Sources of stress

• Life Changes - what are they?

  • Can be both positive and negative, such as marriage or bereavement.
  • They are events that require any major adjustment in our lives,
  • and therefore are believed to be significant sources of stress
• How are they measured?

  Life changes can be measured using the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS)

  • It contains a list of 43 life events that occur within a specific time period.
  • Each item has a Life Change Unit (LCU)

  e.g ‘death of a spouse‘ is the ‘most stressful’ with the maximum score of 100 LCU; marriage is 50

  The scores for each event are added up to give a total