ABSTRACT
Life is a continuous ebb and flow of stressors. In the early stress literature (e.g., Selye, 1956, 1974), stress was often characterized as major life events in adulthood (e.g., death of loved one, loss of job). Stressful events were powerful influences, but fortunately were rare in nature, occurring over the course of months or years. Later research (e.g., Kanner, Coyne, Schaefer, & Lazarus, 1981) recognized the influence of daily hassles or background stressors. More recently still, researchers in the stress literature have focused attention on infant responses to daily stressors and major stressors. We no longer must wait until adulthood for stressors and, unfortunately, they are not rare in occurrence. Stressful events are seen as part of everyday life, and our reactions to them as part of our individual makeup. In fact, each simple verbal or nonverbal approach from another person can be seen as a mild stressor to which the individual responds. Individual differences in responses to stressors have become markers for developmental outcome (e.g., Porges, Doussard-Roosevelt, Portales, & Greenspan, 1996).
