Abstract:

How does age affect how you deal with stress?

     Stress affects human beings in different ways. As we age we perhaps we deal with stress in different ways compared to when we were younger. Because I believe that the older people deal with stress in different ways than younger people because people of different ages become stressed for different reasons I created a survey to ask people of different ages about what made them stressed, and if they had any specific strategies or techniques to relieve stress. Then I entered the data I had collected into a spreadsheet and had the spreadsheet make the data into graphs. One way that I hope my rescearch could be useful is in school guidance councoling offices. I found that in most age groups listening to music was one of the most common ways people dealt with stress. Guidance counselers could let kids in stressfulsituation listen to music to relieve stress. I believe because peoples ages are different they become they become stressed for different reasons. This is shown in my data, 25% of people ages 0 to 15 become stressed because of their siblings or friends while none of people ages 31 plus became stressed because of this. Because I believe age causes people to become stressed for different reasons I also believe that how people deal with stress changes. This is shown in my data, more people ages 0 to 15 go for a walk or 

run to relieve stress than people ages 31 plus by a ratio of 2 to 1. However more

people ages 31 plus sleep to relieve stress than people ages 0 to 15 by a ratio of 3 to 1.

My information could be useful for guidance counselers and supports my thought that age does change how people deal with stress.

Topic: How does age affect how people deal with stress?

Purpose: To help people in the medical field assist patients in stressful situations.

Background Research:

     Humans become stressed for many reasons. No period of life, childhood or adulthood, is stress free. Some factors that can contribute to stress are financial hardships, relocation, non life threatening or chronic illness, loss of loved ones, and environmental changes. Everybody is affected by stress.

    Aches and pains can be an effect of stress. Back massages can reduce aches and pains. Sometimes stress can help people such as, in sports or fight or flight response. In sports stress can help you concentrate. Fight or flight response can help you concentrate or react certain ways. Fight or flight response is when your brain makes the decisions to either flee from a stressful situation or take action. If you were in a dark alley and you met a shady character an example of fight or flight would be your reaction to this situation. If you were to run away from the scene this would be considered flight, or you could try to negotiate or defend yourself which would be a fight response. Although stress can be helpful sometimes stress all the time is never good for your health.

    The hypothalamus is located in the section of the brain called the diencephalon. The diencephalon contains the thalamus, the hypothalamus, and the epithathalmus. The hypothalamus has many functions/jobs. It regulates water consumption along with hormonal control, pituitary hormones , growth hormones, which change most every things in your life, and regulates the emotions. The hypothalamus is sometimes referred to as the stress center of the brain, because it controls the emotions. Scientists have found that the hypothalamus is active during stressful situations. 

Hypothesis: I believe that the older people I test will deal with stress in different ways than the younger people I test because people of different ages become stressed for different reasons.

Variables:

Independent variable: Age

Dependent variable: How stress is dealt with

Controlled variables: The survey used

Materials: A computer and a printer

Procedure:

Use this survey: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dfd9vfgx_20htf5j5c4

Have 25 people take the survey on a sunny winter day.

How should the data be analyzed? What specifically are you focusing on from the survey? How should the data be organized? Analyze and compare your data in this spreadsheet.

Make the data into graphs that show all the responses from the questions, what age group gave each response and how many responses were given for each response. 

Data: spreadsheet

Analyzing Data and Drawing Conclusions:

Conclusion:

     In my experiment I tested how age affects how you deal with stress. My data shows that older people have different ways to deal with compared to younger people. I think I got these results because younger people become stressed for different reasons than older people. An example of this that I found in my data was none of my test subjects ages 16 to 30 or 31 plus became stressed because they lost a competition or game while in the 0 to 15 age group 10.7% of people became stressed because of this. This shows that age affects why people become stressed, and so because people are stressed for different reasons they deal with stress in different ways. My data supports this generalization because it states that more people ages 31 plus than people ages 0 to 15 sleep when they become stressed by a ratio of 3 to 2 however more people ages 0 to 15 than people ages 31 plus exercise when they become stressed by a ratio of 3 to 2. This data also justifies my hypothesis because my hypothesis stated I believe that the older people I test will deal with stress differently than the younger people I test because people of different ages become stressed for different reasons. My data supports my hypothesis.

Analysis:

     Most of this experiment went as planned but if I were to repeat this investigation I would change a few parts. The first thing I would change if I were to do this investigation again would be to expand my data pool. I would do this because more precise results. I only had two test subjects from ages 16 to 30. This could have been a source of error because there was so little data. I would do this by starting to give out my survey earlier. Also if I did this again I would add more questions to the survey. This would give me more data to compare. I would only make a few minor changes if I was to do this experiment again.

Application of the Results:

     This information could be used to help nurses and doctors help patients and their families during stressful situations. For many people I tested one way to relieve stress was to listen to music. Hospitals could let patients listen to music in their rooms. This would help patients if they were stressed stressed about an upcoming surgery or were recently diagnosed with a disease, really any stressful situation. In dentists offices when patients are receiving root canals the dentist will usuall allow the patient to listen to music to help to distract them from the unpleasant noises of the procedure. My data could also be used in school guidance counseling. If a guidance person looked at my data they could find out that one way kids deal with stress is by listening to music, and they could let kids use this technique.

Resources:

Ignatavicius et, Donna , and Linda Workman. "2." Medical-Surgical Nursing: Critical Thinking for Collaborative Care, 5th edition, with CD-ROM, Volume 2. St. Louis: Elsevier Saunders, 2006. 921, 1912. Print.

Ignatavicius et, Donna, and Linda Workman. "1." Medical-Surgical Nursing: Critical Thinking for Collaborative Care, 5th edition, with CD-ROM, Volume 1. St. Louis: Elsevier Saunders, 2006. 36, 42. Print.

Testable Question: Does your age change how people deal with stress?