Psychology: Social Readjustment Rating Scale and co.

What is the Social Readjustment Rating Scale?

Method of assessing lifes situations, major life events are scored according to the psychological impact they have on us.

HOLMES AND RAHE: Events in life force us to make psychological adjustments: the more we adjust the more stressful it is.

-->150+ score increased chances of stress related health breakdown by 30%, 300+ 50%

Evaluation the Social Readjustment Rating Scale: although small there is a significant correclation. But there are issues:

1)INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES: seperation from a partner is seen as stressful to one individual but a relief to another

2)CAUSALITY: Realtionship SRRS and health is correlational but tell us nothing about causality e.g. illness may lead to life problems and not the other way around.

3)POSITIVE LIFE EVENTS: The SRRS assumes that all life changes are troublesome, yet we know that they arent all negative

4)SELF REPORT: Self reports can be unreliable

POSITIVE ASPECTS:

1)First detailed attempt to QUANTIFY STRESS LEVELS

2)Confirmed that life events can lead to health issues

Life Changes at Source of Stress: RAHE ET AL.

-Aim: investigating whether the SRRS correlated with illness

-Procedures: 2,500 American sailors given the SRRS, to assess life events from the past 6 months

-Total SRRS rating was recorded for all participants

-Over the next 6 months details were kept over sailors health

-Life Changing Units were correlated with illness scores

-Findings: Positive correlation of +0.118 between the 2 scores

-Small correlation, yet it indicates the relationship (small but significant relationship) between the rating and health

-Increase in LCU and illness frequency

Criticism: Individual differences not considered: scales values may vary from person to person, people could create their own scales

-Doesnt explain cause and effect: illness-->life problems or life problems-->illness

-US Navy personnel restricted sample

-->ethno/androcentric: reduced validity

-Positive life events: the scale doesnt distinguish

-Self report: not always reliable