[Measurement of stress and stressors in epidemiological studies]

There is considerable uncertainty and confusion with regard to definitions and measurements of stress and stressors in the medical literature. In the present article the concepts are defined, and three different methods for measuring stress and stressors respectively are presented. A matrix constructed against this background is used to classify a number of studies on stressors, stress, and disease. On the basis of examples from empirical studies, methodological problems are discussed. It is concluded that the methodological problems within this field of research are not fundamentally different from the wellknown methodological problems of medical epidemiology. It is recommended that independent measures of stressors as well as stress are used as widely as possible.