Elsevier

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

Volume 21, Issue 5, September–October 2000, Pages 537-554
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

Relationships Between School Hassles and Uplifts and Anxiety and Conduct Problems in Grades 3 and 4

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0193-3973(00)00053-8Get rights and content

Abstract

This study explored whether behavior problems and anxiety in primary school children are related to daily experiences with school. A differentiated view of daily experiences was proposed to examine the relationship between hassles and uplifts in different areas: peers, teachers, schoolwork, and home–school issues. Self-report data from 256 Australian students in grades 3 and 4 underwent correlation and multiple regression analyses. Reports of hassles with school were related to major negative life events as well as anxiety and conduct problems. Hassles with peers and hassles with teachers made unique contributions to the prediction of anxiety and conduct problems, respectively. Overall, reports of uplifts were neither related to major life events nor to reports of hassles or anxiety or conduct. However, the interaction of peer hassles and uplifts contributed significantly to the prediction of conduct problems. The results are discussed in relation to prior research, different conceptualizations of stress, and possible implications for prevention and intervention.

Section snippets

Daily Hassles and Uplifts

Hassles are the irritating, frustrating, and distressing experiences that to some extent characterize everyday transactions with the environment (Kanner, Coyne, Schaefer, & Lazarus, 1981). Daily hassles for children may include being teased or having trouble with schoolwork. Uplifts are daily experiences appraised as positive, that is, everyday pleasures, such as making a new friend or succeeding with schoolwork (Lazarus, 1984). An advantage of the daily experiences approach over the

Consequences of Hassles

Theoretically hassles (and uplifts) can be conceived of as antecedents or consequences. This introductory review concentrates on the first model based on the preponderance of this view in the literature and to limit the complexity of the presentation. However, readers are encouraged also to keep in mind the consequences of hassles and uplifts (this theme will be taken up again in discussing the results of the present investigation). A positive association has been demonstrated in a number of

Consequences of Uplifts

Although the assessment of uplifts alongside hassles contributes to a comprehensive picture of daily experiences, this approach has been relatively neglected in favor of an exclusive focus on hassles. Although Felner (1984) suggested that individuals' responses to positive events may have considerable implications for their overall level of adaptation, several studies have yielded mixed results. Investigations of the relationship between positive major life events and psychological problems

Stress-Buffering Effects of Uplifts

Lazarus, Kanner, and Folkman (1980) proposed three psychological functions that positively toned emotions serve in coping with stress: they can serve as breaks from stressful situations, sustain coping efforts, and help restore depleted resources in recovering from loss or harm. Uplifts have been shown to predict positive affect (Kanner et al., 1981). They are thus likely to play an important role in coping and may buffer the presumed adverse effects of hassles on psychological problems.

Several

Relationship Between Hassles and Uplifts

Theoretically, several possibilities exist regarding the relationship between hassles and uplifts. Perhaps in the simplest case, children's experiences of uplifts are independent of their experiences of hassles. However, experiencing many hassles may be associated with experiencing many uplifts. For example, both may increase with children's involvement in activities or with other people. Alternatively, a high level of hassles may be associated with a low level of uplifts. Children who

Importance of School Experiences

Previous studies typically assessed a broad and inclusive array of experiences without necessarily distinguishing between different types of major life events and between different types of hassles and uplifts. Nonetheless, associations with psychological symptoms have been shown to differ between different types of negative major life events Compas, et al. 1986, Newcomb, Huba, & Bentler 1981 and hassles (Wu & Lam, 1993). Exposure of children and adolescents to stress has most frequently been

Summary and Purpose of the Current Study

Previous stress research with children has been preoccupied with investigating the adverse effects of major life events, whereas research with adolescents has demonstrated the superiority of hassles over major life events as predictors of psychological problems. However, hassles and uplifts and their consequences have hardly been investigated among children as young as third and fourth grade, despite evidence suggesting that such daily experiences may have considerable adaptational

Participants

The sample included 136 female and 120 male third- and fourth-grade students. Their mean age was 9.23 years SD = 0.63, and their mean standardized score on the NFER-NELSON Verbal Reasoning test (Hagues & Courtney, 1993) was 101.78 SD = 13.48. Participants generally came from intact families (82%). A minority (22%) spoke another language at home in addition to English, most commonly Italian or Indonesian (4.4% and 1.6%, respectively, of the total sample). Most (78%) had attended the same school

Results

Table 1 presents basic information on the data, including product–moment correlations, variable means, standard deviations, skewness, and kurtosis, as well as Cronbach's coefficient alpha for all scales. Some deviations from normality were found, for example skewness in the distribution of conduct scores, major life events, and home hassles equaled or exceeded 1.0 (standard error, .153). Significant kurtosis was also observed in some distributions, for example in major life event scores, home

Predictive Utility of Hassles

This study asked whether school hassles are associated with psychological problems among third- and fourth-grade children. It is the second pilot study conducted in this area of inquiry. While the first study interviewed pupils in an open-ended fashion to paint a comprehensive picture of their views of what constitutes hassles with school (Heubeck & O'Sullivan, 1998), this second study extended the focus to positive experiences with school and explored the viability of surveying students as

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