Concluding Comments to Section I

Abstract

Our own observations as well as the discussions in this section suggest that the field of stress and coping is moving toward a transactional model of stress as described by Richard Lazarus and his colleagues (Lazarus, 1981; Lazarus & Cohen, 1977; Lazarus & Launier, 1978; Roskies & Lazarus, 1980) and by John Mason (1975). This transactional perspective suggests that stress occurs in the face of “demands that tax or exceed the resources of the system or...demands to which there are no readily available or automatic adaptive resources” (Lazarus & Cohen, 1977, p. 109; emphasis in original). The transactional model highlights the nature of the fit or misfit between the person’s adaptive capacities and the environmental demands. The discrepancy between the perceived demands on a person (whether internal or external, whether challenges or goals) and the way individuals perceive their potential responses to these demands constitutes stress and has an impact on the individual’s health.