Almost everyone experiences stress. When someone is stressed, it means that he or she feels worried and tense because of certain problems or difficulties. It is an inherent part of various activities and interactions. From evolution, stress is a natural and helpful response of our organism to a threat (Chrousos, Loriaux, & Gold, 2013). It increases our physical abilities when we face the “fight or flight” dilemma. However, under the conditions of the modern world, stressful situations are not so easily resolved because one cannot fight their annoying roommates or flee from their bosses. Therefore, stress can accumulate, creating serious threats to a person’s health and well-being. According to a national poll of 2014, every fourth American claimed a significant amount of stress experienced within the previous month (Neighmond, 2014). Therefore, stress is a significant issue. To address it, it is important to understand what causes stress. The major causes of stress identified by scholarly studies are problems at work, financial issues, social pressure, and relationship difficulties.
There are various ways in which certain work-related situations or working conditions overall can cause stress, but two particularly important aspects of this causation are the organization of work and the individual compatibility. The way a working process is organized can significantly increase the risk of stress for involved
individuals. For example, the job demand is often claimed to be a stressful factor. However, a study conducted by Wilberforce et al. (2012) among social workers in England revealed that high job demand is a condition that can increase the feeling of fulfillment in a worker. It only becomes a stressful factor when high job demand is combined with low job control. Another example of stress-inducing organizational features is poorly established procedures. When an employee does not know what to do in a given situation due to the lack of precise operating instructions, he or she is likely to be frustrated. However, the same job can be stressful for some but not stressful to others, which is due to individual traits and characteristics. Some people are good at routine tasks because they can precisely follow instructions. Other people are good at emergency problem-solving. If they switch roles, the emergency problem-solvers will find routine work boring and unfulfilling, while routine performers may be horrified to deal with the pressure of emergencies. All of this will cause stress in both groups. In 2012, 70 percent of Americans reported experiencing workplace stress (10 Causes of Stress, n.d.), which makes work a leading stressor in many people’s lives.
Another wide area of stressors is financial worries. First of all, many individuals in their everyday life may face ongoing money-related difficulties. These include returning various kinds of loans, making rent, paying the bills, and paying off credit cards. If at some point a person does not have enough money for such regular payments, it causes stress because it makes the person feel underperforming, unaccomplished, and unsuccessful. Also, if one cannot afford the lifestyle that he or she considers adequate, it is likely to make the person feel poor. For example, when someone has to refrain from going to a restaurant that he or she likes or has to buy cheaper products because the person is broke at this particular period, such restrictions are likely to cause constant anxiety and tension, which is stress. Another kind of financial worry is being preoccupied with the future. For example, having a mortgage is a constant stressor. A borrower is worried all the time that he or she may lose the job, thus becoming unable to pay off the loan and possibly losing his or her house. This kind of stress is even more intense under the conditions of a financial crisis. In a challenging economic situation, people tend to worry even more about the costs of educating their children, supporting their close ones, and living a decent life after retirement. The wide range of ongoing and prospective financial worries described above represents a whole group of stressful factors that many people have to deal with.
One more group of stressful factors is the effects of social pressure, two examples of which are appearance expectations and performance expectations. Many people suffer from worries associated with the way they look, which can refer to their clothes or their body image. For example, certain social occasions, like parties or receptions, may require a particular dress code. If a person who attends such events cannot wear appropriate clothes to them, it causes the feeling of not fitting in, which is stressful. Although, even more, stressful are body image challenges. People who are overweight, bald, “too tall” or “too short” may feel that they do not comply with widely perceived and socially acceptable standards of beauty, which makes them see themselves as unattractive or ugly. Such issues constantly induce stress at practically any social interaction these people have. Another example of social pressure is attempting to meet performance expectations. For instance, people who are involved in competitions regularly tend to experience a lot of stress, even if the competition is an inherent part of their occupation, like in the case of professional athletes (Neil, Hanton, Mellalieu, & Fletcher, 2011). Similar stressful factors are found among students. Along with worries about the future, many students report parental expectations as a major stressor (Gomathi, Ahmed, & Sreedharan, 2013). The pressure of the society upon an individual inevitably causes stress in people of different ages, gender, and social background.
Finally, romantic relationships are a source of worrying and tension for many people. A person’s current relationship can cause stressful situations regularly. When two people go out, they almost inevitably face disagreements and misunderstandings from time to time, which is a reason for occasional fights. Besides, being in a relationship means reaching compromises in everyday activities, which can be frustrating due to the necessity to make concessions. However, not being in a relationship at a given moment can be stressful, too. Many people who want to find a partner but cannot do it may be stressed because of the feeling of failure. Also, there are always the worrisome questions of who you will end up with and whether it will be the right person. Therefore, love life can be highly stressful for many people.
Although stress is an effect of many different activities, it is important to define its causes, some of which are the working process, financial complications, social pressure, and relationship problems. Looking into the causes of stress allows a better understanding of its nature, which is tension and frustration from day-to-day activities, worries about the future, and expectations of the others. Taking this analysis into consideration can help an individual develop more effective coping strategies.
References
10 Causes of Stress (and How to Avoid Them). (n.d.). Web.
Chrousos, G. P., Loriaux, D. L., & Gold, P. W. (2013). Mechanisms of physical and emotional stress (Vol. 245). Berlin, Germany: Springer Science & Business Media.
Gomathi, K. G., Ahmed, S., & Sreedharan, J. (2013). Causes of stress and coping strategies adopted by undergraduate health professions students in a university in the United Arab Emirates. Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal, 13(3), 437-441.
Neighmond, Patti (2014, July 7). For Many Americans, Stress Takes a Toll on Health and Family. NPR. Web.
Neil, R., Hanton, S., Mellalieu, S. D., & Fletcher, D. (2011). Competition stress and emotions in sport performers: The role of further appraisals. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 12(4), 460-470.
Wilberforce, M., Jacobs, S., Challis, D., Manthorpe, J., Stevens, M., Jasper, R.,…Moran, N. (2012). Revisiting the causes of stress in social work: Sources of job demands, control and support in personalised adult social care. British Journal of Social Work, 42(6), 812-830.