My sensitivity to stress (Life event scale)

Stress is an endemic of our world. Stress develops from the interplay of our personality and situational. By situational factors we do not mean just the characteristics of the given situation; significant events (so-called life events) of the last one year are also very important. Besides negative events we should count with the positive ones too. As all the events that require considerable adaptation from us can be stressful, even spending Christmas with the big family. The more big events, big changes like this have happened to us in the past one year, the more exposed we are to the harmful effects of stress.

Mark the life events below that have happened to you over the past one year by marking the numbers at the end of the sentences. If a life event happened to you earlier than one year but its effect is so strong that it still has impact on you then mark it as well.

Life event	Value %
Death of spouse	100
Divorce	73
Splitting up	65
Jail sentence	63
Accident or illness	53
Marriage	50
Loss of job	47
Getting back together with spouse	45
Retirement	45
Illness of family member	44
Pregnancy	40
Sexual problems	39
Adopting a new family member	39
Business problems	39
Change of financial state	38
Death of close friend	37
New work area	36
Realisation of mortgage	30
New position at work	29
Child moving out	29
Problem with mother-in-law or father-in-law	29
Excellent personal performance	28
Wife taking up or giving up work	26
Start or end of school	26
Change of circumstances of life	25
Change of personal habits	24
Argument with boss	23
Moving	20
Changing schools	20
Changing hobbies	19
Changing church going habits	19
Changing social habits	18
Changing sleeping habits	18
Changing eating habits	15
Holiday	13
Christmas	12
Minor offences	11

Add all the numbers you have marked

0-149:	you have less chance than 10% to develop any stress related disease in the following two years
150-199:	you have 40% higher chance than the average to have stress related health problems in the following two years. Relax more often and deal with stressful situations more consciously
200-299:	you have 50% higher chance than the average to have stress related health problems in the following two years. You are probably going through one of the most difficult periods of your life
300 +:	you have 80% higher chance than the average to have stress related diseases in the following two years. It is still not too late to change! Think your life over and manage changes consciously

The result of the test does not mean an objective judgement or a 100% certainty about the occurrence of the illness. Whether or not we become ill due to the stress we experience strongly depends on our other personal characteristics such as our self-confidence, our belief in our ability to control the situation and what coping strategies we possess.