Quality of Life Events in Relation to Psychiatric Symptoms

Life stressors as risk factors in depression.

“…Uncontrollable events also have been associated with depression (Breier, 1989; Grant et al, 1981), supporting findings in the preclinical literature that uncontrollable stressors result in adverse behavioral and biological outcomes (Henry, 1990; Seligman & Maier, 1967). Finally, events that are life threatening also have been hypothesized to be linked to depression and are currently being studied (Dohrenwend et al, 1993; Skodol et al, 1990).…”

Depression and cognitive characteristics of stressful life-event types.

“…Of interest to life-stress researchers is the finding that Type C (undesirable-not responsible) events that were seen as uncontrollable, externally caused, unintended, and unexpected were least associated with depression. This result runs counter to ear-Her work in depression and learned helplessness that predicted greater depression associated with uncontrollable outcomes (Grant et al, 1981;Seligman, 1975;Paykel, McGuiness, & Gomez, 1976) as well as counter to the predictions of theorists of more general responses to stress not specifically related to depression (Averill, 1973;Dohrenwend & Martin, 1979). We approached this apparent inconsistency in two ways.…”

“…Her work in depression and learned helplessness that predicted greater depression associated with uncontrollable outcomes (Grant et al, 1981;Seligman, 1975;Paykel, McGuiness, & Gomez, 1976) as well as counter to the predictions of theorists of more general responses to stress not specifically related to depression (Averill, 1973;Dohrenwend & Martin, 1979). We approached this apparent inconsistency in two ways.…”

Distribution of Traumatic and Other Stressful Life Events by Race/Ethnicity, Gender, SES and Age: A Review of the Research

“…In some cases, early studies also utilized Life Change Unit (LCU) scores that combined both positive and negative events to measure amount of exposure. However, it is negative rather than positive events that have been found to be associated adverse mental health outcomes (Grant et al 1981;Paykel 1974;Vinokur and Selzer 1975;Zautra and Reich 1983), and there is little evidence that positive events are risk factors for adverse physical health outcomes. If the focus is on adversity and stress, it makes sense to measure negative events, as has been done in the later group of studies.…”