PSY 4521 EXAM 1 STUDY GUIDE 2025 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Stress Responses - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅The psychological and biological responses to stress
- Psychological (perceiving that demands exceed our ability to cope)
- Biological (BP increasing, sweating, nausea, increased heart rate)
Stress Exposures - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅1. Crises/Traumas: unforeseen, unpredictable (Car accident)
2. Major life events: infrequent events, often involving life transitions (childbirth)
3. Daily Hassles: frequent minor nuisances (dishes)
4. Ambient Stressors: chronic, negative, non-urgent, physically perceptible, unchangeable
Do not necessarily lead to stress responses
Three Methods of Studying College Student "Stress" - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅1. Large scale
epidemiological surveys
2. Measures designed to assess college student stressors
3. Qualitative methods
National College Health Assessment (NCHA) - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅Majority of Students Report more
than average or tremendous stress in past 12 months
- None: 2%
- Less then average: 7%
- Average: 34%
- More than Average: 45%
- Tremendous amount: 12%
NCHA Most frequently reported stressors - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- Academics: 49.7%
- Intimate Relationships: 30.5%
- Finances: 31.8%
- Personal Appearance: 31.5%
,- Sleep Difficulties: 32.1%
- Students reporting 3 or more of listed stressors: 52.3%
What students say most affects their academic performance (NCHA) - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅More
students said that stress negatively affected their performance than any other factor (34%)
Summary of NCHA Fall 2018 data - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅Most students reported more than average
stress and 3 or more stressors and said stress affected their academic performance more than any other
factors
Boynton Student Health Survey Stress Questions - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅Ability to Manage Stress:
34.7% Unmanaged Stress
List of "stressors": Getting married, failing a class, serious physical illness of someone close to you, death
of someone close to you, being diagnosed with serious physical illness, being diagnosed with a serious
mental illness
Majority of students reported 3 or more stressors
College Student Stress Scale - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅Similar to NCHA survey, academics, relationships,
and finances were top stressors
On average, students "sometimes" feel overwhelmed
APA Stress in American Survey - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅Measures Various aspects of stress in general
public: amount of stress, sources of stress, differences across groups, effects of stress, coping behaviors
Sample is selected from people who signed up to be in Harris polls
- Not random nor representative of US population
APA Stress Survey Findings - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- US adults rate their stress higher than "healthy"
level of stress
, - Money and work are historically the biggest sources of stress
- Millennials (ages 18-38) report the most stress
- Women report more stress than men
- Hispanic adults currently report most stress, whites report lower stress
- LGBT adults report higher stress levels than their non-LGBT peers
Methodological Issues with APA Stress Survey - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- Sample not representative
- A "healthy" level of stress is not defined
- No information on statistical significance
- Reporting can be inconsistent over years
- Sources of stress assessed are limited
- Don't explain decreases over time
Job demands-resources theory - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅Very influential model in terms of both research
and practice
Burnout
Work engagement
Burnout - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅exhaustion, cynicism, feelings of reduced efficacy
- results from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed
- job demands (vs. resources or personal characteristics) are the most important antecedents of burnout
Work Engagement - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅Energy/vigor, involvement/dedication, absorption
Job resources (vs. demands) are the most important antecedents of work engagement
Job Demands - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅Job aspects that require physical, emotional, or cognitive effort
Stress Responses - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅The psychological and biological responses to stress
- Psychological (perceiving that demands exceed our ability to cope)
- Biological (BP increasing, sweating, nausea, increased heart rate)
Stress Exposures - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅1. Crises/Traumas: unforeseen, unpredictable (Car accident)
2. Major life events: infrequent events, often involving life transitions (childbirth)
3. Daily Hassles: frequent minor nuisances (dishes)
4. Ambient Stressors: chronic, negative, non-urgent, physically perceptible, unchangeable
Do not necessarily lead to stress responses
Three Methods of Studying College Student "Stress" - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅1. Large scale
epidemiological surveys
2. Measures designed to assess college student stressors
3. Qualitative methods
National College Health Assessment (NCHA) - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅Majority of Students Report more
than average or tremendous stress in past 12 months
- None: 2%
- Less then average: 7%
- Average: 34%
- More than Average: 45%
- Tremendous amount: 12%
NCHA Most frequently reported stressors - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- Academics: 49.7%
- Intimate Relationships: 30.5%
- Finances: 31.8%
- Personal Appearance: 31.5%
,- Sleep Difficulties: 32.1%
- Students reporting 3 or more of listed stressors: 52.3%
What students say most affects their academic performance (NCHA) - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅More
students said that stress negatively affected their performance than any other factor (34%)
Summary of NCHA Fall 2018 data - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅Most students reported more than average
stress and 3 or more stressors and said stress affected their academic performance more than any other
factors
Boynton Student Health Survey Stress Questions - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅Ability to Manage Stress:
34.7% Unmanaged Stress
List of "stressors": Getting married, failing a class, serious physical illness of someone close to you, death
of someone close to you, being diagnosed with serious physical illness, being diagnosed with a serious
mental illness
Majority of students reported 3 or more stressors
College Student Stress Scale - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅Similar to NCHA survey, academics, relationships,
and finances were top stressors
On average, students "sometimes" feel overwhelmed
APA Stress in American Survey - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅Measures Various aspects of stress in general
public: amount of stress, sources of stress, differences across groups, effects of stress, coping behaviors
Sample is selected from people who signed up to be in Harris polls
- Not random nor representative of US population
APA Stress Survey Findings - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- US adults rate their stress higher than "healthy"
level of stress
, - Money and work are historically the biggest sources of stress
- Millennials (ages 18-38) report the most stress
- Women report more stress than men
- Hispanic adults currently report most stress, whites report lower stress
- LGBT adults report higher stress levels than their non-LGBT peers
Methodological Issues with APA Stress Survey - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅- Sample not representative
- A "healthy" level of stress is not defined
- No information on statistical significance
- Reporting can be inconsistent over years
- Sources of stress assessed are limited
- Don't explain decreases over time
Job demands-resources theory - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅Very influential model in terms of both research
and practice
Burnout
Work engagement
Burnout - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅exhaustion, cynicism, feelings of reduced efficacy
- results from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed
- job demands (vs. resources or personal characteristics) are the most important antecedents of burnout
Work Engagement - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅Energy/vigor, involvement/dedication, absorption
Job resources (vs. demands) are the most important antecedents of work engagement
Job Demands - CORRECT ANSWER✅✅Job aspects that require physical, emotional, or cognitive effort
