Seyle (1956)
used the term stress to refer to the nonspecific reaction of the body to any demand made upon it. When the demand is a pleasurable, exciting challenge, for example, recreational sports, sexual activity, or winning a lottery, the stress response is termed eustress. On the other hand, demands that would be avoided and not sought out, such as getting fired, being in a car accident, or being attacked, lead to distress. Posner and Leitner (1981) argued that two psychological factors affect whether an event produces distress or eustress. The more predictable an event is, the more likely it is to result in eustress, and, secondly, the greater degree of control that the individual has over the event, the more likely it is to result in eustress.
Levenson (1 974) has devised a psychological inventory to measure whether the respondent believes that events in his or her life are primarily caused by their own actions, by the actions of others, or by chance or fate. (This scale was an outgrowth of the large body of research generated by Rotter's [I9661 original work on this attitude.) Our research was stimulated by the hypothesis that Levenson's measure might be related to a person's attitude toward the stress in his or her life.
Tyson (1 98 1) empirically explored the relationship between the subjective perception of stress and the belief in an internal versus external locus of control. Tyson found that those who manifested an external locus of control subjectively perceived more stress in their lives, when from an objective point of view they had not experienced an excessive number of stressful life events.
Having conducted stress management training workshops for senior officers in suburban police departments, we have speculated that the perception of stress might be affected by the individual's perceived degree of control over the events in his or her life. This study was an attempt to replicate and extend Tyson's findings among a group of police officers.