The interaction of noise stress and personal project stress on subjective health

Noise is only one of the many stressors people have to cope with in their everyday lives. This study examined the interactive effects of noise stress and personal project stress on subjective health. A questionnaire was conducted among adult inhabitants living in noisy and not-noisy residential environments. The respondents (n = 147) filled in the revised version of Little's Personal Project Inventory, the EPI scale of neuroticism, the Somatic Symptom Checklist, rated their general health status, and answered questions concerning noise annoyance and disturbed daily activities. The results reveal an interactive effect of noise stress and personal project stress on self-rated general health and somatic symptoms as adaptive costs of coping with multiple stressors. Especially annoyance due to noise inside the house as well as disturbed daily activities providing restoration or demanding concentration (e.g. sleeping, relaxing, reading or studying) interact with personal project stress. The relations between the variables are independent of neurotic trait. The results also highlight the threshold value of stress. Noise annoyance and disturbed daily activities are related to poorer general health and more numerous somatic symptoms most strongly at high level of personal project stress. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.