Date of Award

2000

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Mary Lou Kelley

Abstract

Daily stress has been documented to play a significant role in symptom exacerbation of chronic illnesses in adults, such as coronary heart disease, asthma, diabetes, and chronic headaches. Mediating daily stress may be effective in not only decreasing problem symptoms in chronic illness, but also decreasing unnecessary and costly primary and tertiary health care services. While the effects of daily stress have been well researched and documented with adult populations, adolescent populations have been afforded only minimal research attention. Given that the period of adolescence is a time when persons are first experiencing the stresses of adult life, understanding the daily stressors of adolescence might be important in early intervention and preventive health care services for adolescents. The present study developed a measure of daily stress for adolescents (DSI-A; Daily Stress Inventory for Adolescent) by directly sampling self-reports of 281 adolescents using checklists and open-ended inquiry. Reliability and validity of the DSI-A was assessed, as well the relationship of daily stress to self-reported health and behavior problems in an additional 365 adolescents. While reliability and validity data for the DSI-A were sound, hypothesized age and sex differences were not supported. Results do support a relationship between daily stress, somatic complaints, and behavior problems.

ISBN

9780493070469

Pages

81

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_disstheses.7368

Download

Share

COinS