Stress - 3. Sources of Stress: 1. Daily Uplifts, Daily Hassles and Life Changing Events Flashcards
Examples of life changing events that we are all likely to experience
Death of a close relative
Moving out
Getting married
What are life changes/life changing events?
Life events positive/negative that require you to make psychological adjustment. They can bring about stress and illness
Who developed the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)?
Holmes and Rahe
What did Holmes and Rahe develop?
Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)
What did Holmes and Rahe’s SRRS include?
43 life changes that varied in severity
How was the severity of each life event measured in Holmes and Rahe’s SRRS?
Each life event was measured in life changing units (LCUs)
What does a high LCU indicate?
High level of readjustment needed/event has high severity (E.g. death of a spouse)
What can a high LCU predict according to Holmes and Rahe?
A high LCU can predict illness
What made Holmes and Rahe begin their investigation into life changing events and stress?
They were both doctors in hospitals where they found that most heart disease patients had reported experiencing significant life events in the year leading up to hospitalisation
What did Holmes and Rahe use to generate the list of 43 significant life events that had occurred in the year leading up to hospitalisation of their sample?
They examined the records of 5000 patients
How was the generation of the 43 significant life events not subjective?
Holmes and Rahe used data from records, instead of asking the patients what events occurred
What did Holmes and Rahe do once the 43 life events had been selected?
They got 400 separate people to rate the psychological impact/level of psychological adjustment of the 43 events
What life event was ranked the lowest on the SRRS?
Minor violation of the law
What life event was ranked the highest on the SRRS?
Death of a spouse
What can the LCU of each life event be used as?
The LCU ranking of each life event can be used as a predictor for the change of a patient having an illness
Example of how the LCU can be used to predict the chance of a patient having an illness?
If a patient experiences the death of a spouse in the last year, a doctor will strongly predict that they will get heart disease
Who conducted a follow up study for Holmes and Rahe’s SRRS?
Rahe et al (1970)
What did Rahe et al aim to identify in their follow up study for SRRS?
Aimed to identify a correlation between the stresses of a major life event and illness
Who did Rahe et al study over 6 months?
Studied 2500 male US navy sailors
During the 6 month period of Rahe et al’s study, what was counted?
The number of life changing events
Results of Rahe et al’s follow up study in SRRS?
As LCUs increased, the frequency of illness increased
Conclusion of Rahe et al’s follow
