Checklist Measurement of Stressful Life Events

Abstract As noted in the preceding chapter, epidemiological research on the significance of social stress for health and well-being can be traced to the 1930s. However, the onset of the continuing preoccupation among epidemiologists with the role and significance of life stress followed Holmes and Rahe’s (1967) publication of the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS). This instrument elaborated the Schedule of Recent Experiences (Hawkins, Davies, & Holmes, 1957) by employing a panel of judges to rate the amount of adjustment they thought each event would typically require. In retrospect, the most crucial effect of this innovation may have been its contribution to the face validity of the checklist approach.