Transactional Approach To Stress Essay

Stress in the workplace is a major problem for both organizations and employees, and it has been estimated that approximately 13.4 million working days in Britain is lost per year due to stress, depression or anxiety. According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)- stress is defined as the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed on them (Cooper 2000). Approaches to stress have distinguished between the concepts of stressor and strain. Environmental factors that may function as sources of stress are called stressors, and the individual’s reaction to the stressors is called strain. Transactional approaches to stress emphasize the transaction between the cognitive and affective aspects of the individual

The study further highlighted that health behaviors are not considered as a coping style in the stress-moderators model until stress is perceived (Krantz and Hedges, 1987). (Endler and Parker, 1990; Greenglass, 1988; Pittner, et al. 1983; Weidner and Matthews, 1978) in their study propounded that the “type A” behavior pattern is positively associated with emotion focused coping), which is consistent with the aggressive and hostile characteristics of this behavior pattern. Other studies have identified that “type A” are also more likely to use avoidance-focused coping strategies (Endler and Parker, 1990) such as the suppression of aversive physical and emotional states. (Houston, 1981; Matthews and Brunson, 1979; Smith and Anderson, 1986) suggests that the suppressive coping strategies are used to allow the “type A” individual to remain in proximity to the stressor in order for them to achieve their competitive (or otherwise ambitious) goals; however, with the negative consequences for health due to prolonged contact with the