CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A unifying sentiment shared by college students across countries, cultures, and generations, is being overwhelmed at one

point or another. This feeling is commonly referred as being stressed. Stress in this case as defined by MerriamWebster online is a physical or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension. Different psychologists have defined stress as a stimulus, a response, or a stimulus-response interaction (de Carvalho, Gadzella, Henley, & Ball, 2009). In their Abnormal Psychology textbook by Kring, Davison, Neale, & Johnson (2007), summarized stress simply as an experience that people regard as unpleasant. Certain aspects of college life seem to be more than just unpleasant. College is a transitional period when young people undergo new experiences and meet new people eventually finding themselves trying to maintain a balance between interpersonal relationships, academic demands, one's own expectations (Lindsay et al., 2011). Stress in college has been widely studied due to its negative and even destructive effects. Smoking, drinking, experimentation with illegal drugs, poor diet, and even

2 suicide ideation were all associated to stress by previous researchers (Hudd et al., 2000). An overview of recently published college stress-related studies produced two popular themes of study: finding out sources of stress (Guo, Wang, Johnson, & Diaz, 2011; Lindsey et al. 2011; Pillay & Bundhoo, 2011) and coping with stress (Bland, Melton, Welle, & Bigham, 2012; Hong & Lei, 2011; Well & Graf, 2011). The findings of these studies are helpful because they can lead to proper and effective intervention and support programs in colleges and universities. This researcher observed that a not so prevalently explored but also substantial area of collegerelated stress research is the role of the individuals unique traits and personality in stress. It is not only intriguing to find out if a certain characteristic makes a person more susceptible to stress but the results will be insightful for school psychologists and guidance counselors and contribute to their student services.

Review of Literature Previous studies have associated college students stress with differences in certain aspects. For one, female students reported a higher overall level of stress (Brougham, Zail, Mendoza, & Miller, 2009). Students who also have positive

3 expectations, or optimists, were less likely to see education as a source of stress (Krypel & Henderson-King, 2010). Those who perceive more social support were found to have better adjustment in their first semester in college (Lidy & Kahn, 2006). Someone who does not believe that he or she is competent, significant or worthy, or in other words have low self-esteem, can be expected to have a heightened perceived stress (Eisenbarth, 2012). For this study, the focus will be

emotions, more specifically emotional expressivity since no prior study on this is believed to have been done before. Emotions Emotions, as defined by Santrock (2003), are feelings or affects that may involve physiological arousals, conscious experiences, and behavior expressions. Some examples of emotions are laughing at a joke, frowning when we are sad, and sweating when we are nervous. Why do we have emotions? According to the Dutch Psychologist Nico Frijda, emotions help us respond adaptively to environmental challenges and opportunities (as cited in Wei & Zhenhong, 2012, p. 319, and Gross & John, 1995, p. 555). Saarni, Mumme, and Campos (1998) classified emotion as an attempt or readiness by a person to establish, maintain, or change relationships on significant matters between other people as well as the environment (as cited in Eisenberg, Fabes, Guthrie, & Reiser, 2000, p. 137).

4 Through our life experiences, we are aware that different people will have different emotions to one situation. Gross & John (1995; 1997) presented that emotions only suggest that we act but not compel us to do so. Different people will not react the same way in a situation. Emotional Expressivity Emotional Expressivity has been conceptualized in various ways from a broad and one-dimensional term that covers a range of general expressive behavior to a multifactorial structure and valence-specific - whether positive or negative (Trierwiler, Eid, & Lischetzke. 2002). Kring, Smith, and Neale (1994) defined emotional expressivity as the extent to which people outwardly display their emotions regardless of valence. For Gross and John (1995; 1997), it is the observable positive and negative behavioral reactions or changes that typically accompany emotion such as smiling, frowning, crying, or storming out of the room. Previous studies proposed that differences in emotional expressivity could be because of gender. The study of Weinberg, Tronick, Cohn, and Olson (1999) found that boy babies displayed more negative affect that girls and were more likely to show expressions of anger in their faces, fuss, and turn and twist. Boys also tended to look at their mother more and display happy facial expressions, and vocalize. In a study

5 by Hess et al. (2000), participants reported that women were expected to be sad in general white men were expected to react with more happiness or serenity to negative emotion-eliciting events. Moreover, the female respondents expected themselves to be more likely to react with sadness as well as to cry and to withdraw more while the males expect themselves to laugh and smile more and to be more relaxed in negative situations. The possible effects of a persons emotional expressivity to another person are presented in parent-child studies. The findings of the study of Eisenberg et al. (2003) indicated that maternal emotional expressivity is related to a childs adjustment and social competence. Children's self-regulation and functioning in the school setting were also found to be associated with the parents expression of positive and negative emotions in a study by Haskett, Stelter, Proffit, and Nice (n.d.). The societal contribution of studying emotional expressivity can be seen with its seeming relationship with cooperation. Boone and Buck (2003) presented that in an evolutionary perspective, emotional expressivity can act as a marker for cooperative behavior and trustworthiness. Schug, Matsumuto, Horita, Yamagishi, and Bonnet (n.d.) through observations of participants facial expressions in an experiment found that cooperators tend to de more expressive

6 than noncooperators and further speculated that emotional expressivity, regardless if positive or negative, can be a more reliable signal of cooperativeness rather than just the display of positive emotion.

Conceptual Framework Emotional expressivity was found to be related to two broad factors of personality namely extraversion and neuroticism (Kring et al., 1994; Gross & John, 1995). Thus the theoretical framework presented by Bolger and Zuckerman (1995) can be adapted.

Figure 1. General framework linking personality to exposure and reactivity to stressors. Bolger and Zuckerman (1995) proposed that personality may affect the stress process. Stressor exposure and stressor

7 reactivity are the two stages of this process. Exposure is the likelihood of experiencing a stressful event and reactivity is the extent to which the person will express emotion or physical reactions to the event.

Statement of the Problems What is the relationship between perceived level of stress of college students and emotional expressivity?

Significance of the Study

Most if not all colleges and universities continually strive to improve their guidance and counseling programs. They want their students to graduate and eventually be successful. Because, students in college usually encounter a lot of issues and even problems that can lead to unhealthy behavior and even depression, schools should be prepared to address these concerns and have effective intervention programs. It is not uncommon for schools to check students backgrounds and give personality tests. These things are done to pick out at risk students. These tests thought take time and only trained staff can interpret the tests. Emotional expressivity on the other hand is something that can be directly observed. Observations

8 on a students emotional expressivity can be done by teachers, parents, and even peers. At risk students can be easily and more quickly identified and referred to the appropriate people. References Bland, H. W., Melton, B. F., Welle, P., & Bigham, L. (2012). Stress tolerance: new challenges for millennial college students. College Student Journal, 46(2), 362-375. Bolger, N., & Zuckerman, A. (1995). A Framework for Studying Personality in the Stress Process. Journal Of Personality & Social Psychology, 69(5), 890-902. Boone, R., Buck. R. (2003). Emotional expressivity and trustworthiness: the role of nonverbal behavior in the evolution of cooperation. [Abstract] Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 27(3), 163-182. doi:10.1023/A:1025341931128 Brougham, R., Zail, C., Mendoza, C., & Miller, J. (2009). Stress, sex differences, and coping strategies among college students. Current Psychology, 28(2), 85-97. doi:10.1007/s12144-009-9047-0 Calaguas, G. (2012). Parents/teachers and self-expectations as sources of academic stress. International Journal of Research Studies in Psychology, 2, 43-52. Retrieved from http://www.consortiacademia.org/index.php/ijrsp/issue/view /24 de Carvalho, C. F., Gadzella, B. M., Henley, T. B., & Ball, S. E. (2009). Locus of control: differences among college students' stress levels. Individual Differences Research, 7(3), 182-187 Eisenbarth, C. (2012). Does self-esteem moderate the relations among perceived stress, coping, and depression?. College Student Journal, 46(1), 149-157.

Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R., Guthrie, I., & Reiser, M. (2000). Dispositional emotionality and regulation: their role in predicting quality of social functioning. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 136-157. Retrieved from http://dionysus.psych.wisc.edu/lit/articles/EisenbergN2000 a.pdf Eisenberg, N., Valiente, C., Morris, A., Fabes, R. A., Cumberland, A., Reiser, M., & ... Losoya, S. (2003). Longitudinal relations among parental emotional expressivity, children's regulation, and quality of socioemotional functioning. Developmental Psychology, 39(1), 3-19. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.39.1.3 Gross, J. J., John, O. P., & Richards, J. M. (2000). The dissociation of emotion expression from emotion experience: a personality perspective. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 712726. Retrieved from http://spl.stanford.edu/pdfs/2000%20Personality%20and%20So cial%20Psychology%20Bulletin%20%20Dissociation%20of%20Emotion%20Expression.pdf Gross, J. J., & John, O. P. (1997). Revealing feelings: Facets of emotional expressivity in self-reports, peer ratings, and behavior. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 72(2), 435-448. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.72.2.435 Gross, J. J., & John, O. P. (1995). Facets of emotional expressivity: three self-report factors and their correlates. Personality and Individual Differences, 19, 555-568. Retrieved from http://spl.stanford.edu/pdfs/1995%20Person.%20individ.%20D iff.%20-%20%20Facets%20of%20Emotional%20Expressivity.pdf Guo, Y., Wang, S., Johnson, V., & Diaz, M. (2011). College students stress under current economic downturn. College Student Journal, 45(3), 536-543. Haskett, M., Stelter, R., Proffit, K., Nice, R., (n.d.) Parent emotional expressiveness and children's selfregulation: Associations with abused children's school functioning. [Abstract] Child Abuse & Neglect, 36296-307. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2011.11.008

10 Hess, U., Sencal, S., Kirouac, G., Herrera P., Philippot, P., & Kleck. R. (2000). Emotional expressivity in men and women: stereotypes and self-perceptions. Cognition and Emotion, 14(5), 609-642. Retrieved from http://www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/r24700/pubs/CE1.pdf Hong, J., & Lei, Z. (2011). Research on college students' stresses and coping strategies. Asian Social Science, 7(10), 30-34. doi:10.5539/ass.v7n10p30 Hudd, S. S., Dumlao, J., Erdmann-Sager, D., Murray, D., Phan, E., Soukas, N., & Yokozuka, N. (2000). Stess at college: effects on health habits, health status and self-esteem. College Student Journal, 34(2), 217 Kring. A. M., Davison, G. C., Neale, J. M., Johnson, S. L. (2007) Abnormal Psychology (10th ed.) United States of America: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Kring, A. M., Smith, D. A., & Neale, J. M. (1994). Individual differences in dispositional expressiveness: Development and validation of the Emotional Expressivity Scale. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 66(5), 934-949. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.66.5.934 Krypel, M. N., & Henderson-King, D. (2010). Stress, coping styles, and optimism: Are they related to meaning of education in students' lives?. Social Psychology Of Education, 13(3), 409-424. doi:10.1007/s11218-010-9132-0 Lidy, K. M., & Kahn, J. H. (2006). Personality as a Predictor of first-semester adjustment to college: the mediational role of perceived social support. Journal Of College Counseling, 9(2), 123-134. Lindsey, R., Reed, S., Lyons, R., Hendricks, D., Mead, A., & Butler, K. L. (2011). Sources of stress among gender and classification for African American college students. College Student Journal, 45(4), 749-757. Pillay, A. L., & Bundhoo, H. Y. (2011). Mauritian undergraduate university students' sources of stress and support. South African Journal Of Psychology, 41(4), 417423.