Chapter 2

Review of Related Studies and Related Literature

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Related Literature

A. Foreign

Stress has been described by the HSE as the adverse reaction people have to

excessive pressure or other types of demand placed upon them. Although stress itself is

not a disease, it is recognized that excessive or prolonged stress can be a cause of

mental and physical illness.

Causes of stress are called stressors. Wikipedia (2015) defined stressors as a

chemical or biological agent, environmental condition, external stimulus or an event that

causes stress to an organism. Stressors have physical, chemical and mental responses

inside of the body. It may also affect mental function and performance.

Modern life exposes people to many stressors. Some physical stressors remain, including

natural disasters, illness, and noise. Certain life experiences, such as the death of a loved one, are

major stressors.

Experts consider modern life particularly stressful for children and families. Not all

stressors affect everyone in the same manner. In a particular situation, one person may

remain quite calm while another person may display many signs of stress. The difference

between the two people may be that the first person feels in control of the situation and
views it as a challenge and is therefore committed to overcome it. The second person

does not feel in control of the situation, threatened by it and only wants to avoid coping

with it.

The immediate effects of stress include an increase in heart rate blood pressure,

dilation of the pupils, and an increase flow of blood to the muscles. Long term effects

can be heart diseases, depressions, and migraine headache. People who are aggressive

and easily get angry are most likely to develop these problems.

Frankenhausers study (1991) does not deal with physical little illness but lack of

control and stress. It was found that workers with little control over work have higher

stress level- high BP, higher rate of stomach disorders and headaches. Because their

work was monotonous and repetitive they had little control over it and greater stress.

Sargio Guglienin and Kristin Tatrons (1995) occupational stress and health in

teachers shows a methodological analysis about teachers burnout. The teachers are not

properly rewarded, difficult working conditions, heightened job pressure and reduced

professional satisfaction are said to cause stress. The potential negative repercussions of

these occupational hazards have caused stress irritable Empirical investigations have

identified the threats on the teachers health.

Hock and Roger (1996), indicated that the degree of stress which teachers

experience is positively related to the degree which he/she perceives as a lack of control

over a potentially threatening situation. Such as inability to meet the demands of students

and a lack of adequate coping mechanisms.

 Scheier and Carver (1985), argue that learning to control responses of stress and

to get out of ones own way has saved companies money, increased production,

encouraged creativity, enabled teams to communicate more effectively, reduced the

anxieties which surround the process of change, increased the pace of professional

learning and development, and even reduced accidents and harassment claims. Any

organization needs to save money, reduce turn over, increase sales and productivity, or

improve the quality of work life. It should give consideration to the return on

investment of stress management coaching or training.

Psychologists Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman, scientifically defined coping as the

sum of cognitive and behavioural efforts, which are constantly changing, that aim to handle

particular demands, whether internal or external, that are viewed as taxing or demanding. Simply

put, coping is an activity we do to seek and apply solutions to stressful situations or problems

that emerge because of our stressors. Actually, the term "coping" is more associated with

"reactive coping", because in general, we see coping as a response to a stressor. On the other

hand, there's also what we call "proactive coping", wherein the coping response is aimed at

preventing a possible encounter with a future stressor.

While coping mechanisms are brought about by a person's conscious minds, it doesn't mean that

all of them bring about positive coping; there are some types of coping mechanisms which are

maladaptive. Other psychologists say that maladaptive coping is also synonymous to "non-
coping", since a person who responds to a stressor using a coping mechanism but isn't able to

positively ward off the stressor or solve the stressful situation hasn't coped with the stress at all.

Over the years, psychologists and researchers have identified about 400 to 600 coping strategies,

and yet there are so many other potential coping strategies that are still under research. Because

of this, the classifications of coping strategies vary from textbook to textbook.

B. Local

According to C. Manjula (2012) The term stress is borrowed from the discipline of

physics. Stress actually means pressure. It is inner pressure caused by three set of factors

endogenous, exogenous and interaction of endogenous and exogenous factors Endogenous

means internal (endo means inter; genous means origin or genesis) or origination from within;

exogenous means external (exo means outside) or originating from outside. The third set of

factors would emerge when the internal and external factors interact with each other.

Stress is a psychological and physiological response to events that upset our personal balance.

The potential causes of stress are numerous. It may be linked to the outside factors such

as the state of the world, environment is which one lives or works or the family. It may come

from ones own irresponsible behavior, negative attitudes or feelings or unrealistic expectation.

The causes of stress are highly individual. It depends on the personality general outlook on life,

problem solving abilities, and social support system. Many different things causes stress-physical

to emotional. Identifying what causes stress is the first step to deal with stress.
 All said that theres a political economy of stress involved, meaning power relations

shape the way one experiences and expresses stress. Common sense tells us the poor suffer much

more daily stress, from battling the traffic while commuting, breathing in more of the toxic

fumes, dealing with tyrannical bosses and snake pit offices. Poor women are doubly burdened,

having to deal with the tribulations of work, as well as of the home, running after the needs of

husband and children.