Life events.

Life events are major events in human life that, in greater or lesser extent, require psychological adjustment. Any change requires some degree of adaptation, but whether they give stress depends on the impact.

Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe put together a scale in 1967 that is designed to map out the greater events in a human life, and to look at which ones demand the greatest adaptation. At the so calles Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) hundreds of people were asked about the situation that demanded the most adaptation according to them, and thus caused the most stress.

The top 20 from the SRRS is as follows (Holmes and Rahe, 1967).


1. Death of spouse.
2. Divorce
3. Marital separation
4. Imprisonment
5. Death of close family member
6. Personal injury or illness
7. Mariage
8. Fired at work
9. Marital reconciliation
10. Retirement
11. Change in health of family member
12. Pregnancy
13. Sex difficulties
14. Gain of new family member
15. Business readjustment
16. Change in financial situation
17. Death of close friend
18. Change to different line of work
19. Change in number of arguments with spouse
20. Mortgage over $ 10,000