Life Events Scale

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In an attempt to measure life changes, Holmes and Rahe, developed the Life Events Scale. The life events are ranked in order from the most stressful (death of spouse) to the least stressful (minor violations of the law).

Read each of the events listed below, and check the box next to any event which has occurred in your life in the last two years. There are no right or wrong answers. The aim is just to identify which of these events you have experienced lately.

Event (within 2 yr.)	Stress Level	Yes	No
Death of spouse or child	100
Divorce	73
Marital Separation	65
Detention in jail or other institution	63
Death of a close family member (e.g. parent or sibling)	63
Major personal injury or illness	53
Marriage	50
Being fired from work	47
Marital reconciliation	45
Retirement	45
Major change in health or behavior of family member	44
Pregnancy of spouse/partner	40
Sexual difficulties	39
Gaining a new family member (e.g. through birth, adoption etc)	39
Major business readjustment (e.g. merger, reorganization, etc)	39
Major change in financial state (e.g. a lot worse off or a lot better off)	38
Death of a close friend	37
Changing to a different type of work	36
Major change in the number of arguments with spouse (e.g. a lot more or less)	35
Taking on a significant (to you) mortgage	31
Foreclosure on a mortgage or loan	30
Major change in responsibility at work (e.g. promotion, transfer, demotion)	29
Son or daughter leaving home (marriage, college etc)	29
In-law troubles	29
Outstanding personal achievement	28
Partner beginning or ceasing work outside of the home	26
Beginning or ceasing formal schooling	26
Major change in living conditions (e.g. new house, renovating)	25
Revision of personal habits (dress, manners, association etc)	24
Troubles with the boss	23
Change in work hours or conditions	20
Change in residence	20
Changing to a new school	20
Major change in usual type and/or amount of recreation	19
Major change in church or spiritual activities (e.g. a lot more or less than usual)	19
Major change in social activities (e.g. clubs, dancing, movies etc)	18
Taking on a small loan (e.g. purchasing car, TV, freezer etc)	17
Major change in sleeping habits (e.g. a lot more or less)	16
Major change in number of family get-togethers (e.g. a lot more or less)	15
Major change in eating habits (e.g. a lot more or less food intake)	15
Holiday or vacation	13
Christmas alone	12
Minor violations of the law (e.g. traffic or parking infringement)	11

Your Score

0-149 Low susceptibility to stress-related illness

150-299 Medium susceptibility to stress-related illness

300 and over High susceptibility to stress related illness