Jj. Spangenberg et C. Pieterse, STRESSFUL LIFE EVENTS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL STATUS IN BLACK SOUTH-AFRICANWOMEN, The Journal of social psychology, 135(4), 1995, pp. 439-445
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.