People are aware of the impact that major stressful events can have on a person's life. In general, society is solicitous of people undergoing major stressors like major illness, divorce, or a death in the family. However, it is interesting to note that, for the individual, small stressors can actually be more significant than major stressors. For example, a friend of mine was fired from her job the day before 9-11. The day of 9-11, when everyone else was so stressed out about the idea of a terrorist attack, she was far more worried about the source of her next paycheck. While she realized, intellectually, that the national impact of 9-11 was certainly greater than the national impact of her being fired, in her life she experienced the loss of her job as a more stressful event. In fact, the most stressful part of 9-11 was that, with its resultant shut-down of government services throughout the country, it delayed her ability to file for unemployment, compounding her stress. While this may make my friend appear selfish, it should come as no surprise. Research certainly suggests that everyday hassles actually contribute more stress, or at least have a greater impact on overall mental health, than major life events. While losing her job may have been a major life event for her, the job loss did not represent a discrete event, but was the cumulation of an extended period of difficulty in the work place, and that difficulty added a significant amount of stress to her life.
While people can do many things to avoid stress, there are some aspects of modern life that seem to introduce stress into people's lives. For example, overcrowding, excessive low-level noise, and other hallmarks of city life can be a significant source of stress. One of the cuter examples of this phenomenon involves my older sister's child and a trip that their family took to New York City. My nephew was approximately three years old when his family went to visit New York City. While he was happy to see some of the sights, the sheer volume of people and the constant noise obviously got to him, so much so that after only one day of braving the crowds, he began acting in an aggressive manner towards some of the people on the street. As they would crowd close to him, he would push them away, stating, "Get out of my personal space." At three, not only did he experience the stress that comes with overcrowding, but he was able to recognize where the stress came from and to make attempts to mitigate the stress. Of course, crowding adults on a New York City street did not listen to a three-year-old's pleas that they get out of his personal space. This led to a feeling of helplessness, and he was soon reduced to a crying mess.
Personally, I know that everyday stressors have a more significant impact on my own feelings of mental well-being than major life events. If I start out the day unable to find my keys, out of my favorite breakfast food, and do something like spill something on my clothing, I find it very difficult to cope with the rest of the day. Moreover, I have noticed that if I have a stressful morning, then events that occur later in the day have more of an impact than on days that are relatively stress-free. In that way, I have observed the cumulative nature of stressors, and have experienced how a relatively minor event can undo a person.
Chapter Four: Ways of Coping
Stress is such a pervasive part of everyday life that people come up with a bunch of different methods of coping. Unfortunately, a significant proportion of those coping methods are not healthy ways of dealing with stress. For example, people use drugs, alcohol, and food to help them cope with stress. Even people who do not turn to substances to help them ease stress may deal with stress in an unhealthy manner. Personally, I am a clean-freak. Under most circumstances, I like to have a very tidy home, and I find it difficult to relax if my home is not clean and relatively tidy. However, when I am experiencing a significant amount of stress, my desire for cleanliness increases almost exponentially. At those times, it is not enough that my house be relatively tidy. On the contrary, at those times, I must experience my home as absolutely clean or tidy before being able to relax or being able to concentrate on fixing the stressful issue. I know that exerting control over my environment,...
Economic exploitation also includes the "threatening to take money, forcing a date to pay solely for items that are to be shared, or stealing money or property," (Jackson & Oates 1998:92). These forms of abuse are much harder to identify and combat, and in many cases go unnoticed within large bodies of previous research. Identifying the real victims within teen dating violence can also prove to be a challenge for
Teen dating violence is at epidemic proportions and has become to the topic of debate in recent years. The purpose of this discussion is to identify a single intervention in working within the family that would help a child's resilience to controlling his/her temper. The discussion will focus on describing the intervention; how and why it might be beneficial; what might motivate people to participate fully in the prevention. The
Peers exert more influence on each other during their adolescent years than at any other time. Research carried out shows that peer attitudes and behaviors are critical influences on teen attitudes and behaviors related to dating violence. Friends are not only influential, but they are also more likely to be "on the scene" and are a key element in a couple's social life. Roughly all the adolescent dating violence
Teenage Girls Involved in Abusive Dating Relationships Aggression in teenage dating leading to physical, emotional and psychological damage is a social problem not only because of its effects on the teenagers but also because of its prevalence. Howard and Qi Wang (2003) report figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing that overall the prevalence of non-sexual courtship violence ranges from 9% to 65%, depending on the definitions and research
& Naugle, A. (2008). Intimate partner violence theoretical considerations: Moving towards a contextual framework. Clinical Psychology Review, 28(7), 1096-1107. Eckhardt, C.; Jamison, T.R. & Watts, K. (2002). Anger Experience and Expression Among Male Dating Violence Perpetrators During Anger Arousal. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 17(10), 1102-1114. Eckhardt, C.; Samper, R. & Murphy, C. (2008). Anger disturbances among perpetrators of intimate partner violence: Clinical characteristics and outcomes of court-mandated treatment. Journal of Interpersonal
Using Social Media to Build Out Support Systems Introduction Violence prevention programs focus on curtailing forms of violence in society, such as child abuse, domestic violence and sexual assault. These programs often emphasize personal responsibility, information about what constitutes violence (it is often the case that offenders do not even realize they are being abusive), why long-term solutions are better than quick-fixes, and how to engage in respectful rather than abusive communication
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