Causes & Symptons of Stress Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Causes & Symptons of Stress - Research Paper Example How people react to stress will depend a great deal on their own personal experiences and life conditions. Often, these experiences and conditions are the result of factors beyond their control, such as their age, race or gender. In addition, stress experienced will be different depending upon the factors causing it, whether they are economic/financial, regular life events or periods of great transition. In â€Å"Age and Gender as Determinants of Stress Exposure,† it was discovered that there are some significant differences between the way girls and boys experience stress. Researchers Takeuchi, Williams and Adair investigate â€Å"Economic Stress in the Family and Children’s Emotional and Behavioral Problems† to determine whether children’s behavior is adversely affected by the economic stress levels of the household and whether this effect is increased with persistent as opposed to one-time dependence on social services. Dual-income households have their own set of stressors to face, however, which are explored in Windle and Dumenci’s â€Å"Parental and Occupational Stress as Predictors of Depressive Symptoms among Dual-Income Couples† (1997). ... in helping these older adults deal with stresses caused by life events, but indicated a consistent steady rate of recovery for these individuals in studies such as â€Å"Transitory Impact of Life-Event Stress on Psychological Symptoms in Older Adults† (Norris & Murrell, 1987). Karen Rudolph and Constance Hammen (1999) concluded in their study on how experience and consequences of life stress varied depending upon age and gender differences that there are significant differences between the types of stress experienced between pre-adolescent and adolescent boys and girls. Of the 88 children who participated in their study, it was determined that while adolescent girls experienced the highest levels of interpersonal stress, adolescent boys experienced the highest levels of non-interpersonal stress. Preadolescent girls experienced the highest levels of independent stress and conflict in the family unit. In addition, it was determined that a great deal of this stress was generated by the children themselves. The study was designed to â€Å"examine bidirectional paths between children and stressful events in their environments. In particular, we examined whether a transactional perspective would shed additional light on observed age and gender differences in life stress† (Rudolph & Hammen, 1999, p. 660). The research also had a secondary goal of identifying â€Å"age and gender differences across multiple domains of stress† (Rudolph & Hammen, 1999, p. 660). Relevant areas of life stress research were discussed in the areas of stress exposure versus stress generation, the role of social context and stress reactions vulnerability to depressive outcomes. In discussing stress exposure versus stress generation, the authors stressed the importance of distinguishing between