Daily Hassles

Might be a better way of predicting than SRRS

Maybe minor, but may be worse due to the cumulative effect.

Kanner et al - First to establish a correlation between hassles and physical and psychological ill health. Also found a link between uplifts and physical and psychological well-being. This contrasts Holmes and Rahe.

Delongis et al - Confirmed Kanner et al's findings using the HSUP scale. It isnt necessarily the events themselves that have an impact, but our perception of them. But we have to account for individual differences.

Bouteyre et al - Looked at the relationship between hassles and mental health. French first year university students completed the hassles component of the HSUP scale and a measure of depression (Beck depression inventory). They found a correlation between hassles and depressive symptoms with 41% suffering some depressive symptoms, so the transition to University may provide hassles that might have a negatve effect on mental health. You could say that it is due to life events, hassles or both uplifts.

Gervais - Asked a group of nurses to keep a diary for 1 month. They had to record all the hassles and uplifts at work. They were also asked to rate their own performance. They found that hassles increased the "job-strain" and decreased performance. But some uplifts could provide a buffer.

Kanner - Claimed that hassles are a better predictor than life changes

Ruffin - Supports the finding with hassles being linked to higher levels of psychological and physical dysfunction.

Why?

Flett et al - Claimed that the difference is because of social support. The participants rated life changes as higher for social support.

• Lazuras - Not clear why they have an effect -> 1) Accumalation effect-They build up to an overload point 2) Amplification effect-Events dont happen in isolation, so Chronic stress could make us more vulnerable to the impact of hassles.
• Reliance on retrospective recall - We can get around this by using a diary method, but could create demand characteristics.
• The research is correlational therefore cannot establish a causal relationship.