Topic B: Major life events that affect development

Question 1

What’s the definition of predictable life events?

Answer 1

Events that are expected to happen at a particular time

Question 2

What’s the definition of unpredictable life events?

Answer 2

Events that happen unexpectedly and can have serious physical or psychological effects on an individual

Question 3

Give examples of predictable life events

Answer 3

Starting school, beginning/changing employment, leaving home, leaving prison, marriage, parenthood and retirement

Question 4

What are positives and negatives of starting school?

Answer 4

P - making new friends, cope with change
N - feeling unsafe

Question 5

What are positives and negatives of leaving home?

Answer 5

P - achieving independence
N - Pressured by new tasks

Question 6

What are positives and negatives of marriage?

Answer 6

P - Emotional attachments
N - loss of independence

Question 7

What are positives and negatives of parenthood?

Answer 7

P - learning parenting skills
N - loss of free time, tiredness

Question 8

What are positives and negatives of retirement?

Answer 8

P - control over life
N - loss of contact with family

Question 9

Give examples of unpredictable life events.

Answer 9

Birth of a sibling, redundancy, illness, serious injury, divorce and bereavement

Question 10

What are positives and negatives of birth of a sibling?

Answer 10

P - new attachments
N - jealousy and rivalry

Question 11

What are positives and negatives of redundancy?

Answer 11

P - adapt changes to income and lifestyle
N - refusal to accept change

Question 12

What are positives and negatives of illness and serious injury?

Answer 12

P - adapt to physical change
N - faliure to adapt and anger

Question 13

What are positives and negatives of divorce?

Answer 13

P - cope with new lifestyle
N - resentment or depression

Question 14

What can life events affect?

Answer 14

• Income
• social, emotional and economic circumstances
• feelings of loss and grief
• change in social network

Question 15

What is the Holmes-Rahe Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)?

Answer 15

A questionnaire which identifies major stressful life events

Question 16

How does the SRRS work?

Answer 16

Asking individuals to score how events affected their stress levels and the higher the score, the more likely an individual is to become unwell.

Question 17

What does a score of 150 points or less mean in the SRRS?

Answer 17

There is a low susceptibility to stress-induced health breakdown

Question 18

What does a score of 150-300 points mean in the SRRS?

Answer 18

Implies there is a 50% chance of a major health breakdown in the next 2 years

Question 19

What does a score of 300 points mean in the SRRS?

Answer 19

There is an 80% chance of a major health breakdown in the next 2 years

Question 20

What do critics suggest about the Holmes-Rahe scale?

Answer 20

• 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

Question 21

What is stress?

Answer 21

An automatic response when dealing with challenging situations or events

Question 22

What happens to the body when an individual is stressed?

Answer 22

• The body is flooded with hormones that raise heart rate, increase blood pressure and boost energy

Question 23

What is the response called in which an individual experiences stress and their heart rate, energy and blood pressure increase?

Answer 23

Fight or flight

Question 24

What does the ability to cope during stress depend on?

Answer 24

how vulnerable and threatened they feel rather than the actual event

Question 25

What is an example of short term stress?

Answer 25

Waiting to take an exam or performing in a college play

Question 26

What is an example of long term stress?

Answer 26

Negative effects on health such as chronic illnesses
Financial difficulties
Breakup of long term relationships

Question 27

What effects can stress have on physical health?

Answer 27

Irritable, fatigued, headaches, no motivation and difficulty concentrating

Question 28

What can chronic stress lead to?

Answer 28

anxiety attacks, depression, cardiovascular problems

Question 29

What may an individual turn to if they are stressed?

Answer 29

Under/over eating, smoking and drinking to cope

Question 30

What systems of the body do high levels of stress hormones affect?

Answer 30

• Immune system
• cardiovascular system
• respiratory system
• digestive system
• endocrine system

Question 31

How does stress affect the immune system?

Answer 31

• susceptibility to infection and colds especially on top of coping mechanisms such as alcohol

Question 32

How does stress affect the cardiovascular system?

Answer 32

• high blood pressure, heart attacks and sudden death

Question 33

How does stress affect the respiratory system?

Answer 33

• breathlessness and asthma

Question 34

How does stress affect the digestive system?

Answer 34

• loss of appetite, gastric ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome

Question 35

How does stress affect the endocrine system?

Answer 35

• diabetes, loss of libido, absence of menstruation

Question 36

How does stress affect psychological health?

Answer 36

• emotions, self-esteem and self-image

Question 37

Why can stress sometimes be positive?

Answer 37

• can allow people to be more focused and make decisions
• help perform better in exams/ interviews
• some people thrive in stressful situations