Perceived stress in medical school: Resistors, persistors, adaptors and maladaptors

A longitudinal study of perceived medical student stress (PMSS) was conducted on 305 first year medical students. Data were collected at orientation in September and again in May, 2 weeks before exams. Four types of students were identified using a standardized and reliable measure of PMSS. These in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social science & medicine (1982) 1989, Vol.28 (12), p.1321-1329
Main Authors: Vitaliano, Peter P., Maiuro, Roland D., Mitchell, Ellen, Russo, Joan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Adult
Anger
Anxiety - diagnosis
Anxiety - psychology
Coping
Depression - diagnosis
Depression - psychology
Female
Humans
Life Change Events
Longitudinal Studies
Male
medical school
Medical schools
Medical students
perceived stress
perceived stress medical school coping anger type A
Perceptions
Personality
Stress
Stress, Psychological - epidemiology
Stress, Psychological - psychology
Students, Medical - psychology
type A
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Summary:A longitudinal study of perceived medical student stress (PMSS) was conducted on 305 first year medical students. Data were collected at orientation in September and again in May, 2 weeks before exams. Four types of students were identified using a standardized and reliable measure of PMSS. These included students whose PMSS scores began and ended low (resistors), whose PMSS scores began and remained high (persistors), whose PMSS scores decreased from high to low (adaptors) and whose PMSS scores increased from low to high (maladaptors). The four groups differed predictably on indices of distress and were also distinguishable by a variety of psychosocial variables including type A personality, anger expression and coping. In contrast, life events played a minor role in distinguishing the groups. The results are discussed in relation to previous research on medical student stress.
ISSN:0277-9536
1873-5347
DOI:10.1016/0277-9536(89)90351-1