Life Stress and Onset of Physical Illness

Abstract

The Life Experiences Survey has been presented as an improvement on the Social Readjustment Rating Scale which has been shown to have a small correlation with the onset of physical illness. The ability of the Life Expetiences Survey to identify persons experiencing high stress prior to the onset of physical illness has not been demonstrated. The survey and a modified form of the rating scale were administered to 185 persons from six groups: hospitalized inpatients, hospitalized spinal cord-injured inpatients and outpatients, local residents, graduate and undergraduate students. No differences in positive, negative, and total scores on the survey were found. Graduate students were more stressed than medical inpatients or outpatients with spinal-cord injuries on the rating scale.