Life Stress Judgments

In this experiment you will be asked to make judgments about the amount of stress induced by different life changes. These life changes include the following events:

In making your judgments you will be asked to make judgments about life events as to their relative degree of necessary readjustment. Social readjustment includes the amount and duration of change in one’s accustomed pattern of life. Social adjustment depends on both the intensity and length of time necessary to accommodate to a life event, regardless of the desirability of the event.

In making your judgments, use all of your experience in arriving at your answers. This means personal experience where it applies as well as what you have learned to be the case for others. Some people accommodate to change more quickly or with greater ease than others. Therefore, strive to give your opinion of the average degree of adjustment necessary for each event or combination of events rather than the extremes.

Some of the items to be judged are single events, such as the Anthrax scare of October, 2001 and the Terrorist Attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. You are asked to judge how stressful you find each of these events in comparison with other types of life changes or life events. You are asked to judge how stressful these events were to you.

You will be asked to make these kinds of judgments: differences in stress, ratios of stress and combinations of stress.

Difference Task

For the difference task, you are asked to judge how much more stressful the first event (on the left) is in comparison to the second event (on the right).

Use the following scale

You will click along the scale to indicate the degree of difference. So, if you find the two events to be equally stressful, you should click at the center of the scale. If you think that the first item (on the left) is very very much more stressful, click the button at the far left. If it is only slightly more stressful, click a button closer to the center. If the second event (on the right) is more stressful, click a button to the right of the center. If the second event (on the right) is very very much more stressful, click the button on the far right.


Please complete the follwing warm-up trials:


W1. Death of Spouse - Christmas Season
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful

If you think that Death of Spouse is more stressful than Christmas Season, you will click a button farther to the left; if you think they are equal in stress, click the center button; if you think that Christmas Season is more stressful, click a button on the right. The greater the difference, the farther from the center you will click.

W2. Anthrax scare of October, 2001 - Anthrax scare of October, 2001
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful

Here you are comparing the Anthrax Scare of October, 2001 to the Anthrax Scare of October, 2001; they are equal in stress, so you click the center button.

W1. Christmas Season - Anthrax scare of October, 2001
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful

If you think that Christmas Season is more stressful than the Anthrax Scare of October, 2001, you will click a button farther to the left; if you think they are equal in stress, click the center button; if you think that the Anthrax scare is more stressful, click a button on the right.

W4. Anthrax scare of October, 2001 - Christmas Season
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


W5. Fired from work - Taking a trip by airplane
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


W6. Death of spouse - Terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


Please Re-read the instructions. Then continue with these trials.


1. Marriage - Taking a trip by airplane
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


2. New family member - Anthrax scare of October, 2001
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


3. Death of spouse - Death of spouse
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


4. Christmas Season - Taking a trip by airplane
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


5. Marriage - Christmas Season
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


6. Anthrax scare of October, 2001 - Anthrax scare of October, 2001
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


7. Christmas Season - Death of spouse
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


8. Marriage - Anthrax scare of October, 2001
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


9. Christmas Season - Terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


10. Fired from work - Anthrax scare of October, 2001
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


11. Marriage - Death of spouse
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


12. Terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 - Anthrax scare of October, 2001
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


13. Taking a trip by airplane - Christmas Season
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


14. Christmas Season - Anthrax scare of October, 2001
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


15. Divorce - Christmas Season
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


16. Fired from work - Taking a trip by airplane
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


17. Marriage - Terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


18. Anthrax scare of October, 2001 - Death of spouse
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


19. Terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 - Death of spouse
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


20. New family member - Terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


21. Fired from work - Terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


22. Anthrax scare of October, 2001 - Terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


23. Terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 - Terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


24. Terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 - Taking a trip by airplane
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


25. Death of spouse - Terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


26. Divorce - Terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


27. Christmas Season - Christmas Season
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


28. Divorce - Taking a trip by airplane
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


29. Taking a trip by airplane - Terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


30. Fired from work - Death of spouse
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


31. Anthrax scare of October, 2001 - Christmas Season
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


32. Taking a trip by airplane - Death of spouse
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


33. New family member - Taking a trip by airplane
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


34. Taking a trip by airplane - Taking a trip by airplane
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


35. Death of spouse - Christmas Season
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


36. Death of spouse - Anthrax scare of October, 2001
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


37. New family member - Christmas Season
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


38. Anthrax scare of October, 2001 - Taking a trip by airplane
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


39. Divorce - Death of spouse
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


40. Terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 - Christmas Season
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


41. Divorce - Anthrax scare of October, 2001
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


42. Taking a trip by airplane - Anthrax scare of October, 2001
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


43. Death of spouse - Taking a trip by airplane
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


44. Fired from work - Christmas Season
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful


45. New family member - Death of spouse
left event is much more stressful left is more stressful equal right is more stressful right event is much more stressful



46. What is your age? years.

47. Gender: Are you Male or Female?

Female
Male

48. How many years of Education have you completed?
Put 12 for High School Diploma
Put 16 for college diploma (Bachelor's degree).
put 20 for doctorate degree (Ph.D., M.D., etc).
Education:
49. Nationality (country of birth, e.g., USA, China, etc.):

50. Ethnicity (e.g., Mexican-American, African-American, etc):

51. In an effort to maintain your privacy and anonymity please self-select a 5-digit identity number. You will use this number on each of the following sections. This number will be used to combine the different sections of your answers together.


52. Comments:

Please check your answers. When you are done, click on the button below and continue on to Part II of the survey.