A CROSS-CULTURAL RANKING OF STRESSFUL LIFE EVENTS IN GERMANY, INDIA, SOUTH-AFRICA, AND THE UNITED-STATES

Five groups of college and university students (N = 555) from four cou ntries ranked 32 life events according to the amount of stress each wa s perceived to cause. The analyses of the rankings revealed substantia l agreement on the relative stressfulness of life events among America ns, Germans, Indians, non-White South Africans, and White South Africa ns. The results suggest that standard measures of life stress can be u sed cross-culturally with some degree of confidence.