Topic B: Major life events that affect development Flashcards
What’s the definition of predictable life events?
Events that are expected to happen at a particular time
What’s the definition of unpredictable life events?
Events that happen unexpectedly and can have serious physical or psychological effects on an individual
Give examples of predictable life events
Starting school, beginning/changing employment, leaving home, leaving prison, marriage, parenthood and retirement
What are positives and negatives of starting school?
P - making new friends, cope with change
N - feeling unsafe
What are positives and negatives of leaving home?
P - achieving independence
N - Pressured by new tasks
What are positives and negatives of marriage?
P - Emotional attachments
N - loss of independence
What are positives and negatives of parenthood?
P - learning parenting skills
N - loss of free time, tiredness
What are positives and negatives of retirement?
P - control over life
N - loss of contact with family
Give examples of unpredictable life events.
Birth of a sibling, redundancy, illness, serious injury, divorce and bereavement
What are positives and negatives of birth of a sibling?
P - new attachments
N - jealousy and rivalry
What are positives and negatives of redundancy?
P - adapt changes to income and lifestyle
N - refusal to accept change
What are positives and negatives of illness and serious injury?
P - adapt to physical change
N - faliure to adapt and anger
What are positives and negatives of divorce?
P - cope with new lifestyle
N - resentment or depression
What can life events affect?
- Income
- social, emotional and economic circumstances
- feelings of loss and grief
- change in social network
What is the Holmes-Rahe Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)?
A questionnaire which identifies major stressful life events
How does the SRRS work?
Asking individuals to score how events affected their stress levels and the higher the score, the more likely an individual is to become unwell.
What does a score of 150 points or less mean in the SRRS?
There is a low susceptibility to stress-induced health breakdown
What does a score of 150-300 points mean in the SRRS?
Implies there is a 50% chance of a major health breakdown in the next 2 years
What does a score of 300 points mean in the SRRS?
There is an 80% chance of a major health breakdown in the next 2 years
What do critics suggest about the Holmes-Rahe scale?
- It isn’t necessarily true as stress for each life events aren’t the same for everyone and others may cope better than others
- Daily hassles can also cause stress daily despite life events not being very frequent e.g. traffic jams, appearance, loosing items
What is stress?
An automatic response when dealing with challenging situations or events
What happens to the body when an individual is stressed?
- The body is flooded with hormones that raise heart rate, increase blood pressure and boost energy
What is the response called in which an individual experiences stress and their heart rate, energy and blood pressure increase?
Fight or flight
What does the ability to cope during stress depend on?
how vulnerable and threatened they feel rather than the actual event
What is an example of short term stress?
Waiting to take an exam or performing in a college play
What is an example of long term stress?
Negative effects on health such as chronic illnesses
Financial difficulties
Breakup of long term relationships
What effects can stress have on physical health?
Irritable, fatigued, headaches, no motivation and difficulty concentrating
What can chronic stress lead to?
anxiety attacks, depression, cardiovascular problems
What may an individual turn to if they are stressed?
Under/over eating, smoking and drinking to cope
What systems of the body do high levels of stress hormones affect?
- Immune system
- cardiovascular system
- respiratory system
- digestive system
- endocrine system
How does stress affect the immune system?
- susceptibility to infection and colds especially on top of coping mechanisms such as alcohol
How does stress affect the cardiovascular system?
- high blood pressure, heart attacks and sudden death
How does stress affect the respiratory system?
- breathlessness and asthma
How does stress affect the digestive system?
- loss of appetite, gastric ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome
How does stress affect the endocrine system?
- diabetes, loss of libido, absence of menstruation
How does stress affect psychological health?
- emotions, self-esteem and self-image
Why can stress sometimes be positive?
- can allow people to be more focused and make decisions
- help perform better in exams/ interviews
- some people thrive in stressful situations
