STRESS

Stress

Stress

Aldwin, Carolyn (2007). Stress, Coping, and Development, Second Edition. New York: The Guilford Press.

Stress has been conceptualized in a number of ways. Specifically, it can be conceptualized as an accumulation of major life events, or an accumulation of small, minor events (hassles). Stress can be conceptualized as a single event, such as a serious accident, or as a chronic situation, such as a physical disability or poverty. For some stressful experiences, it is unclear which conceptualization makes the most sense. Is parental divorce an event or a chronic situation? One feature of childhood stress that distinguishes it from adult stress is that of controllability. Most stressful experiences during childhood occur independently of the child; they occur because something happens to the parents, or the parents do something or do not do something to the child. Adults have more control over their environment and are therefore more responsible, at least in part, for their life circumstances.

Davis et al. (June 2007). Prenatal Exposure to Maternal Depression and Cortisol Influences Infant Temperament. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, v46 n6 p737.

This journal discusses that the most widely used method for assessing stressors affecting children and adolescents is the self-report (or parent-report) checklist. Checklists are easy to administer, thus allowing investigators to collect data on large samples and to evaluate the relationships between stress and psychological and health outcomes. In the literature, there are at least 11 general stressor checklists for adolescents, and at least five for children. Adolescent checklists are usually designed to be self-report measures, whereas many child checklists are designed for parents to complete.

Glavas MM, Weinberg J (2006). "Stress, Alcohol Consumption, and the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis". in Yehuda S, Mostofsky DI. Nutrients, Stress, and Medical Disorders. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press. pp. 165-183

The text discusses the stressful event checklists that are widely used and efficient, they have a number of limitations. For example, it is unclear if they actually assess “objectively stressful” events. The specific items on stressor checklists have typically been chosen by researchers based on their own personal opinion, general consensus about the nature of stressful experiences of children, or information generated in small focus groups.

Grant, K., Compas, B., Stuhlmacher, A., (2003) Stressors and child and adolescent psychopathology: Moving from markers to mechanisms of risk. Psychological Bulletin vol. 129 pp. 447-466.

This bulletin highlights that most stressor fail to distinguish between stressors that are independent of the child's behavior and those that are not. Independent events are less confounded with psychopathology, and therefore represent a cleaner picture of environmental input. In any case, a very significant problem with the research literature is that different researchers use different checklists, making it very difficult to summarize findings in the field.

Grant, K., Compas, B., and Gipson, P. (2004) Stressors and child and adolescent psychopathology: Measurement issues and prospective effects. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology vol. 33 no. (4) pp. 412-425.

This journal shows that stressor interviews were developed in part to address the problems of stressor ...