sources of stress: life changes L3

• What are life changes?

  Events requiring major adjustment in life
• What did Rahe et al. (1970) investigate?


  The relationship between life changes and stress
• What does SRRS stand for?

  Social Readjustment Rating Scale
• How can life changes be categorized?

  As positive or negative events
• What was the sample size in Rahe et al.'s study?

  2,664 men
• What type of personnel were included in the study?

  Naval and Marine personnel
• What did Heikkinen and Lounquist (1995) find regarding life changes?

  They may be causal factors in suicide
• What is the purpose of the adapted SRE used in the study?

  To measure life changes
• What does each life event have associated with it in the SRRS?

  A Life Change Unit (LCU) score
• What is the maximum score for a life change event in the SRRS?

  100 CUs
• What did Rahe (1974) find about recall reliability?

  It depends on the time interval
• What did Cohen et al. (1993) use to assess stress?

  Nasal drops containing the common cold virus
• What did Hardt et al. (2006) assess in their study?

  Life changes using Recent Experiences
• What did the findings suggest about retrospective reports of life events?

  They have good reliability levels
• What was the correlation found between LCU score and illness score?

  +1.18
• What was observed about men with higher LCU scores?

  They were more likely to get infected
• What was the relationship between perceived stress and illness in the study?

  No link was found
• What does the SRRS ignore regarding life events?

  The different significance for different people
• What is more important than the negativity of change according to the study?

  The actual stress experienced
• What does the research suggest about life changes and stress?

  They create stress and immunosuppression
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Life Change Approach in measuring stress?

  Strengths:

  • Provides a structured way to assess life changes
  • Links life changes to stress and illness

  
  

  Weaknesses:

  • Ignores individual perceptions of events
  • Assigns the same score to different events
• What are the implications of the findings from Rahe et al.'s study?

  • Higher life change units correlate with illness
  • Perceived stress does not correlate with illness
  • Life changes can be both positive and negative