LIFE CHANGES SCALING FOR THE 1990S

Three decades ago, results from a proportionate scaling study of life change events was published in this journal. The events, listed by ran k order of their mean life change values, comprised the Social Readjus tment Rating Scale (SRRS). Ten years later, 42 of the 43 original even ts were rescaled. In this second study, an additional 44 events were a dded to the original list. In the present report, the original plus th e later-developed events were scaled once again by persons chosen to c losely approximate subjects enrolled in the initial study. Comparing t he average life change intensity scores across 30 years, a 45% increas e in mean values was seen. These recently derived life change magnitud es, for both the original list of events plus the later-developed even ts, provide values appropriate for use in the 1990s. In the original s tudy, effects of subjects' demographic characteristics were noted brie fly in a table. In the present investigation, varying influences of ge nder, age, marital status, and education were explored in more detail. Several significant differences were discovered, with gender showing a very pronounced influence on scaling results. Discussion of these re sults included composition requirements for a life changes questionnai re. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Inc.