stress is a psychological factor. it stands for strain and
pressure. It causes mental pain. It occurs in different amounts. If
it is in a appropriate amount it drives you to act and is healthy.
If it occurs in excess then it leaves a negative impact and is
harmful.
The ways of coping with stress depends on two major factors
which are gender and social support.
- Gender- Taylor (2000) conducted a research on the physiological
differences of both the sexes in deaaling with stress and concluded
that although the fight and flight reaction is observed in both the
genders but the females show tend and befriend response towards
stress. This is so because the females are more participative in
reproduction than males and the stress response develops for
maximising the survival of the child. In both the genders
production of adrenaline, nor adrenaline and cortisol takes place
along with the production of the oxytocin takes place during a
stressful condition. Alongwith this in males testesterone is also
produced and duee to which oxytocin is repressed and the males
behave in a very aggressive way. On the other hand in females due
to the absence of testesterone the oxytocin is unrepressed and
hence they seek closeness to others
- Social support- it is explained through research that people
think that the more number of social connections they have makes
them stronger and more resoursceful in conditions of stress. this
may be so as the people you are connected to make a relationship
net in stressful conditions. Nabi et al(2013) conducted a survey on
400 undergraduates and found out that more friends on facebook were
perceived and associated to high social support ad low levels of
physical illness as well as stress. Also another research by
Dickinson et al (2011) suggests that for older people the number
opportunities to parcipate in social gatherings might be thought to
have more social support which increases their potential to deal
with stress and makes them more healthy. Social support is of 3
types-
- Tangible support- It is a problem solving approach. It works by
providing information and financial support to others.
- Emotional support- It is a emotional support. It involves
listening and understanding the emotions of the person in stress
and trying to deal with it effectively.
- Esteem support- It involves the fact that if someone makes me
feel good about myself it reduces the stress as the self value
increases.
Lazarus and Folkman(1984) gave the concept of 2 types of stress
coping strategies-
- Problem Focussed- It is the way of coping with stress by
tacking the factors causing stress. It involves fighting with the
problem which is a reaction to the fight side of the fight or
flight mechanism.
- Emotion Focussed- It is the way of coping with stress by
tacking the symptoms of stress that are related to the emotional
factors. It involves reducing the stress response which is a
reaction of flight side of the fight or flight side mechanism.