Daily Hassles

The Hassles and Uplifts Scales (HSUP) measures respondents' attitudes toward daily situations. This evaluates both the positive and negative events that occur in each person's daily life. This tends not to focuss on the highly stressful life events.

What:? asked nurses to keep diaries for a month, recording all daily hassles and uplifts while at work. Also rate own performance over the same period. Typical enteries were: 'Lack of beds meant cancellation of elective admissions; this was left to me; I had to deal with people's anger despite not being responsible.' (nurse. General Ward) 'A bit of a hassle at work today due to being on duty with staff who don't pull their weight. Felt not appreciated today at work'. (Nurse, Medical Ward) Found: end of month, clear daily hassles found to increase job strrain and decreasee job performance. Uplifts (compliment from a patient or praise from a superior) counteracted the negative effects of their daily hassles. As well as overcoming the stress associated with their daily hassles, these daily uplifts also improved their performance on the job.

Daily H now broadly accepted as comparable to, if not greater than, life changes as a significant cource of stress. Eg- Australian study (Ruffin 1993) daily H linked to greater psychological and physical dysfunction then major negative life events.

Irritating, fustrating, distressing demands that to some degree characterise everyday transactions with the environment.

Maj life changing events may differ from D H in the extent to which a person would receive and/or seek social support. Total 320 students (160 men and 160 women) read scenario describing male or female individual who had experienced either a major life event or daily hassles. Then rated amount of support (emotional and practical) that the person would receive and would seek from others. Found: individuals who suffered M L E rated higher in both seeking and receiving support from significant others. Suggests: compares to M LE , greater negative influence of daily hassles on psychological adjustments may be due, in part, to the social and emotional support received from others.

Minor positive experiences of everyday life, eg: compliments from work or feeling good about ones appearance.

As noted: daily hassles more stress ofr some than major life events. Why? - one exp for this is that an accumulation of minor daily stressors creats persistent irritations, fustrations and over loads which then results in more serious stress reactions such as anxiety and depression.

Chronic stress due to major life changes may take make people more vulnerable to daily hassles. Eg- husband trying to come to terms with a recent divorce may find relatively minor sqabblinf of his children a major irritation. result= he may experience higher than expected levels of stress given the relatively trivial nature of the irritation. As already in distress, presence of associated minor stressors may amplify exp of stress. Presence of maj life change also deplete a person's resources so that they are less able to cope with minor stressors than they would be under normal circumstances.

Remembering the past month or so. How much is recalled accurately? some researchers use a diary method, here participants rate minor stressors and feelings of well-being on a daily basis.

Most data from research correlational. So we cannot draw causal conclusions about the relationship between daily hassles and well-being. However, as with correlations, they indicate daily hassles in our lives can potentially have adverse effects on our health and well-being. Result= unwise to ignore message in such research.

Studied 250 people over 50 yrs of age and their relationship with pets. Found: Females - pets are associated with uplifts(leisure and lack of psychological pressure). Males- pets a hassles (time and money necessary to care for them)

Individuals experience a wide range of daily hassles during course if a day. These frequently accumulate, with the consequence that new stressors appear before existing issues ahve been resolved. Hassles not dealt with effectively can persist (even when no longer in conscious awareness) + to the pressure of subsequent stressors. Found: participants who reported a difficult day @ wrk subsequently reported higher levels of stress on their commute home. When unresolved 'non-driving' hassles are carried forward in to the driving situatio, events (such as mechanical failure and the actions of other road users) are more likely to be interpreted as stressful by the driver.