Measuring Stress A Guide for Health and Social Scientists [Paperback]

Measuring Stressis the definitive resource for health and social scientists interested in assessing stress in humans. With contributions from leading experts, this work provides for the first time a unified conceptual overview of the intricate relationship between stress and a variety of disorders. Its interdisciplinary approach to the selection of appropriate environmental, psychological, and biological measures includes comprehensive evaluations and practical advice regarding a wide range of measurement approaches. For environmental stress, techniques such as checklists and interviews that measure life event, daily event, and chronic stress are discussed. An analysis of psychological measurements includes methods for assessing stress appraisal and affective response. Neuroendocrine, cardiovascular, and immune measures are examined as important biological stress assessments. Contributors also uncover the conceptual underpinnings of each approach as well as the various costs and benefits of available assessment techniques. Reflecting the diversity of theoretical conceptions of stress,Measuring Stressmasterfully provides integrative, incisive guidelines that will prove invaluable to students, clinicians, and researchers in health and social psychology, medicine, nursing, epidemiology, sociology, and psychiatry.

PART I: Conceptualizing Stress and Its Relation to Disease
1. Strategies for Measuring Stress in Studies of Psychiatric and Physical Disorders,Sheldon Cohen, Ronald C. Kessler, and Lynn G. Gordon
PART II: Environmental Perspectives
2. Checklist Measurement of Stressful Life Events,R. Jay Tuner and Blair Wheaton
3. Interview Measurement of Stressful Life Events,Elaine Wethington, George W. Brown, and Ronald C. Kessler
4. Daily and Within-day Event Measurement,John Eckenrode and Niall Bolger
5. Measurement of Chronic Stressors,Stephen J. LeporlÃÕ