Life Events and Rahe et al (1970) Flashcards
Life events
Major, relatively infrequent life-changing events that cause stress (positive or negative) due to the psychological adjustment needed to cope with the change.
Who created the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS), and in which year?
Holmes and Rahe (1967)
What is the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)?
A scale used to measure life event stress over a set period of time (e.g. 12 months), containing 43 life events with each event having a corresponding number of Life Change Units (LCU).
What correlation did Rahe (1972) find between Life Change Units (LCU) and stress-related illnesses?
< 150 LCU = 30% chance of a stress-related illness in the next year
150 - 299 LCU = 50% chance of a stress-related illness in the next year
> 300 = 80% chance of a stress-related illness in the next year
What is one strength of life events?
Lietzén et al. (2011) found that life events predicted the onset of asthma in 160,000 participants within a two-year follow-up period. None of the participants had asthma before. This supports the links between life changes and illness.
What is one weakness of life events?
Turner and Wheaton (1997) found that negative life events are cause more stress than positive life events; therefore, it is better to look at specific stressors rather than the overall score.
What was the aim of the Rahe et al. (1970)study?
To investigate whether scores of the Holmes and Rahe SRRS correlated with the onset of illness.
What was the procedure of the Rahe et al. (1970) study?
2664 US Navy personnel from three different air carriers completed the SRE prior to touring, to identify all life events experienced in the past 6 months. The participants differed in educational and maritime experience, and in rank. The total LCU score was calculated for each participant.
Over the next six months, records were kept on illnesses reported on the ships. Neither medical staff nor participants were aware of the aim of this study. The correlation between LCUs and frequency of illness was recorded.
How many US Navy personnel did Rahe et al. (1970) use in his study?
2664
In what ways did the US Navy personnel differ from each other?
Educational and maritime experience, and rank.
What were the findings of the Rahe et al. (1970) study?
There was a small but positive correlation between LCU scores and illness scores across all three ships. Sailors with the most stressful life events also had most illness aboard ship.
What was the exact correlation between LCU scores and illness?
+0.118
What did Rahe et al. (1970) conclude from his study?
There is a relationship between life events and the development of stress related illness. Therefore, life events are reasonable predictors of later illness.
What is one strength of the Rahe et al. (1970) study?
A large sample size was used, therefore the results are generalisable and representative of the wider population.
What is one weakness of the Rahe et al. (1970) study?
The SRE used in the study relies on a self-report method. This means that there may be social desirability bias in their answers, for example if they are embarrassed about something they may lie and therefore resulting in biased results.
