Stress Level Studies
Psychology: AQA A Level, topic 14.1.7
Rahe et al (1970) - LCU score and illness
Aim: To test if high scores on the social readjustment rating scale (SRRS) (43 stressful life events weighted in terms of impact) were correlated with ill health (the link between stress and illness).
Procedure
- 2,500 male American Navy sailors were given the SRRS to assess how many challenging life events they had experienced in the previous 6 months.
- During their next 6-month tour of duty health records were kept.
Results & conclusions
- Results
- There was a significant positive correlation +0.0118 between life events and ill health.
- It was a small effect, but statistically significant.
- Conclusion
- This study demonstrates the relationship between stressful life events and ill health.
Evaluation
- Strengths
- Large sample.
- Standardised SRRS.
- Limitations
- Correlations cannot show cause.
- Individual differences.
- Social and cultural variations.
- Demand characteristics and social desirability.
Johansson (1978) - Stress Levels in Sawmill Workers
Johansson (1978) investigated the relationship between occupational stress and productivity in a Swedish Sawmill.
Procedure
- Natural experiment (workers already in job roles).
- Two groups of workers:
- Skilled finishers, whose work rate determined the pay levels for the whole mill.
- Unskilled maintenance and cleaning workers with more flexible working conditions.
Records kept
- Daily urine sample – 4 times a day, baseline was at home.
- Body temperature measured, caffeine and nicotine consumption.
- Self-rating scales on words such as ‘sleepiness’, ‘well-being’.
- Records of illness and absence.
Results
- The skilled workers had increasing levels of adrenaline throughout the day, had higher body temperature and caffeine and nicotine consumption on work days compared to rest days.
- They were more likely to self-report lower levels of well-being and had more days off due to ill health. All these things are indicators of high stress.
Conclusion
- The finishers were more stressed because of the following factors:
- Responsibility for setting the wage rates.
- Skilled but monotonous and repetitive work.
- Machine paced work = absence of control.
- Working in isolation.
Evaluation
- Strengths
- Practical applications.
- Mundane realism.
- Limitations
- Ecological validity.
- Cannot show cause.
- Self-report – demand characteristics, social desirability.
- Cultural and gender bias.
Test yourself on Stress Level Studies
What did Rahe et al (1970) find in their experiment on the American Navy sailors?
What did Johansson (1978) find about the skilled workers vs unskilled workers?
Which of these was NOT a factor causing the skilled workers to be more stressed in Johansson's (1978) experiment?
What was Johansson's (1978) research method?