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A brief (24-item) version of the Adolescent Life Change Event Scale (ALCES), a self-report measure of stressfulness, was administered to 94 students between the ages of 12 and 29. Rank order coefficients computed between ratings obtained by the current sample and those obtained by the original sample exceeded .90. These results suggest ALCES may be a valid tool for use in stress research with adolescents.
This study investigates the narratives of one couple who lived through life-changing events following a cancer diagnosis. The narratives of the cancer survivor and her husband are explored as they struggle to cope with their situation, provide support for one another, and consider their changing personal identities. This research addresses the communication dilemmas that often occur when family members, friends, and providers do not know how to respond to an individual diagnosed with cancer. The rationale for this study is threefold. First, this study advocates the need for learning about the composition of survivor identities over the course of a life-threatening illness. Second, this study seeks to understand how illness survivors and their family members use narratives as a method of communicating their changing identities. Finally, communicating about illness is often perceived as 'taboo', and this study may encourage others to be a part of the participants' stories and learn more about why those stories are often concealed. We learn from these three narratives that supportive relationships are central to healing and that it is through communication among family members that identities are composed and recomposed throughout the illness journey. This research affects communication, social support, identity, and emotion literature and is aligned with human appraisal theories as well. Finally, it offers insights into the ways in which we talk about, hear about, and learn about illness.
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This paper reviews studies dealing with the influence of social and psychosocial factors on the manifestation and course of cancer with special emphasis on breast cancer. Considerable social gradients are seen in the manifestation of malignant diseases. Most cancers (e.g. cervix, ovarian and lung cancer, malignancies of the upper respiratory and digestive organs) demonstrate a social gradient to the disadvantage of individuals from lower social ranks. In contrast, breast cancer is more prominent in middle and higher social groups. Evidence of the effects of social stress, especially concerning life-changing events, stems from retrospective and so-called limited prospective studies. With some exceptions, all these studies deal with breast cancer. In retrospective studies it was found that cancer patients report significantly more stressful experiences than do controls. In limited prospective studies the results are less straightforward, but suggest that severe loss events may be related to the manifestation of malignancies. Population studies found that patients from a lower social status had poorer chances of survival than did individuals from more privileged groups. This holds for most cancers including breast cancer. The few available studies dealing with stressful experiences and the recurrence of cancers are inconsistent, although sound methods have been applied. Nevertheless, the available evidence is no argument against performing more refined studies concerning the role of social factors in the onset and course of malignant diseases. These should provide an integration of psychological and biological perspectives.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine whether women's well-being changed with the menopausal transition, and the effect on well-being of other biological, psychosocial and lifestyle factors. METHOD: A longitudinal observational study was carried out utilising a population-based sample of 438 mid-aged, Australian- born women. A total of 9 assessments were made at annual intervals. Mood was measured using the Affectometer 2. Mood, menopausal status, psychosocial and lifestyle variables and hormone levels were determined annually. 226 subjects who transited the natural menopausal transition were included in the analysis. RESULTS: As women pass from early in the menopausal transition to later in the transition, reporting at least 3 months of amenorrhoea, negative mood declines significantly, positive mood does not change and well-being significantly improves. Well-being scores are highly correlated over time, with early scores having a major effect on later scores. Well-being is also significantly affected by changes in marital status, work satisfaction, daily hassles and life events. CONCLUSIONS: Well-being improves as women enter the later stages of the menopausal transition and is also influenced significantly by psychosocial factors.
A survey of the level of psychosomatic health influencing by life events and personality trait in 1423 armymen was presented in this paper. The results demonstrated that the level of psychosomatic health was relatively poor in old soldier group, especially more distinct seen in over than 3-year military service group. The psychosomatic health state of private soldier group was relative better. The main factors influencing over the psychosomatic health state were the frequency of the negative life events, negative life change units (LCU) within one year prior to survey, personality trait and length of military service. The subordinate factors were the frequency of the positive life events and LCU within one year prior to survey, age and family of mental disorders.
The focus of this paper is on stress events as possible antecedents of stability and change in adulthood. At baseline the life span sample consisted of 52 high school seniors, 50 newlyweds, 54 middle-aged parents, and 60 persons facing retirement. Contacted at three points over a 5-year interval, these men and women were questioned about their emotional experiences and symptomatology. Exposure to stress events during the past year was assessed at the third contact. Repeated measurement analysis of variance statistics indicated that the emotions and symptoms of women were more affected by exposure to stress; men changed more as a function of time than of stress. There was also evidence that psychological characteristics of both sexes may predispose them toward greater or lesser exposure to stress.
Two stress and illness models that include the joint mediating effects of health practices and hardiness were tested prospectively over a 2-month period. At the beginning of one academic quarter, 60 female and 26 male undergraduate students completed five subscales indexing hardiness. Stress, health practices, and illness for the prior month were assessed at this time as well as 1 and 2 months later. Stress was measured by the number of negatively rated stressors reported on the Life Experiences Survey. Health practices were measured by the Self Care Inventory. In the first model, illness was measured by the severity of physical symptoms reported on the Seriousness of Illness Rating Scale; in the second model, it was measured by the number of symptoms reported. Correlations between all measures of stress and illness were typical for life events research (r = .22 to .29). In both models, path analyses revealed that stress acted directly to affect illness as well as indirectly by changing health practices. Hardiness also had a direct effect on illness as well as in indirect effect through health practices. Hardiness did not appear to have a stress-buffering effect on illness; rather, its effects on illness appeared to be independent of its effects on stress. Implications for life events research are discussed.
This 3-year follow-up study examined background factors, stressful life-events, and changes in alexithymia and depression scores in four groups of subjects from a general population (N = 1,339): alexithymic (A), depressed (D), simultaneously alexithymic/depressed (AD), and non-alexithymic/non-depressed (O). Alexithymia was assessed using the 20-item version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) and depression using the 21-item Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). A questionnaire screening sociodemography and stressful life-events was also used. The results showed that alexithymia was associated with male gender and blue-collar working, whereas depressive symptoms associated with female gender, older age, poor subjective health, poor financial situation, and low life satisfaction. During the follow-up the sum of stressful life-events was higher among groups AD and D than in groups A and O. The most common stressful life-events were the death of a close relative or friend, a negative change in the health of a family member, and financial problems. The TAS scores decreased only in groups A and AD. The BDI scores decreased in group AD but remained relatively unchanged in group D. Interestingly, if only those without depressive symptoms are considered, alexithymia appears to be a rarer phenomenon than has been reported previously. Furthermore, it seems that depressive symptoms were chronic and long-lasting among the general population.
This study examines the relationship between stressful life events and defense mechanisms. Eighty seven female adolescent patients completed the Adolescent Family Inventory of Life Events and Changes (A-FILE) assessing stressors in six domains of family life, and the Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ) assessing 19 defense mechanisms grouped into Immature, Prosocial, and Mature clusters. Increasing stressors are significantly positively correlated with a more immature defense style. Results support the hypothesis that there is an iterative relationship between immature defenses and life stressors. These findings are compatible with a regression model of defense functioning and complement our previous results linking defenses to temperament.
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While recent psychosocial stress has been shown to be associated with the initiation of both first and subsequent illness episodes in bipolar affective disorder, its relationship to completed suicide in bipolar disorder is not known. As a part of a nationwide psychological autopsy study, two populations representing all suicides in Finland in DSM-III-R bipolar disorder or unipolar major depression were comprehensively examined and compared. Recent life events were retrospectively examined by interviewing next of kin using a 32-item Recent Life Change Questionnaire. Life event data was available on 25 bipolar and 56 unipolar cases. In about two-thirds of both bipolar (64%) and unipolar (66%) victims, at least one life event was reported to have occurred during the last 3 months and in 42% of both groups during the final week. The events of bipolar victims were more commonly classified as possibly dependent on their own behaviour (bipolars 88% vs. unipolars 63%, P = 0.004). Among bipolars, more males than females had had recent life events (males 86% vs. females 37%, P = 0.03). The majority of completed suicides in both bipolar and unipolar affective disorders seem to be associated with recent psychosocial stress; however, the stressors are commonly likely to be dependent on the victim's behaviour.
OBJECTIVES: To define longitudinal changes in the attitudes of offspring concerning life-sustaining measures for their older, terminally ill parents and to determine whether experience of a "life event" influences such decisions. DESIGN: An attitudinal survey of three groups. SETTING: The geriatric department of a university-affiliated general hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-one subjects who had been interviewed regarding life-sustaining treatment for their terminally ill parents were reinterviewed 6 years later. In addition, a control group composed of 116 participants was generated from patients visiting hospital outpatient clinics. The control group had no prior experience involving hospitalization of a first-degree relative as a result of a life-threatening situation. INTERVENTIONS: Each subject took part in a personal interview. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Attitudes regarding life-sustaining measures were assessed, and the subjects' sociodemographic and religious characteristics were noted. RESULTS: The attitudes of offspring in the acute phase situation and after the passage of 6 years were strikingly consistent. Twenty-one percent had requested the initiation of resuscitation in the acute phase ("real time"), and 27.4% said the same 6 years later. The provision of nutrition and medication was requested by approximately 70% of participants both at the acute phase and 6 years later. When comparing each individual's personal views at the interviews with all others, consistency in attitude was found among answers to most questions. When comparing the acute phase group with the control group, a significantly higher percentage of the former requested the initiation of resuscitation (48.3% vs 25%), whereas a smaller percentage preferred that the decision be made by the physician (3.5% vs 21.3%). Active euthanasia was requested by 6.5% of the acute phase group and 12.9% of the control group. CONCLUSIONS: The decisions made by offspring regarding life-sustaining measures for their terminally ill parent at real time remain unchanged 6 years after the event. Exposure to a life event significantly affects the decision-making of the offspring of a terminally ill parent. However, the subject's attitude toward extreme solutions--opposing active euthanasia and requesting the administration of nutrition and medication--was not influenced by the fact that the subject had undergone a life event.
OBJECTIVES: Compared to the established risk factors of myocardial infarction (MI) little is known about the impact of socio-economic and psycho-social risk factors during childhood. METHODS: Based on the WHO MONICA infarction register of the Erfurt reporting unit (1990-1993), 129 male cases and 129 controls (patients of accident surgery without psychiatric or heart disease, matched by age groups) were surveyed by a qualitative interview. The MI risk was analysed for general conditions of childhood, stressful life events, serious changes during childhood, and dissatisfaction with childhood using univariate and multiple logistic regression models. RESULTS: A significantly higher risk was found for worse (OR = 5.1; CI: 1.5-18.1) and mediocre (OR = 2.0; CI: 1.0-4.1) housing conditions as well as migration (OR = 3.0; CI: 1.1-8.3) during childhood. A significantly increased risk of MI is also found for individuals who reported three or more stressful life events (OR = 3.2; CI: 1.1-9.4) during childhood. In comparison, smoking habits (current or ex-smokers)--an established impact factor on MI--was associated with a slightly lower risk (OR = 2.6; CI: 1.3-5.3). CONCLUSIONS: Both socio-economic determinants and psycho-social factors of childhood carry significant risk for myocardial infarction in later life. Our data support the hypothesis that risk factors of MI are affected and/or triggered by socio-economic living conditions during childhood in general, and by stressful life events during childhood in particular.
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The relationship between alcoholism, depression, life-stress events and purpose-in-life is a very complex one. Thirty-five first admission alcoholics and an equal number of members of Alcoholics Anonymous were assessed, using objective measures of alcoholism, depression, stress and purpose-in-life. The results indicate that there were significant differences between the two groups on drinking behaviour, depression and purpose-in-life. No differences were found between the groups on the stress questionnaire. Positive correlations were found between drinking behaviour and depression, life events and purpose-in-life.
In this study, 178 infants from three East African societies differing on a number of environmental dimensions were examined to determine if aspects of their developmental environment influenced temperament characteristics. Data strongly suggest that cultural child-rearing patterns, degree of modernization, maternal orientation, ecological setting, and specific early life events contribute to temperament.
Compared to other research areas of sexology, the state of knowledge regarding sexual behavior and experiences in middle and older age is rather poor. This is due to not only the continuing taboo placed on questions regarding sexuality of elderly people, but also to limited understanding of factors influencing the sexual realm. The present review presents findings on sexuality in the second half of the life span from a number of differing disciplinary perspectives. Focus is on gender differences in sexual life and the influence of critical life events on sexuality in women in the second half of the life span. Apart from restrictive social norms and individual personality factors, physiological changes during the menopause can also have an effect on sexuality. The special situation of elderly women without partners and changes in partnership sexuality during this phase of the life span are discussed. Some recommendations for the field of gynecology are derived from a multidisciplinary approach.