Life Changes (AQA A-Level Psychology): Revision Notes
Life Changes
Understanding life changes as a source of stress
Life changes are major and relatively infrequent events that occur in our lives, such as getting married, divorced, experiencing the death of a close relative, or facing changes in financial circumstances. These events represent some of the most common sources of stress for most people because they require us to make substantial psychological adjustments to adapt to our changed circumstances.
The concept of life changes fits within the transactional model of stress, which suggests that how stressful these experiences are depends on how we perceive and interpret them, and whether we believe we can handle them effectively. Life changes are particularly stressful because they force us to expend considerable psychological energy coping with new situations, and the bigger the change, the greater the adjustment required.
The transactional model emphasises that stress isn't just about the event itself, but about the interaction between the person and their environment. This explains why the same life change can be more or less stressful for different individuals.
What makes life changes stressful?
Life changes differ from everyday stressors in several important ways. They are typically major events that don't happen regularly - things like marriage, divorce, retirement, or the birth of a new family member. What makes these events stressful is not necessarily whether they are positive or negative, but rather that they all require us to adapt to new circumstances.
The stress from life changes is cumulative, meaning that multiple changes happening close together can have a greater impact than individual events. This is because each change demands psychological resources, and when these resources are depleted by multiple adjustments, we become more vulnerable to stress-related problems.
Measuring life changes
Researchers have developed ways to measure and quantify life changes, with the most commonly used method being the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) created by Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe in 1967. This scale assigns different Life Change Units (LCUs) to various life events based on how much adjustment they typically require.
The SRRS contains 43 life events, each assigned a specific LCU value. For example, divorce has 73 LCUs, marriage has 50 LCUs, and the death of a close friend has 37 LCUs. To use the scale, people tick off life changes they have experienced over a specific period (usually 12 months), and these LCU values are added together to produce a total stress score.
Some examples of LCU values:
- Death of spouse: 100 LCUs (highest rating)
- Divorce: 73 LCUs
- Marriage: 50 LCUs
- Retirement: 45 LCUs
- Pregnancy: 40 LCUs
- Change in residence: 20 LCUs
- Christmas: 12 LCUs (lowest major rating)
Life changes and illness
Research has consistently found links between life changes and both physical and psychological illness. The theory suggests that life changes require psychological energy to manage, and this process makes us more susceptible to health problems.
Early research using the SRRS was retrospective, meaning participants recalled life changes from the previous year and researchers correlated these with reported illnesses. Rahe's 1972 research suggested that people scoring over 150 LCUs in a given year were likely to experience reasonable health in the following year, whilst those scoring between 150 and 300 LCUs had about a 50% chance of experiencing illness. Most concerning, people scoring over 300 LCUs had an almost 80% probability of reporting illnesses within the next year.
These findings suggest a dose-response relationship: the more life changes experienced, the greater the likelihood of developing illness. However, remember that this represents correlation, not causation.
Key research study: Rahe et al. (1970)
Key Study: Rahe et al. (1970) - Life Changes and Naval Personnel
Participants: US Navy personnel assigned to three ships (aircraft carriers)
Aim: To measure life changes prospectively and determine their relationship with subsequent illness
Procedure:
- Participants completed the Schedule of Recent Experiences (the forerunner to the SRRS) covering the six months before their deployment on a tour of duty
- A total LCU score was calculated for each participant for this retrospective six-month period
- Once the ships returned from their missions, an independent researcher reviewed all medical records and calculated an illness score for each participant
- Neither the participants nor the medical staff were aware of the study's purpose
Findings: The researchers found a statistically significant positive correlation () between LCU scores for the six months before departure and illness scores during the six months aboard ship. Those who experienced the most stressful life changes before leaving also had the most severe illnesses during the following six months at sea.
Evaluation: Strengths
- Prospective design is methodologically stronger than retrospective studies as it attempts to predict future illness based on past life changes
- Large sample size and controlled environment (naval ships)
- Independent measurement of illness reduces researcher bias
- Participants and medical staff were unaware of the study's purpose, reducing demand characteristics
Evaluation: Weaknesses
- Correlation coefficient of indicates only a weak relationship between life changes and illness
- Cannot establish causation - other factors may explain the relationship
- Limited to male military personnel, reducing generalisability
- Doesn't account for individual differences in coping with stress
Supporting research evidence
Decades of research support the relationship between life changes and illness. Raija Lietzén et al. (2011) conducted a large-scale study using data from the Health and Social Support (HeSup) study in Finland, following over 160,000 adults who did not have asthma initially. They discovered that high levels of life change stress reliably predicted asthma onset, and this link could not be explained by other known risk factors such as pet ownership or smoking.
Multiple studies have found moderate but robust and statistically significant correlations between life change stress and various illnesses. Some research has used prospective designs, which are methodologically more powerful because they attempt to predict future illness based on past life changes rather than relying on retrospective recall.
Individual differences in response to life changes
The same life changes do not affect everyone equally. Personal circumstances and individual interpretations play crucial roles in determining stress levels. For instance, pregnancy may be highly stressful if unplanned but joyful if desired, and moving house may be stressful if due to financial difficulties but exciting if representing a positive life step.
Donald Byrne and Henry Whyte (1980) attempted to predict who would experience myocardial infarction (heart attack) based on life change scores. They found that this prediction only worked when they considered the subjective interpretations each participant gave to life changes on the SRRS, rather than using standardised LCU values.
This highlights a key limitation of the traditional life changes approach: it fails to consider individual differences in how life changes are perceived and interpreted, which reduces its validity as a comprehensive explanation of stress.
Positive versus negative life changes
The SRRS assumes that all change is stressful, combining both positive and negative life events into a single measure. However, many psychologists now believe that positive and negative life changes have different effects on our wellbeing.
Jay Turner and Blair Wheaton (1995) asked participants to rate the desirability of life changes they had experienced from the SRRS. Their findings revealed that undesirable or negative life events caused most of the stress measured by the scale, rather than life changes in general. They suggested this might be due to the frustration associated with negative life changes that is not present with positive events.
This research challenges the validity of treating all life changes as equally stressful and suggests that researchers should focus on the effects of specific types of life stressors rather than using a global measure of life changes.
Life changes versus daily hassles
Richard Lazarus and colleagues argue that daily hassles are more important sources of stress than life changes, particularly regarding health effects. They suggest that the accumulative force of many minor everyday stressors is greater than that of a few relatively rare major events.
Anita DeLongis et al. (1988) studied the effects of hassles in 75 married couples over a six-month period. They found that participants who experienced more hassles were more likely to suffer consequent health problems such as headaches and flu. However, there was no relationship between life changes and illnesses in their study.
This research raises important questions about the validity of the life changes concept, suggesting that daily hassles may be better predictors of health outcomes than major life events. Daily hassles include things like traffic jams, work pressures, and minor disagreements.
Correlation versus causation
Most life changes research is correlational, making it difficult to establish the exact nature of the relationship between life changes and illness. We cannot conclude that life change stress directly causes illness based on correlational evidence alone.
It is possible that other factors could explain the observed relationship. For example, personality characteristics might help some people resist the effects of life changes while making them less likely to become ill. Alternatively, certain personality types might enable people to make psychological adjustments to major life changes more easily.
Critical Point: Correlation ≠ Causation
These alternative explanations do not necessarily undermine the validity of the life changes concept entirely, but they do suggest that the role of life changes in stress and illness may be more indirect and dependent on other influential factors than originally thought.
Key Points to Remember:
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Life changes are major, infrequent events that require psychological adjustment and energy to cope with changed circumstances
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The Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) measures life changes using Life Change Units (LCUs), with research showing correlations between high LCU scores and increased illness rates
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Key research by Rahe et al. (1970) demonstrated a significant positive correlation () between life changes and subsequent illness in US Navy personnel
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Individual differences in perception and coping ability mean the same life changes affect people differently, challenging the universal applicability of standardised measures
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Methodological limitations include the correlational nature of most research, meaning we cannot establish causation, and debate continues over whether daily hassles may be more important predictors of stress than major life changes