Conceptualizing and measuring life stress: Problems, principles, procedures, progress

Life stress has long been a popular explanation for physical and mental disorders. Despite the intuitive appeal of the premise that adverse circumstances predispose to disease, stress research has been hindered by problems in defining and measuring the construct. In the present article these shortcomings are outlined and examples are provided to illustrate many of the basic principles involved. It is suggested that the complexity of human lives and the multifaceted nature of life stress pose ambitious demands in the assessment of life stress. Advantages and disadvantages of currently available procedures are discussed. Finally, recent advances in theory and practice based upon these procedures are outlined. Through such approaches, the assessment of life stress may more closely approximate the complexity inherent in the ongoing lives of people, without sacrificing the rigor required for a scientific understanding of the concept and its consequences.