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Stressful Life Events Rahe, Mahan, and Arthur (1970)

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Context Rosenman and Friedman (1958): Found a link between stress and coronary heart disease. Observed a group of patients in the waiting room called Type A personalities. Impatient- tended to leap out of their seats. Experienced higher levels of stress. More likely to suffer from heart disease (Correlation). Green (1954); Rahe et al. (1964) Early studies focused on patients in hospital Lacks ecological validity- not relevant to the effects of more typical life stressors. Retrospective- memory about stressors. Illness may bias perception of life stressors.

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Aim Prospective study- looking for a correlation between stressful life events and subsequent illness. Improve on flawed methodology of previous studies: Instead of using a retrospective method, they measured prior exposure to stress at the start of the study, then followed the participants during their time onboard naval ships. Controlled environment- onboard naval ships crew are likely to experience the same conditions, stressors, infectious agents, etc Participants were not severely ill so more likely to be representative of daily life stressors.

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Procedure- Sample 3 naval ships 2684 naval men Varying ranks: apprentice to high ranking naval officers with 30 yrs experience Avg. age: 22.3 yrs 2/3rds high school graduates Represented 90-97% of each ships crew Fell by less than 10% due to transfer off-ship

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Procedure- Method SRE (Schedule of Recent Experiences) questionnaire taken. Assess stressful life events experienced over 4 consecutive 6mnth periods before their deployment onboard. Each stressful experience is assigned a life change unit (LCU)- weighting that indicates severity of stress. Life EventsLCU Death of spouse100 Divorce73 Jail Term63

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Procedure- Method Onboard Any illnesses recorded by ships medical facility Analysis- excluded illnesses believed to be faked to shirk duties and any with reports of pre-existing medical conditions. Produced an illness criterion of the number, type and severity of illnesses. All participants and medical personnel were unaware of the aim of the study.

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Findings Only significant correlation was between the LCU total for the last 6mnth period prior to departure and illness onboard. Used only the last 6mnth total for further analysis. Divided the crew into ten bands, from lowest LCU scores to highest, representing a 10 th of participants each. One of the ships showed smaller differences than the other two and obscured results. Significant differences were only seen at opposing ends of the scale. LCU BandMean Illness rate 11.434 51.498 102.049

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Findings Cont. To overcome this the grouping was changed to combine some bands Current stressors onboard may have obscured effects of previous life stressors. The ships showing the greatest correlations both had the easiest missions. LCU Bands Included in GroupMean Illness rate 1 and 21.405 3,4, and 51.541 6,7, and 81.676 9 and 102.066

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Conclusion When the pre-departure life changes are low so are on-board illness rates. Masked by stressful onboard experiences which increase the illness rate of the whole crew. Link stronger for men over 21 and married men.

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Evaluation- Strengths Prospective- reports of stress not affected by illness. More valid. Controlled for bias Participants unaware their illness rates were being tested. Medical staff also unaware so would not have recorded illness any differently. Choice of sample Experience of crew onboard ship is largely consistent. All incidents were reported in the same way. Not unusual for crew to report even minor illness. Large, representative sample Different ranks, levels of education, and ages Replicated on different samples (Holmes and Rahe, 1967) Generalises well. Highly reliable.

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Evaluation- Weaknesses Low correlation score (r=0.118). Results significant due to large sample. Correlation does not show causation! SRE self-report measure Socially desirable answers, e.g minor violations of the law Unrepresentative sample Occupation- seamen more resilient to stress? Gender- women have different coping strategies for dealing with stress. Culture- differ in responses to stress Does not take individual differences into account Do all people experience divorce as highly stressful even if they didnt like their partner? Ethics Lack of informed consent for medical records to be used.

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Past Exam Questions Section A 1. Outline the procedures of Rahe, Mahan & Arthurs (1970) research Prediction of near-future health change from subjects preceding life changes. [12] 2. Outline the procedures of Rahe, Mahan & Arthurs (1970) research Prediction of near-future health change from subjects preceding life changes. [12] Section B 1. With reference to alternative evidence, critically assess Rahe, Mahan and Arthurs (1970) research Prediction of near-future health change from subjects preceding life changes. [12].

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Test yourself Try this online version of the SRRS test: http://www.stresstips.com/lifeevents.htm