Term: Self-Perceived Life Stress - (CCHS Survey Data)
Last Updated: 2011-10-24
Stress is an emotional and/or physical response by the body to any situation or thought that causes a disparity in a person's usual biological, psychological, or social systems. Stressful events can be positive, such as receiving a promotion, or negative, such as the death of family member. Some stress is normal part of life and not all stress is negative. Reasons for stress can include responsibilities at home and at work, family or health issues, and many others. Negative stress may cause fear, apprehension, frustration or anger. Prolonged exposure to stress can have harmful effects on mental and physical health and wellbeing.
In the CCHS Survey - Chapter 14, participants aged 15 and older were asked the question, "Thinking about the amount of stress in your life, would you say that most days are: not at all stressful, not very stressful, a bit stressful, quite a bit stressful, or extremely stressful?" Respondents could also answer "don't know."
In Fransoo et al. (2009), respondents were grouped into three categories:
Low stress
("not at all stressful" and "not very stressful"),
Medium stress
("a bit stressful") and
High stress
("quite a bit stressful" and "extremely stressful"). In Fransoo et al. (2011), respondents were grouped into two categories:
High
("extremely stressful" and "quite a bit stressful") and
Not High
("not at all stressful", "not very stressful", and "a bit stressful").