General Psychology
Paper Assignment
· Complete The Student Stress Scale adapted from the Holmes-Rahe Stress Life Stress Inventory (Holmes & Rahe, 1967) and the Positive and Negative Coping Skills Inventory (Anspaugh, Hamrick, & Rosato, 1991).
· Review the concept of stress from at least three scholarly sources, including the class lecture notes, your textbook (Lahey, 2012), and in at least one research article on stress and coping (instructions on how to find a scholarly research article is included below). Do not cite websites, especially Wikipedia.
· Based on your review of the literature, in essay format (12-point, Times New Roman Font, double-space, 1-inch margins, 3-5 pages) discuss the definition of stress and coping, and summarize the various coping mechanisms (emotion-focused coping, problem-focused coping, and avoidant or avoidance coping). Discuss the findings of one research article on stress. Next, report your score from The Student Stress Scale. List in order the three major life stressors you currently face as indicated by the Student Stress Scale. Also, provide a scholarly definition of daily life hassles and from greatest to least, list your five most frequent daily life hassles. Using the Positive and Negative Coping Skills Inventory, discuss whether you rely on more positive or negative coping skills when dealing with stress. Further, identify the coping mechanism(s) (emotion/problem/avoidant) you typically utilize and discuss whether the coping mechanisms you utilize are effective in dealing with your stressors. Finally, and identify three positive coping mechanisms you can use to reduce your stress levels in the future and what you learned about stress.
· You MUST include a title page, abstract, and a reference page using APA format. Your paper will be graded in terms of application of course content and writing quality (including organization, clarity, punctuation, and grammar). Please review the grading rubric attached to the assignment.
· You must submit your essay in Turnitin at http://turnitin.com/. Instructions on creating a Turnitin account are included below.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR CREATING A TURNITIN ACCOUNT
· You MUST submit your paper in Turnitin. To create a Turnitin account. Please go to: http://www.turnitin.com/
o If you already have an account, your login ID and password will be the same.
o If you do not have an account, please click on the create account link on the upper right hand corner.
o Once you create an account, you will need the class ID and password. The password is case sensitive.
o Class ID:
§ MW 9:35-11:00 class: 11446045
§ MW 11:10-12:35 class: 11446056
o Password: stress
o Here is a video link if you need assistance setting up an account.
§ http://www.turnitin.com/en_us/training/student-training/creating-a-new-user-profile
CITING WHILE YOU WRITE IN APA
· Please cite your sources in the body of your essay. This helps to avoid the appearance of plagiarism. Anytime you “borrow” someone else’s idea(s), you need to provide the author’s last name and the year of the publication. If you borrow a definition or idea from the text or research article, you need to put the author’s name before or after the definition or idea. Examples include the following:
o Direct quote from the text/article with author (year) at the beginning and page number at the end: According to Lahey (2012) securely attached infants were “in more stable relationships in adulthood than their insecurely attached counterparts” (p. 320).
o Direct quote from the text/article with author, year, and page number at the end: Erikson (1968) “argues that identity versus identity confusion…is the most important issues to be negotiated in adolescence” (Santrock, 2014, p. 321).
· If you paraphrase the ideas (meaning you are not directly quoting the author’s ideas, but summarizing them), you do not need to insert quotes or put a page number. You simply need to give the author(s) credit by listing their last names and the year of publication.
· A reference page is separate from citing while you write. The last page of the paper must include a reference page in APA style. Below are examples of how to cite references on the reference page.
o Textbook: Lahey, B. (2012). Psychology: An introduction (11th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
o Journal Article: Ivancevich, J. M. (1986). Life Events and Hassles as Predictors of Health Symptoms, Job Performance, and Absenteeism. Journal of Occupational Behaviour, 7(1), 39-51.
o Lecture Notes: Kato, L. (date conducted). Lecture Title. Lecture conducted from Los Angeles Harbor College, Wilmington, CA.
You may use the following link to help you with APA citations: http://www.citationcreation.com/
Student Sress Scale
The Student Stress Scale focuses on events that may occur in the life of a student to offer you a different perspective for evaluating stress. The Student Stress Scale is an adaptation for college students of the Life Events Scale developed originally by Holmes and Rahe. This popular stress assessment measured the amount of change, using Life Change Units, a person was required to adapt to in the previous year. It was designed to predict the likelihood of disease and illness following exposure to stressful life events. Each life event is given a score that indicates the amount of readjustment a person has to make as a result of change. Some studies have found that people with serious illnesses tend to have higher scores on similar assessments.
For each event that occurred in your life within the past year, record the corresponding score. If an event occurred more than once, multiply the score for that event by the number of times the event occurred and record that score. Total all the scores.
Life Event / Mean Value1. Death of a close family member / 100
2. Death of a close friend / 73
3. Divorce of parents / 65
4. Jail term / 63
5. Major personal injury or illness / 63
6. Marriage / 58
7. Getting fired from a job / 50
8. Failing an important course / 47
9. Change in the health of a family member / 45
10. Pregnancy / 45
11. Sex problems / 44
12. Serious argument with a close friend / 40
13. Change in financial status / 39
14. Change of academic major / 39
15. Trouble with parents / 39
16. New girlfriend or boyfriend / 37
17. Increase in workload at school / 37
18. Outstanding personal achievement / 36
19. First quarter/semester in college / 36
20. Change in living conditions / 31
21. Serious argument with an instructor / 30
22. Getting lower grades than expected / 29
23. Change in sleeping habits / 29
24. Change in social activities / 29
25. Change in eating habits / 28
26. Chronic car trouble / 26
27. Change in number of family get-togethers / 26
28. Too many missed classes / 25
29. Changing colleges / 24
30. Dropping more than one class / 23
31. Minor traffic violations / 20
Total Stress Score ______
Score Interpretation:
Researchers determined that if your total score is:
300 or more - statistically you stand an almost 80 percent chance of getting sick in the near future.
150 to 299 - you have a 50-50 chance of experiencing a serious health change within two years.
149 or less - you have about a 30 percent chance of a serious health change.
This scale indicates that change in one's life requires an effort to adapt and then an effort to regain stability. Stress is a natural by product of adapting and then regaining internal homeostasis. Take note that this assessment considers only the events that occur, not individual perception of these events in life. Perception is a critical part of the ultimate stress experience, so while the Student Stress Scale has value in increasing awareness of potential stress-producing events, ultimately individual perception of the event is an important variable.
Positive and Negative Coping Skills
People react differently to stressful situations. Following is a list of what would be considered "positive" responses. Check off the appropriate response for each of these. If there are other positive ways that you deal with stress, please list them at the bottom of the list.
Response / NEVER / SOMETIMES / OFTENMeditate / _____ / _____ / _____
Stretch / _____ / _____ / _____
Engage in progressive muscle relaxation / _____ / _____ / _____
Listen to music / _____ / _____ / _____
Exercise aerobically / _____ / _____ / _____
Watch television / _____ / _____ / _____
Go to the movies / _____ / _____ / _____
Read / _____ / _____ / _____
Work on puzzles or play games / _____ / _____ / _____
Go for a leisurely walk / _____ / _____ / _____
Go to a health club / _____ / _____ / _____
Relax in a steam room or sauna / _____ / _____ / _____
Spend time alone / _____ / _____ / _____
Go fishing or hunting / _____ / _____ / _____
Participate in some form of recreational activity / _____ / _____ / _____
such as golf / _____ / _____ / _____
Do some work in the yard / _____ / _____ / _____
Socialize with friends / _____ / _____ / _____
Sit outside and relax / _____ / _____ / _____
Engage in a hobby / _____ / _____ / _____
______/ _____ / _____ / _____
______/ _____ / _____ / _____
______/ _____ / _____ / _____
Listed below are some negative ways of reacting to stress. Check off the appropriate column for each of these. If there are other negative ways you react to stress, list these at the bottom of the list.
Response / Never / Sometimes / OftenAct violently / _____ / _____ / _____
Yell at someone / _____ / _____ / _____
Overeat / _____ / _____ / _____
Do not eat for long periods / _____ / _____ / _____
Drink for excessive amount of alcohol / _____ / _____ / _____
Drink lots of coffee / _____ / _____ / _____
Smoke tobacco / _____ / _____ / _____
Kick something / _____ / _____ / _____
Throw something / _____ / _____ / _____
Drive fast in a car / _____ / _____ / _____
Pace up and down / _____ / _____ / _____
Bite your fingernails / _____ / _____ / _____
Take tranquilizers / _____ / _____ / _____
Take valium or other drugs / _____ / _____ / _____
______/ _____ / _____ / _____
______/ _____ / _____ / _____
______/ _____ / _____ / _____
You should compare the number of positive and negative responses. If your negative responses outnumber your positive responses, you have reason to be concerned about your stress level. You will need to try some of the positive responses in an attempt to reduce your level of stress.
Modified from Anspaugh DJ, Hamrick MH, Rosato FD:Wellness: concepts and applications,St. Louis, 1991, Mosby.
General Psychology Written Work Grading Rubric
This rubric is designed to clarify the grading process for written work by detailing the key elements expected for the assignments in this course.
Part 1:
____Summarized the results of one scientific study on stress. (5/5 points)
Part 2:
Assignment Specific Criteria
____Definition of stress from a research article, the text, or lecture is provided. (5/5points)
____Definition of coping from a research article, the text, or lecture is provided. (5/5points)
____Problem-focused, emotion-focused, and avoidant coping are defined from the literature. (5/5points)
____Identified which coping mechanism(s) (emotion/problem/avoidant) is/are currently used. (5/5points)
____Student Stress score was reported and interpreted (3 major stressors discussed). (5/5points)
____Term daily hassles is define and 5 personal daily hassles are identified and discussed. (5/5points)
____Results from the Negative and Positive Coping Skills inventory are reported. (5/5points)
____3 positive coping skills are identified for future personal use. (5/5points)
Grammar/Sentence Structure/Clarity/Punctuation
___ No major grammatical errors and writing is clear and logical: presents no problem for understanding any sentences or paragraphs. (10/10 points)
___Slight grammatical errors and/or parts are unclear: presents minor problem for understanding some sentences/and or paragraphs. (8/10 points)
___Some major grammatical errors and/or parts are unclear: presents moderate problem for understanding some sentences and/or paragraphs. (5/10 points)
___Many grammatical errors and/or writing is unclear: presents major problem for understanding sentences and/or paragraphs (3/10 points)
APA Paper Format
____ No significant problems with APA format (follows guidelines, citations included in the text,
abstract and title page included, and APA formatted reference page). (10/10 points)
____ Slight problems with APA format (follows guidelines, citations included in the text, abstract and
title page included, and APA formatted reference page). (8/10 points)
____ Some problems with APA format (follows some guidelines, citations included in the text, abstract
And title page included, and APA formatted reference page). (5/10 points)
____ Significant problems with APA format (does not follow guidelines, missing citations in the text,
missing abstract, title page, or APA formatted reference page). (3/10 points)
Critical Thinking
____Demonstrated adequate critical thinking skills. (5/5 points)
____Needs some improvement in critical thinking skills. (3/5 points)
____Needs significant improvement in critical thinking skills. (1/5points)