate with their qualification and experience, ill discipline among learners and work overload etc. There are suggested methods in how to manage or cope with stress among educators in our schools. The research had some limitations, which include; the subjects might not at the time of research be able to identify their stressors, hence the results of the study might not be reliable and generalisation of results not possible because only ten schools were selected. / Thesis (MBA) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2004