Who Will Have a Harder Time Coping with Stress?

Explanation: Humans struggle with situations related to work, finances, academics, health, etc. The feeling experienced coping with this struggle is referred to as stress. There are three different types of stressors: acute stress, episodic acute stress, and chronic stress.

Julio is stressed because he just lost everything in a terrible earthquake. This type of loss and trauma is a major life event that would likely lead Julio to experience chronic stress. Chronic stress is a long-term form of stress that can result from ongoing difficulties, such as the loss of one's home and possessions in a natural disaster.

On the other hand, Bill is stressed because of a traffic jam on his route to work, his broken washing machine, and a rent increase from his landlord. These are more episodic acute stressors, which are short-term challenges that can be resolved fairly quickly. Once Bill finds solutions to these issues, his stress is likely to lessen or dissipate entirely.

Therefore, Julio, who is facing the more severe and long-lasting effects of chronic stress, will have a harder time coping compared to Bill, who is dealing with episodic acute stressors that can be resolved relatively quickly.