IB Docs (2) Team
Study guide: Stress
In order to prepare for exams, it is important to prepare a "tailor-made" study guide. A study guide should reflect your own learning and not just what someone tells you is the "best" research to use on an exam.
For the topic "health problems: stress", you will find an attached study guide. I recommend that you attempt to fill it in before looking at the responses below. There is both a paper and a digital copy available.
Health problems: Stress study guide
Digital Health problems: Stress study guide
A note on stress as a health problem
This question is a bit problematic. All of the other health problems can be discussed in terms of the origins of the health problem. In this unit, stress is a problem that leads to health problems. The approach of this revision, then, is to look at the role that stress plays on health - and biological, cognitive, and sociocultural aspects of stress.
Terms/theories: HPA Axis, ACEs, cortisol, feedback loop,General Adaptation Syndrome
Research: Marmot et al (1997), Newcomer et al (1999), Kiecolt-Glaser (1984), Cohen (1993), Sapolsky's work on hierarchies in baboon societies; Meaney et al (1988); Carrion et al (2007)
Critical thinking: Studies high in ecological validity have lower internal validity and thus are difficult to generalize; much of the work on the effects of stress on health are done on animals are may not be valid models;
Different command terms: Evaluate research; Contrast two explanations (e.g. biological and cognitive), to what extent
Terms/theories: Optimism vs pessimism; mediating factors; bidirectional; Transactional Model of Stress
Research: Jamieson et al (2011) on cognition as a mediating factor in stress; Speisman et al (1964) on the role of cognitive appraisal; Poulin (2013); Jobin et al (2014); Kemeny (2004)
Critical thinking: The bidirectional nature of stress and cognition; the low ecological validity of experimental research; the need for prospective studies; the inability to isolate biological and cognitive variables in research; the cognitive approach helps to explain differences in stress responses which the biological approach alone cannot; application of cognitive theory has made it possible for many people to learn better coping strategies for stress.
Different command terms: Evaluate research; Contrast two explanations (e.g. biological and cognitive), to what extent
Terms/theories: socio-economic status; social hierarchies; risk vs protective factors
Research: Culture: Boysen (2000) role of culture on work stress; Gillard and Patton (1999) on the role of religion in coping with stress; Social hierarchies: Marmot et al (1997); Sapolsky (1990, 2005); Tung and Gilad (2012); Poverty: Evans & Kim (2007); Social support: Schwarzer et al (1994); Breslow and Breslow (1993); Coan, Schaefer, and Davidson (2006); Hamer et al (2008) on the role of sedentary lifestyle vs exercise.
Critical thinking: On the one hand, the sociocultural approach is a more holistic approach to understanding the effects of stress on health; however, it is also the case that it is much more difficult to establish cause and effect relationships. The use of etic vs emic approaches; the difficulty of measuring stress under naturalistic conditions; reliance on self-reports rather than physiological measures.
Different command terms: Evaluate research; Contrast two explanations (e.g. biological and cognitive), to what extent
Terms/theories: prevalence, incidence
Research: Curran and Hill (2017) on measuring the increased prevalence of stress in college students; Shapiro et al (1998) on the effectiveness of MBSR in reducing the prevalence of stress in a community; the role of social support in reducing stress (Breslow and Breslow); Life events (Evans and Kim, 2007); the role of marginalization of a group (Kemeny, 2004)
Critical thinking: how prevalence is calculated; reliability of self-reported data and clinical diagnoses; use of prevalence rates to show the effectiveness of health programs; factors that affect prevalence rates. Even if the prevalence of a health problem increases or decreases as a result of a societal or environmental change, it is not possible to establish a cause-and-effect relationship. Comparing prevalence rates over time is problematic because there are so many variables that could account for any difference.
Different command terms: This can only be asked as a "discuss" question.
Terms/theories: research methods = interviews, observations, experiments, correlational studies, and case studies. You may also write about questionnaires and surveys.
Research: Any research could be used. For example, Experiments: Newcomer (1999), Speisman et al (1964), Jamieson et al (2011); natural experiment: Kiecolt-Glaser (1984); case study: Marmot et al (1997); Correlational studies: Curran and Hill (2017), Jobin et al (2014)
Critical thinking: Limitations of research methods. Problems of operationalization. The ability to draw conclusions about cause and effect.
Different command terms: Evaluate, contrast
Terms/theories: Ethical considerations include: informed consent, anonymity, right to withdraw, deception, undue stress or harm, and debriefing.
Research: Any research could be used to discuss ethical considerations.
Critical thinking: Issues of informed consent (Cohen 1993 or Newcomer 1999); undue stress and harm (Speisman et al (1964); Jamieson et al (2011)); deception - the use of a placebo in Newcomer 1999.
Different command terms: This can only be asked as a "discuss" question.
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