The development of a new theory of microstress

Bartlett, Dean Timothy (1996) The development of a new theory of microstress. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Abstract

The thesis is divided into three sections, the first of which provides the necessary background information, defines the research problem and outlines the rationale which underlies the research.

A detailed critical review of the research literature in the area of microstress shows that, while there is clear evidence that this type of minor stressor exerts a negative influence on health status, we have little idea of the psychological processes and mechanisms that are involved in the mediation of this causal link.

In the second section of the thesis, I address this theoretical void by constructing a new theory of microstress. Pilot interviews with medical students yielded a grounded definition of stress and provided the basis upon which an interview protocol was constructed for the first main study. One hundred adults were interviewed, using a newly developed interview technique, about how they interpreted and dealt with the hassles which they faced every day. A grounded phenomenographical analysis was performed on this data which suggested that daily hassles may usefully be viewed as script-inconsistent events which are embedded in the motivational structures and planning processes associated with everyday goal-directed behaviour. These ideas were further refined and integrated with existing bodies of relevant psychological knowledge in the second study which was theoretical in nature and which adopted a deductive, rational approach to theory-building.

In the third section of the thesis, I test and evaluate the newly developed Script-Inconsistency Theory (SIT). In a final empirical study, which adopted a hypothetico-deductive approach, some of the main theoretical assertions and key constructs of the SIT are verified and validated in a student sample. The concluding chapter summarises and discusses the main findings of the research and considers its wider applications. The new theory is then evaluated and some suggestions and recommendations for future research in the area of microstress are made.

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