9990 · 3.4.2
Measures of stress flashcards
Revision flashcards for Cambridge 9990 Measures of stress (syllabus 3.4.2). Flip, recall, then mark a real past-paper question.
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Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)?
Cohen et al. — 10-item questionnaire measuring **subjective feelings** of stress over the past month; widely used in health research.
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SRRS measurement?
Holmes & Rahe **Social Readjustment Rating Scale** — checklist of 43 life events with LCU weights; total score indicates cumulative life change stress.
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Daily Hassles Scale?
Kanner et al. — 117-item inventory of minor irritations; **stronger predictor** of psychological symptoms than life events scale.
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Cortisol as stress measure?
Stress hormone from **HPA axis** — measured in saliva or blood; objective but fluctuates with **circadian rhythm** and acute vs chronic stress.
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Galvanic Skin Response (GSR)?
Measures **electrical conductance** of skin — increases with sweat (sympathetic arousal); used in lab stress studies.
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Multi-method assessment?
Combining self-report + physiological measures improves **validity** — captures both subjective experience and objective arousal.
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What is the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)?
A self-report questionnaire by Holmes and Rahe (1967) to measure stress from major life events. It has 43 events, each with a Life Change Unit (LCU) score. The total score over a past period is used to predict the likelihood of illness.
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What is the Galvanic Skin Response (GSR)?
A physiological measure of stress that records changes in the electrical conductivity of the skin. Conductivity increases with sweat production, which is activated by the sympathetic nervous system (SAM pathway) in response to a stressor.
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What is a key criticism of using major life events to measure stress?
They fail to account for individual differences in perception. An event like 'pregnancy' is assigned a fixed stress score on the SRRS, but it may be a joyful event for one person and a highly stressful one for another, a nuance the scale misses.
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How did Kanner et al. (1981) propose to measure stress differently from Holmes and Rahe?
Kanner et al. argued that the cumulative effect of minor, daily hassles (e.g., traffic, arguments) is a better predictor of ill health than infrequent major life events. They developed the Hassles and Uplifts Scale to measure this.
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What is a major advantage of using physiological measures of stress over self-report measures?
Objectivity. Physiological measures like cortisol levels or blood pressure provide quantitative, scientific data that is not subject to a participant's subjective interpretation, memory biases, or social desirability effects that can affect self-report scales.