STRESSFUL LIFE EVENTS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL STATUS IN BLACK SOUTH-AFRICANWOMEN

The relationship between stressful life events and psychological statu s in Black South African women was explored, using a semistructured in terview that consisted of a demographic questionnaire; the Xhosa Life Event Scale (XLES; Swartz, Elk, Teggin, & Gillis, 1983), which compris es mainly personal stressors; the Township Life Event Scale (TLES; Blu en & Odesnik, 1988), which comprises mainly sociopolitical stressors; and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ, Goldberg, 1972, 1978). The participants were a random sample of 100 Black women living in a South African township. There were significant positive correlations betwee n psychological distress and (a) undesirable life changes, (b) recurri ng stressful events of a sociopolitical nature (but not of a personal nature), and (c) continuous stressful events of a sociopolitical natur e (but not of a personal nature). The results indicated that adverse s ociopolitical conditions and the stress that accompanied them had a st ronger negative effect than stressful events of a personal nature did on the women's mental health.