Test Your Own Stress Levels

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You can predict whether recent events in a person's life are likely to induce a stress-related illness. This idea was derived from research by Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe of the University of Washington, who questioned over 5000 people and found a high degree of correlation between the onset of stress-related illness and certain life events. Each of these events was then ascribed an LCU (Life Change Unit) value, which indicates the amount of stress it is potentially capable of producing. The full list is shown in Table 2. It is called the Social Readjustment Rating Scale, or SRRS for short.

Table 2. Social readjustment rating scale

Rank	Event	Value
1	Death of spouse	100
2	Divorce	73
3	Marital separation	65
4	Jail term	63
5	Death of close family member	63
6	Personal injury or illness	53
7	Marriage	50
8	Fired at work	47
9	Marital reconciliation	45
10	Retirement	45
11	Change in health of family member	44
12	Pregnancy	40
13	Sex difficulties	39
14	Gain of new family member	39
15	Business adjustment	39
16	Change of financial state	38
17	Death of close friend	37
18	Change to different line of work	36
19	Change in number of arguments with spouse	35
20	Mortgage over £100,000	31
21	Foreclosure of mortgage or loan	30
22	Change in responsibilities at work	29
23	Son or daughter leaving home	29
24	Trouble with in-laws	29
25	Outstanding personal achievement	28
26	Wife begins or stops work	26
27	Begin or end school	26
28	Change in living conditions	25
29	Revision of personal habits	24
30	Trouble with boss	23
31	Change in works hours or conditions	20
32	Change in residence	20
33	Change in schools	20
34	Change in recreation	19
35	Change in church activities	19
36	Change in social activities	18
37	Mortgage or loan less than £100,000	17
38	Change in sleeping habits	16
39	Change in number of family get-together	15
40	Change in eating habits	15
41	Vacation	13
42	Christmas	12
43	Minor violations of the law	11

You can use the SRRS by adding up all the LCU values of the events which have happened to you in the past year. Then:

A score of less than 150 means there is a 37% probability (3.7 in 10 chance) of your becoming ill in the next two years.
A score between 150 and 300 means there is a 51% probability (5.1 in 10 chance) of your becoming ill in the next two years.
A score over 300 means that there is an 80% probability (8 in 10 chance) of your becoming ill over the next two years.

We must emphasize certain points about the SRRS. First of all, if you obtain a score of, say, 320 you need not panic. The ratings were derived from an average American population between 1949 and 1967. Times have changed, and events which were very stressful at one time may no longer be so. What's more, the table is an average, and in all averages there are extremes. For example, retirement may be very boring and therefore unusually stressful for one person, but produce only average stress in someone whose time is fully occupied. Secondly, more recent research has indicated that events may produce harmful stress only if we regard them as negative or unpleasant. But despite these notes of caution, the SRRS remains a useful general guide to your level of stress and the problems it can cause. To recognize and admit that you are stressed may require careful self-analysis and total honesty. Consciously recognizing that you are stressed means admitting that something in your environment disturbs you; and that implies change and effort to do something about it.

We'll look at what you can do to control stress on the next page of the website.