Holmes&Rahe: Self-report Measures

Question 1

Method?

Answer 1

Questionnaire self-report designed to ascertain how much a life event was felt to be a stressor.

Question 2

PPs?

Answer 2

394 (179 males and 215 females)

Question 3

Procedure?

Answer 3

Each PP asked to rate a series of 43 life events.
Marriage was given arbitrary rating of 50
Each event to be judged as causing more or less stress
Ratings could be on own experiences+other people’s
Amount of readjustment+time taken considered

Question 4

Results?

Answer 4

Final SRRS completed on mean scores allocated by PPs.

Correlations high in all groups except less between White and Black people

Question 5

Conclusions?

Answer 5

Degree of similarity between different groups shoes agreement of what constitutes a life event and how much they cause stress.

Question 6

Strengths of measure?

Answer 6

• holistic= 43 life events
• self-report= offers insight
• standardised
• useful

Question 7

Weaknesses of measure?

Answer 7

• some life events ambiguous= extent of a persons injury or illness
• cultural differences= Christmas may not be celebrated; divorce may not be accepted
• retrospective
• social desirability bias

Question 8

Aim?

Answer 8

To create a method that estimates the extent to which life events are stressors.