Psychosocial Stresses and Concerns of People Living in Tehran: A Survey on 6000 Adult Participants
,
Abstract
Objective: Nowadays stress and tensions are among the most important factors affecting health. Identifying the stressors and their determinants provides substantial information for understanding the health of the community.
Method: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on citizens over 18 years who were living in all 22 districts of Tehran in 2017. The participants were selected using multistage cluster sampling method. The research tool was a checklist that evaluated various factors. Different statistical tests, such as descriptive tests and logistic regression, were used for data analysis.
Results: Of the participants, 82.7% experienced at least 1severe stress during the past year. In the last year, 45.6% of the participants had at least 1severe economic stress, 32.3% had at least 1severe family-related stress, 28.8% had at least 1severe health-related stress, and 25.7% experienced at least 1severe future-related stress. The most common psychosocial stressors experienced in the last year were concerns about personal/family future (53.7%), concerns about the financial and economic future (47.1%), and the high cost of living (41.7%). However, the most severe stresses were due to the participants’ concerns about family health (14.4%), personal/family futures (13.2%), and financial and economic future (12.7%). Furthermore, health status, subjective socio-economic status, and age were the most important predictors of severe stress experiences.
Conclusion: It is necessary to take actions to reduce the prevalence of common severe stresses. In addition, psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, and social workers need to provide stress management interventions carefully to their patients.
Thoits PA. Stress and health: Major findings and policy implications. Journal of health and social behavior. J Health Soc Behav 2010; 51 Suppl: S41-53.
Rafiey H, Alipour F, LeBeau R, Salimi Y, Sayad M. Evaluating the Persian Translation of the National Stressful Events Survey PTSD Short Scale in a Sample of Iranian Earthquake Survivors. Journal of Loss and Trauma 2017 (just-accepted).
Geary DC, Huffman KJ. Brain and cognitive evolution: forms of modularity and functions of mind. Psychol Bull 2002; 128: 667-698.
VandenBos GR. APA dictionary of psychology: American Psychological Association; 2007.
Heydari PA, Gharakhani M, Mahjoub H. [A comparative study of stressful life events and stress coping strategies in coronary heart disease patients and non-patients (In persian)]. ntific Journal of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences 2010; 17: 33-38.
Li J, Zhang M, Loerbroks A, Angerer P, Siegrist J. Work stress and the risk of recurrent coronary heart disease events: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Occup Med Environ Health 2015; 28: 8-19.
Bolghanabadi S, Pour M. The relationship between musculoskeletal disorders, stress and fatigue in the food industry employees. Journal of Ergonomics 2014; 2: 54-63.
Schnurr PP, Green BL. Trauma and health: Physical health consequences of exposure to extreme stress: American Psychological Association; 2004.
Gasperin D, Netuveli G, Dias-da-Costa JS, Pattussi MP. Effect of psychological stress on blood pressure increase: a meta-analysis of cohort studies. Cad Saude Publica 2009; 25: 715-726.
Vafaee B, Golaby J. [Surveying the association between life stresses and gastrointestinal diseases (peptic ulcer) (In Persian)]. Research in Medicine 2004; 28: 285-289.
Agnew R. Building on the foundation of general strain theory: Specifying the types of strain most likely to lead to crime and delinquency. Journal of research in crime and delinquency 2001; 38: 319-361.
Rafiey H, Alipour F, LeBeau R, Amini Rarani M, Salimi Y, Ahmadi S. Evaluating the psychometric properties of the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF) in Iranian earthquake survivors. International Journal of Mental Health 2017; 46: 243-251.
Wang Y, Sareen J, Afifi TO, Bolton SL, Johnson EA, Bolton JM. Recent stressful life events and suicide attempt. Psychiatric Annals 2012; 42: 101-108.
Luo H, Yang H, Xu X, Yun L, Chen R, Chen Y, et al. Relationship between occupational stress and job burnout among rural-to-urban migrant workers in Dongguan, China: a cross-sectional study. BMJ open 2016; 6: e012597.
Rafiey H, Alipour F, LeBeau R, Salimi Y, Sayad M. Evaluating the Persian Translation of the National Stressful Events Survey PTSD Short Scale in a Sample of Iranian Earthquake Survivors. Journal of Loss and Trauma 2017; 22: 660-668.
Sokratous S, Merkouris A, Middleton N, Karanikola M. The association between stressful life events and depressive symptoms among Cypriot university students: a cross-sectional descriptive correlational study. BMC Public Health 2013; 13: 1121.
Wagner KD, Brief DJ, Vielhauer MJ, Sussman S, Keane TM, Malow R. The potential for PTSD, substance use, and HIV risk behavior among adolescents exposed to Hurricane Katrina. Subst Use Misuse 2009; 44: 1749-1467.
Renzetti CM. Economic stress and domestic violence. University of Kentucky UKnowledge; 2009.
Masthoff ED, Trompenaars FJ, Van Heck GL, Michielsen HJ, Hodiamont PP, De Vries J. Predictors of quality of life: a model based study. Qual Life Res 2007; 16: 309-320.
Kalia M. Assessing the economic impact of stress [mdash] The modern day hidden epidemic. Metabolism 2002; 51: 49-53.
Holmes TH. Life situations, emotions, and disease. Psychosomatics 1978; 19: 747-754.
Papathanasiou IV, Tsaras K, Neroliatsiou A, Roupa A. Stress: Concepts, theoretical models and nursing interventions. American Journal of Nursing Science 2015; 4: 45-50.
Agnew R. Foundation for a general strain theory of crime and delinquency. Criminology 1992; 30: 47-88.
Association AP. Stress in America: coping with change. Stress in America™ Survey; 2017.
Sangprasert P, Kummabutr J, Bunthumporn N, Viroj J, Phathayutawat S. Stress, Chronic Illness, and Stress-predicting Factors among the Population Living in a Rurban Community in Thailand. Science & Technology Asia 2013; 18: 54-65.
Cassey L, Ling R. Stress and wellbeing in Australia survey 2014. Australian Psychological Society; 2014.
Blendon R, Steel Fisher G, Weldon K, Benson J, Brule M, Mann F, et al. The burden of stress in America. NPR/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Harvard School of Public Health; 2014.
Malek A, Poorafkary N, Dadashzadeh H, Safaeeyan A. Ranking of stressful life events in general population of Tabriz, Iran. Research Journal of Biological Sciences 2008; 3: 993-998.
Malakoti k, Bakhshani nm, Bohaei g, Motaghipour y. [Rating of Stressor Events and Their Relationship with Mental Disorders in Zahedan General population (In persian)]. Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology 1998; 3: 17-29.
Sharifi V, Amin-Esmaeili M, Hajebi A, Motevalian A, Radgoodarzi R, Hefazi M. Twelve-month prevalence and correlates of psychiatric disorders in Iran: the Iranian Mental Health Survey, 2011. Arch Iran Med 2015; 18: 76-84.
Holmes TH, Rahe RH. The social readjustment rating scale. J Psychosom Res 1967; 11: 213-218.
Cash T, Phillips KA, Santos MT, Hrabosky JI. Measuring “negative body image”: validation of the Body Image Disturbance Questionnaire in a nonclinical population. Body image 2004; 1: 363-372.
Khanjani Z, Bahadori khosroshahi J. [The Prediction of General Health on the Basis of Body Image, Life Stress and Personality Characteristics (In Persian)]. Knowledge & Research In Applied Psychology 2014; 15: 40-47.
| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 13 No 2 (2018) | |
| Section | Original Article(s) | |
| Keywords | ||
| Psychosocial Stress People Stressor Tehran | ||
| Rights and permissions | |
|
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |
