Marcus is experiencing persistent anxiety and mood swings at college. He has been referred to a student support officer who suspects his difficulties are linked to a combination of physiological changes and environment-induced stress.
During an intake session, the officer used a standardized youth stress inventory that quantifies stressful life events, assigning an arbitrary weight to each event experienced over the past year. The scores are summed to estimate Marcus's cumulative stress levels.
Below is a segment of the scale indicating the events Marcus experienced and how he scored:
| Event | Arbitrary Score | Times occurred in the year | Total for each type of event |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academic relocation (Moving away from home) | 55 | 1 | 55 |
| Pubertal transition (Hormonal changes) | 50 | 1 | 50 |
| Severe illness of a sibling | 45 | 1 | 45 |
| Failing an important end-of-term exam | 40 | 2 | 80 |
| Parent losing their job | 35 | 1 | 35 |
| Total | 265 |
State one aspect of Marcus's situation that could be described as nature and one aspect that could be described as nurture.
Practise Edexcel A Level Psychology Issues and debates with exam-style questions for A Level Psychology. 147 questions covering Issues and debates, matched to the Edexcel A Level Psychology (9PS0) specification and written in Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3 style. Every question includes a full worked solution and mark scheme, so you can see where marks are awarded rather than just whether you got the answer right.
