Self-assessment of stress using qualitative and quantitative methods

Stress is a feeling of emotional or physical tension. It can come from any event or thought that
makes you feel frustrated, angry, or nervous. Stress is your body's reaction to a challenge or
demand. In short bursts, stress can be positive, such as when it helps you avoid danger or meet
a deadline. But when stress lasts for a long time, it may harm your health. Stress is a normal
feeling. There are many types of stress like nuestress, distress, eustress, chronic stress and acute
stress.
Nuestress is also known as neutral stress. Any kind of information or sensory stimulus that is
perceived as unimportant or inconsequential. When we are exposed to conditions that don't
directly affect us, we will experience Nuestress. For example, hearing about devastating natural
disasters in another part of the world can create neustress. Distress is a form of negative stress
that makes you worry, fearful, or nervous. Distress is a type of stress that develops when people
are exposed to stressful situations. It is negative, unhealthy demotivating and causes our body‟s
wear and tear. Distress is commonly caused by negative events and situations, like as losing a job
or a family member diagnosed with an illness etc. Physical signs of stress include chest
discomfort, headaches, digestive problems, and sleeplessness.
Eustress is the term used to describe the level of stress that is good for you and is one of a
person‟s best assets for achieving peak performance and managing minor crises. It is a
positive form of a stress having a beneficial effect on health, motivation, performance, and
emotional well-being. It is eustress that energises and influences us to make a change. It helps
us keep a positive attitude and equips us to overcome challenges and illness. Eustress is a type
of good stress that arises when a person considers a situation to be encouraging or inspiring.
Eustress is both exhilarating and pleasurable. It's the positive kind of stress that can keep you
going.
Chronic stress is the stress that seems never ending. It is a prolonged and constant feeling of
stress that can negatively affect your health. Chronic stress, if left untreated for a long time, can
have a negative impact on our health. It is a reaction to continuous emotional strain over which a
person believes they have little or no control. It can be caused by the everyday pressures of
family and work or by traumatic situations. Chronic stress occurs when the body is exposed to
stressors on a regular basis with a frequency or intensity that prevents the autonomic nervous
system from activating the relaxation response. This means that the body remains in a constant
state of physiological arousal.
Acute stress is a very short-term type of stress that can either be positive or more distressing. It is
a type of stress that is intense in nature but short in duration. Acute stress is experienced multiple
times throughout the day. Acute stress is experienced as an immediate perceived threat, either
physical, emotional or psychological. It's the body's reaction to a recent or upcoming difficulty or
an unexpected incident. It is the most common form of stress that we deal with on a daily basis.
While acute stress can be useful in small doses, but an excessive quantity of acute stress can have
a negative influence on an individual.
Stress can be generated by a number of causes which are known as sources of stress. The most
significant of these big stressful life events are tragic occurrences that influence our lives, such as
the death of a loved one or personal injury, as well as the unpleasant regular inconveniences
of everyday life.
Life Events, changes big and small, sudden and gradual affect our life from the moment we
were born. We learn to cope with small everyday changes but major life events can be
stressful because they disturb our routine and cause upheaval. Unwanted, unplanned, or
uncontrollable distinct, visible occurrences with a generally obvious beginning and offset
that frequently signal important life transitions are referred to as stressful life events, or life
event stressors. A spouse's death, a child's injury, war, academic or professional failure, an
unexpected pregnancy, and marital separation etc., Most of us have been through painful
events and upheavals at some point in our lives, such as the death of a close relative or the
reconciliation of a marriage. Every individual, in some way or another, is confronted with
one of these occurrences, which might have a negative impact. Traumatic Events, these
include being involved in a variety of extreme events such as fire, train or road accident,
robbery, earthquake, tsunami, etc. After some time has passed, the impact of these
experiences may manifest as anxiety symptoms, flashbacks, nightmares, and intrusive
thoughts, among other things. Relationships can be strained as a result of severe trauma.
Professional help will be needed to cope with them especially if they persist for many
months after the event is over. Hassles, these are the personal stress we endure as
individuals, due to the happenings in our daily life, such as noisy surroundings, commuting,
quarrelsome neighbours, electricity and traffic snarls and so on. It is suggested that such
daily hassles are an important cause of stress. There are some jobs in which daily hassles are
very frequent. These daily hassles may sometimes have devastating consequences for the
individual who is often the one coping alone with them as others may not even be aware of
them as outsiders. The more stress people report as a result of daily hassles, the poorer is
their psychological well-being.

Events, condition or the situations in your surroundings that may cause/trigger stress are
called stressors. Our body responds to stressors differently depending on whether the
stressor is new or short term or whether the stressor has been around for a longer time.
Stressors are events that cause stress. They can originate from within a person or from an
external source, and they can range in severity from moderate to severe. Some of the major
stressors experienced by college students are: Academic Pressure, Attending classes,
completing the readings, writing papers, managing projects, and preparing for exams all put
a heavy burden on students. Some
students also experience huge amounts of anxiety over taking a test; though they may have
studied for hours on end and know the material forwards and backwards, actually sitting
down to answer questions about their knowledge can be a massive source of fear.
Homesickness, even the most hardened students experience some grief when they leave
behind their former life. However, according to studies, one out of every ten people will
have difficulty adapting. Social Pressure, College life, especially for first-year students, may
be scary and anxiety- inducing at times. Despite the fact that some people are born
introverts, the bulk of people must work harder to make friends. Students who are frightened
of being rejected tend to isolate themselves. Financial Pressure, there‟s no question that
college cost continues to rise, placing increasing pressure on both students and their families
to find a way to foot the bill. Even the most diligent and dedicated students might feel
hopeless and concerned about their financial situation when they are saddled with crippling
debt. Even in college, many students are concerned about the debt they are accumulating on
daily expenses such as textbooks, food plans, and basic living expenses. Competition, if we
are focused with getting better grades, this situation may contribute to our anxiety. This
obsession with higher grades can have a variety of negative consequences for an individual,
including physical, moral, emotional, and mental harm, as well as physical and mental
exhaustion. Concerns about academic performance are one of the most common trigger
points of stress for college students. High expectations, some parents push their children to
choose their own interests and aptitudes without considering their children's interests and
abilities. Students may be stressed by the pressure to satisfy their parents' expectations. The
student gradually develops mental stress as a result of having to deal with their parents'
demands as well as competing with other students. Anxiety, despair, and, unfortunately,
suicide might be the outcome.

College students experience high amount of stress because of various factors. Yikealo,
Tareke and Karvinen(2018) in their research on stress among college students they stated
that Stress is an inescapable part of life generally touches a wide range of groups of
population with no regard to their age, gender, educational status or socioeconomic status.
The research was aimed to study/examine the level of academic, social, psychological,
physiological, and environmental stress among college students. The results showed that
majority of the students experienced moderate to high levels of academic and environmental
stress but low levels of psychological, social and physiological factors. Additionally, in
addition to the finding, a
Bataineh (2013) reported that college students are more stressed with financial problems,
inadequate resources like computers, books, lecturers, and overload hours every semester as
academic stressors. It also showed that environmental and academic components of stress
were found to be higher among the students, lack of fair grading system, academic overload,
difficulty in dealing with one‟s academic problems, and poor subject matter and pedagogical
competence of instructors were among the academic stressors that inflict high academic
stress. In regard to the environmental stressors, lack of electric supply, water supply
problem, computer and internet access problem, lack of recreational centers, lack of quality
health service, and lack of adequate study rooms were found the most stressful items causing
high level of environmental stress among the students.

Krishnan and Sequeria (2012) in their research reported that one of the stressor common
amongst the college students can be sudden transition from school to college. College
students, especially fresher‟s, are a group particularly prone to stress (D'Zurilla & Sheedy,
1991) due to the transitional nature of college life (Towbes & Cohen, 1996). They must
adjust to being away from home for the first time, maintain a high level of academic
achievement, and adjust to a new social environment. College students, regardless of year in
school, often deal with pressures related to finding a job or a potential life partner. These
stressors do not cause anxiety or tension by themselves. Instead, stress results from the
interaction between stressors and the individual's perception and reaction to those stressors
(Romano, 1992). The amount of stress experienced may be influenced by the individual's
ability to effectively cope with stressful events and situations (D'Zurilla & Sheedy, 1991). If
stress is not dealt with effectively, feelings of loneliness and nervousness, as well as
sleeplessness and excessive worrying may result (Wright, 1967). It is important that stress
intervention programs be designed to address stress of college students. However, in order
to design an effective intervention, the stressors specific to college students must be
determined (Wright, 1967).

In his book Psychological Stress and Coping Process, published in 1966, psychologist
Richard Lazarus proposed the idea of cognitive evaluation. According to this theory, stress is
perceived as the imbalance between the demands placed on the individual and the
individual‟s resources to cope (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). This theory emphasised that
stress is perceived as the imbalance between the demands placed on the individual and the
individual‟s resources to
cope (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Furthermore, Lazarus argued that the experience of stress
differs significantly between individuals depending on how they interpret an event and the
outcome of a specific sequence of thinking patterns, called appraisals. Lazarus and Folkman
presented the "Theory of Cognitive Appraisal" model in 1984, which explained the mental
process influenced by stresses. Stress, according to Richard Lazarus, is a two-way process
including the environment's creation of stressors and the individual's response to these
stressors. His conception regarding stress led to the theory of cognitive appraisal. Cognitive
appraisal occurs when a person considers/examines the two major factors that majorly
contribute in the response to stress. The threatening tendency of the stress to the individual,
and the assessment of resources required to minimize, tolerate or eradicate the stressor and
the stress it produces are the two factors which majorly contributes in the response to stress.
According to Lazarus, there is a two-step process in assessing the degree of threat or harm of
a stressor and how one should react to that stressor the two steps are primary and secondary
appraisal.

Primary Appraisal, in this initial stage an event is interpreted as dangerous to the individual
or threatening to their personal goals. In this it is determining the severity of a stressor and
categorising it as either as a challenge (something to be met and defeated) or a threat
(something that could be harmful in the future) or a harm or loss that has already occurred.
If the stressor is appraised as a threat, negative emotions may arise that inhibit the person‟s
ability to cope with the threat. If the stressor is seen as a challenge, however, it is possible to
plan to meet that challenge, which is a more positive and less stressful approach.

Secondary Appraisal, in this stage the individual evaluates their ability or resources to be
able to cope with a specific situation. In secondary appraisal, people who have recognised a
threat or adverse consequence must assess the resources they have available for dealing with
the stressor. During this process, a person decides what coping options are available. A
harmful event requires immediate evaluation of coping options because it has already
occurred, whereas threatening or challenging events allow one time to gather more
information about events. Prior experience or being exposed to similar situations previously
provides a frame of reference to determine the options available for dealing with the
situation.

The General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS), developed by Hans Selye, describes the pattern of
responses that the body goes through after being prompted by a stressor. It consists of three
stages. The autonomic nervous system consists of the sympathetic system, which responds
to stressful events, and the parasympathetic system, which restores the body to normal
functioning after the stress has ceased. The general adaptation syndrome is the body‟s
reaction to stress and includes three stages of reaction: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.
Alarm, this stage refers to the initial symptoms the body experiences when under stress. The
presence of a noxious stimulus or stressor leads to activation of the adrenal pituitary-cortex
system. This triggers the release of hormones producing the stress response.
Now the individual is ready to “fight-or-flight”, which is a physiological response to stress.
Resistance, if the perceived stress continues, the resistance stage begins. The body stays
activated at a higher metabolic level in an effort to offset the persistent stress. The
parasympathetic nervous system calls for more cautious use of the body's resources. The
organism makes efforts to cope up with the threat, as through confrontation. Exhaustion,
prolonged exposure to the stressor will result in the depletion of the body's resources, and
the resulting wear and tear will suppress the immune system and cause bodily functions to
deteriorate which will lead to the third stage exhaustion. The physiological system is
involved in alarm reaction and resistance become ineffective and susceptibility to stress-
related disease such as high blood pressure becomes more likely. Alarm and resistance are
stages that people experience many times throughout life, allowing people to adapt to life’s
demands (Selye, 1976). It is the prolonged secretion of the stress hormones during the
exhaustion stage that can lead to the most harmful effects of stress.

The objective of the present practicum is to assess the sources of stress and stress levels
experienced by an individual using standardised scales like- Depression Aniety Stress Scale,
Student Stress Scale and Inventory of College Students’ Recent Life Experiences as well as
maintaining a stress journal.
Method

To assess stress levels experienced by self, both quantitative measures (like standardised
scales) and qualitative measures (like maintaining a stress journal and group discussions) were
used.
Participants
All the participants were the students of Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar College University of Delhi
from the course- B. A. [hons] Applied Psychology belonging to the second-year of 2021 batch.
Procedure
The practicum was a self-assessment of stress. The participants were given three
questionnaires for the same. The first one was Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-42),
the second one was College Students Stressful Event Checklist, the third and the last one
was
Inventory of College Students Recent Life Experiences. The facilitator also asked all the
participants to maintain a stress journal.

Measures used

Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS)

Depression Anxiety Stress Scale has been shown to be a valid and reliable measure of the
dimensions of depression, anxiety, and stress separately but also taps into a more general
dimension of psychological distress. The DASS is available in two forms: the DASS-21 and
the DASS-42. Depression Anxiety Stress Scale of 42 items (DASS-42) was developed by
Lovibond, S.H.; Lovibond, kP.F. (1995) using a sample of responses from the comparison
of 504 sets of results from a trial by students. The DASS-42 is a 42 item self-report scale
designed to measure the negative emotional states of depression, anxiety and stress. It is the
long version of the DASS-21. It is a useful tool for routine outcome monitoring and can be
used to assess the level of treatment response. DASS-42 has 42 items respectively, and is
each rated on a 4-point scale of how much each particular statement applies to the
individual. DASS42 have good test-retest reliability, high internal consistency, and adequate
convergent and discriminant validity with other measures of anxiety and depression (Antony
et al., 1998; Brown, Chorpita, Korotitsch, & Barlow, 1997). The principal value of the
DASS in a clinical setting is to clarify the locus of emotional disturbance. The DASS is
based on a dimensional rather than a categorical conception of psychological distress, and
scores emphasise the degree to which someone is experiencing symptoms rather than
diagnostic cutoff points. While the DAS-42 was developed with individuals older than 17
years of age, due to the simplicity of language, there has been no compelling evidence
against the use of the scales in children as young as 12
College Students Stressful Event Checklist
This checklist was given by T.H. Holmes and R.H rahe in the year 1967. In this checklist,
each item signifies a life event that requires an individual to make a readjustment or a
change in his or her life. Such changes produce stress in our lives, even if the event is a
pleasant one. Therefore, a step toward reducing stress is to become aware of the sources of
stress in your life. By assigning values to these 32 potential stress producers, you can
determine whether you have experienced low, moderate, or high stress in the past year. In
the original checklist designed for adults, the higher the stress level the more likely one was
to have illness within the coming year. For example, if one had a stress score of 300 or
greater, that person was almost certain to have illness requiring time off from work within
the next year. Persons with low stress in their lives had significantly fewer cases of
illnesses.
Student’s stress scale
The Student Stress Scale is scored by adding the points listed for the checked life events. Insel
and Roth suggested the following interpretations. Scores of 300 and higher indicate a relatively
high health risk; scores of 150 to 299 indicate a 50/50 chance of serious health problems within
two years. What stress managements skills that you have studied could you apply to the results of
this scale. Instructions said to check those events you have experienced in the past six months or
are likely to experience in the next six months. The scale consists 31 of real-life events that
participants can relate to.
Stress Journal
A stress journal was maintained to access the level of subjective stress experienced by the
students. The stress journal included the various subjective stressors experienced by the
students on weekly basis. The idea behind the journal was to give students the regular record
of the stressors they experience, so that they can analyse and manage them and this stress
journal also helps the students to understand well the causes of stress in detail.
Results
After scoring the three stress scales, participant falls in the Mild, Severe and Extremely Severe
categories of the respective scales. The stressors identified in the participant’s life could
correspond to death, family, friends, career, financial issues and social norms.
SCALE RAW SCORE INTERPRETATION STRESSORS
DASS-21 56 Mild Overreaction,
inferiority, past
actions.
STUDENTS STRESS 876 Extremely severe Death, divorce of
SCALE parents, job,
arguments with peer.
COLLEGE STUDENT'S 790 Severe Death, legal
STRESSFUL EVENTS problems, income
CHECKLIST threats, sexual
problems, missing
classes.
STRESS JOURNAL Body issues, Queer
problems,
insecurities. Career
related issues.
Discussion
The aim of the present practicum was to assess stress levels experienced by self, both
quantitative measures (like standardized scales) and qualitative measures (like maintaining a
stress journal and group discussions) were used.
 The objective of the present practicum was to assess the sources of stress and stress levels
experienced by an individual using standardized scales like Student Stress Scale, DASS, College
Student Stressful Event Checklist and maintaining a Stress journal. Each individual got the
scores after going through the questions in each scale.
The first standardized scale used was DASS-21, consisting 21 questions to measure a raw
score of stress and anxiety of an Individual and checking whether it lies on lower, moderate
or severe stress. The raw score of the participant was 56 which indicates moderate level of
stress. These results have been validated by a study done by Yikealo and Karvinen (2018)
who found that academic and environmental stressors were contributing most to the
students’ level of stress. Similarly, there another study by Nandamuri and Gowthami (2011)
according to which academic stress has been defined as one of the major sources of stress in
college going students, they elaborated that academic stress include competition, exam
pressure, studying large amount of content in small time frame, and when negative stress or
excessive stress is experienced by a child for a prolonged period of time it can lead to
physiological and physical impairment. Reasons for this are rarely occurring social conflicts
and work load. This includes the daily stress that participant faces that are related to the
discriminatory practices of the society. The environment plays a massive role here
including academic and social life of the participant.
Second method was Student’s Stress Scale, where the participant scored 876 which is
‘extremely severe’ category of the test. There some issues related to very sensitive areas of
the participant’s life were addressed that led to a high score since some of those experiences
are very traumatic. Also, some issues in bodyshaming by their peers with an innate
insecurity issue that is related comparison complex [that was not addressed in the test].
Since, the participant has also faced the death of a very dear friend recently. It also added as
a stressor in his life. Therefore, death is a major component of stress in the participant’s life.
An increase in risk of manic episodes after death of a loved one has been suggested by a
number of case reports (Onishi, Miyashita, Kosaka: 1999). Another research on older adults
suggests that the risk of depression and PTSD is elevated following the death of a loved one
(Prigerson, Frank, Karl, Reynolds, Anderson , Zubenko : 1995). The pressure to perform
well in the examination or test and time allocated makes academic environment very
stressful (Erkutlu & Chafra, 2006).
Third method that was used is College Student’s Stressful Events Checklist where the
participant scored 790 that indicates that participant’s level is ‘severe.’ This goes by saying
that the major stressors are the death of a beloved peer of their life, some career and
academic related issues such as missing a lot of classes makes the participant pretty anxious
about academic performance. Also, sexual issues that is related to the sexuality of the
participant that is like a taboo in the society. With some problems that are related to legal
aid of the participant for, going to an attorney is not desirable by the participant.
The participant also maintained a stress journal. In this journal he jotted down all the kinds
of stressors in his daily life that were not addressed in the standardised tests. The stressors
that
were found ot were mostly related to some insecurities related to the physical, social and
mental impression of the participant. Such issues involved body image issues, past
experiences with people and thoughts that cross the participant’s mind. Participant is also a
part of queer community and has faced bullying and harassment in the past of their lifetime
experiences. And all of that altogether impacts the academics of the participant since he is
very conflicted about the career they want to pursue.
Limitations of the Present Practicum
The present practicum was based on standardised methods as well as a subjective method i.e., the
journal. Maintaining the journal was a little tough as the participants sometimes forgot to note
down and recall the stress occurring in their life. Plus recalling bad experiences was also a little
stressful itself. The standardised tests did not address a lot of issues that felt less inclusive [such
issues related to social causes like sexism, racism, queerphobia]. With this, there was huge
emphasis on major issues and not minor ones as they go a long way to create stress in the life of
people.
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