The method for determining stress resistance and social adaptation was developed by Thomas Holmes and Richard Pare (USA), who studied the dependence of the occurrence of diseases (including infectious diseases and injuries) on various stressful life events. For this purpose, they examined more than five thousand patients. As a result, Holmes and Pare concluded that mental and physical illnesses are usually preceded by major changes in a person's life. Based on their research, they created a scale in which each life event is assigned a certain number of points depending on the degree of its stressogenicity (Holmes, Rahe, 1967). At the same time, not only negative events (for example, divorce, imprisonment), but also events that are classified as pleasant (marriage, an outstanding personal achievement) are considered as stressful. For example, almost the same number of points is attributed to trauma and marriage. Thus, the authors of the methodology consider as stressful any events that cause serious life changes that lead to physiological or emotional arousal.

Method form

Instructions: Read the entire list carefully to get a general understanding of the stress-causing situations, events, and life circumstances it lists. Then note all the events that happened to you during last year.

No.	Life events	Points
1.	Death of a spouse	100
2.	Divorce	73
3.	Prolonged separation, breakup with partner	65
4.	Imprisonment	63
5.	Death of a close relative	63
6.	Injury or illness	53
7.	Marriage	50
8.	Dismissal from work	47
9.	Reconciliation with your spouse	45
10.	Retirement	45
11.	Illness of a close relative	44
12.	Pregnancy	40
13.	Sexual problems	39
14.	The arrival of a new family member, birth baby	39
15.	Changes at work	39
16.	Change in financial position	38
17.	Death of a close friend	37
18.	Change of place of work	36
19.	Increasing conflict relationships with spouse	35
20.	Cash debt or loan for a largepurchase (for example, a house)	31
21.	End of debt payment period	30
22.	Change of position, promotionofficial responsibility	29
23.	Children leaving home	29
24.	Problems with law	29
25.	Outstanding Personal Achievement, Success	28
26.	Spouse quits job or starts working	26
27.	Changes in living conditions	25
28.	Refusal of any individualhabits, changing behavior patterns	24
29.	Major problems with management	23
30.	Changes in operating conditions or hours	20
31.	Change of residence	20
32.	with leisure or vacation	19
33.	Changing Habits Relatedwith religion	19
34.	Change in social activity	18
35.	Borrowing money to buy something is not very goodlarge things (car, TV)	17
36.	Changing individual habitssleep-related, sleep disturbance	16
37.	Change in the number of members living togetherfamily, change in nature and frequencymeetings with other family members	15
38.	Changing eating habits (amount of food consumed, diet, lack of appetite, etc.)	15
39.	Vacation	13
40.	Christmas, New Year's Eve, birthday	12
41.	Minor disorderly conduct(fine for violating street rules movement)	11

Processing the results

Each event is assessed with a corresponding number of points (right column in the table). If an event was repeated several times during the year, then the corresponding score must be multiplied by the number of repetitions. Then all the points scored are summed up. The resulting result - a measure of life changes - reflects the level of stress and at the same time the degree of resistance to stress.

In accordance with the studies, it was found that with 150 points according to the method for determining stress resistance and social adaptation, the occurrence of any disease is possible with a probability of 50%, and with 300 points the probability of the disease increases to 90%.

The methodology for determining stress resistance and social adaptation also makes it possible to recreate a picture of stress, according to which it becomes obvious that it was not individual events in life that caused the occurrence of a stressful situation, but their complex impact.

Literature:

Psychodiagnostics of personality tolerance. Edited by G.U. Soldatova, L.A. Shaigerova. - M.: Smysl, 2008. - 172 s.

Stress resistance is the ability to withstand certain psychophysical stress and endure stress without damage to the body and psyche. Difficult to correct when it comes to the reaction to stress. But the stressor (source of stress) and/or post-stress behavior can be corrected.

Social adaptation is the process of an individual’s active adaptation to conditions social environment. One of the types of social adaptation is socio-psychological adaptation, i.e. such an interaction between the individual and the social environment that leads to an optimal balance between the goals and values ​​of the individual and the group. This type of adaptation involves the search activity of the individual, his awareness of his social status and social-role behavior, identification of the individual and the group in the process of performing joint activities, the individual’s acceptance of the norms, values ​​and traditions of a social group.

Adaptation potential is the degree of a subject’s latent capabilities to optimally integrate into new or changing conditions of the social environment surrounding him. It is associated with adaptive preparation - the accumulation by a person of such potential in the process of specially organized activities to adapt to social conditions. External difficulties, illness, a state of prolonged extremity, hunger, etc. reduce the adaptive potential of an individual, and when faced with a situation that threatens his life goals, maladjustment may occur.

Doctors Thomas Holmes and Richard Reich (or Holmes and Reich, USA) studied the dependence of diseases (including infectious diseases and injuries) on various stressful life events in more than five thousand patients. They concluded that 151 mental and physical illnesses are usually preceded by certain major changes in a person's life. Based on their research, they compiled a scale in which each important life event corresponds to a certain number of points depending on the degree of its stressogenicity.

Test questionnaire for stress resistance. Holmes and Rahe's method for determining stress resistance and social adaptation:

Instructions.

Try to remember all the events that happened to you during last years, and count total number points “earned” by you. If any situation occurred to you more than once, then the result obtained should be multiplied by a given number of times.

Test material.

	Life events	Points
	Death of a spouse.
	Separating spouses (without filing a divorce), breaking up with a partner.
	Imprisonment.
	Death of a close family member.
	Injury or illness.
	Marriage, wedding.
	Dismissal from work.
	Reconciliation of spouses.
	Retirement.
	Changes in the health status of family members.
	Partner's pregnancy.
	Intergender problems.
	The arrival of a new family member, the birth of a child.
	Reorganization at work.
	Change in financial situation.
	Death of a close friend.
	Change of professional orientation, change of place of work.
	Increased conflict in relationships with your spouse.
	A loan or loan for a large purchase (such as a house).
	Expiration of loan or loan repayment period, growing debts.
	Change of position, increase in official responsibility.
	A son or daughter leaves home.
	Problems with in-laws.
	Outstanding personal achievement, success.
	The spouse quits work (or starts work).
	Start or end of studies at an educational institution.
	Changes in living conditions.
	Giving up some individual habits, changing behavioral stereotypes.
	Problems with superiors, conflicts.
	Changes in working conditions or hours.
	Change of residence.
	Change of place of study.
	Changing leisure or vacation habits.
	Changing habits associated with religion.
	Change in social activity.
	Loan or loan for the purchase of smaller items (car, TV).
	Changes in individual sleep habits, sleep disturbances.
	Changes in the number of family members living together, changes in the nature and frequency of meetings with other family members.
	Changing eating habits (amount of food consumed, diet, lack of appetite, etc.).
	Christmas, New Year's Eve, birthday.
	Minor violation of law and order (fine for violating traffic rules).

Treatment is carried out in the form of adding up the points of events that were present in the life of the test taker over the past year

Key.

Interpretation.

Greater degree of resistance to stress.
You reveal a very high degree of stress resistance.
You are characterized by a minimal degree of stress load.
Any activity of an individual, regardless of its focus and nature, is more effective the higher the level of stress resistance. This makes it possible to talk about managerial activity as one that is highly stressful.
Increasing the level of stress resistance of an individual directly and directly leads to prolongation of life.

High degree of resistance to stress
You exhibit a high degree of stress resistance.
You do not waste your energy and resources on fighting negative psychological states that arise during stress. Therefore, any of your activities, regardless of its focus and nature, becomes more effective.
This makes it possible to talk about management activity as one that is stressful in nature.

Threshold (average) degree of stress resistance
You are characterized by an average degree of stress load.
Your resistance to stress decreases as stressful situations in your life increase. This leads to the fact that the individual is forced to spend the lion’s share of his energy and resources on combating negative psychological states that arise during the process of stress.
This makes it possible to talk about managerial activity as one that is to a small extent stressful in nature.
A believer, as a rule, is more resistant to stress, thanks to his inner ability for spiritual self-restraint and humility.

Low degree of resistance to stress
You are characterized by a high degree of stress load.
You reveal a low degree of stress resistance (vulnerability).
This leads to the fact that the individual is forced to spend the lion’s share of his energy and resources on combating negative psychological states that arise during the process of stress.

Rating 5.00 (2 Votes)

Doctors Holmes and Rage (USA) studied the dependence of diseases (including infectious diseases and injuries) on various stressful life events in more than five thousand patients. They concluded that mental and physical illnesses are usually preceded by certain major changes in a person's life. Based on their research, they compiled a scale in which each important life event corresponds to a certain number of points depending on the degree of its stressogenicity.

Instructions: Read the entire list carefully to get a general understanding of the situations, events, and life circumstances that cause stress. Then read each item again, paying attention to the number of points assigned to each situation. Try to remember all the events that happened to you over the past year and count the total number of points you “earned.” If any situation occurred to you more than once, then the result should be multiplied by a given number of times.

№	Life events	Points
1.	Death of a spouse.
2.	Divorce.
3.	Separating spouses (without filing a divorce), breaking up with a partner.
4 .	Imprisonment.
5 .	Death of a close family member"
6.	Injury or illness.
7.	Marriage, wedding.
8.	Dismissal from work.
9.	Reconciliation of spouses.
10.	Retirement.
11.	Changes in the health status of family members.
12.	Partner's pregnancy.
13.	Sexual problems.
14.	The arrival of a new family member, the birth of a child.
15.	Reorganization at work.
16.	Change in financial situation.
17.	Death of a close friend.
18.	Change of professional orientation, change of place of work.
19.	Increased conflict in relationships with your spouse.
20.	A loan or loan for a large purchase (such as a house).
21.	Expiration of loan or loan repayment period, growing debts.
22.	Change of position, increase in official responsibility.
23.	A son or daughter leaves home.
24.	Problems with in-laws.
25.	Outstanding personal achievement, success.
26.	The spouse quits work (or starts work).
27.	Start or end of studies at an educational institution.
28.	Changes in living conditions.
29.	Giving up some individual habits, changing behavioral stereotypes.
30.	Problems with superiors, conflicts.
31.	Changes in working conditions or hours.
32.	Change of residence.
33.	Change of place of study.
34.	Changing leisure or vacation habits.
36.	Changing habits associated with religion.
36.	Change in social activity.
37.	Loan or loan for the purchase of smaller items (car, TV).
38.	Changes in individual sleep habits, sleep disturbances.
39.	Changes in the number of family members living together, changes in the nature and frequency of meetings with other family members.
40.	Changing eating habits (amount of food consumed, diet, lack of appetite, etc.).
41.	Vacation.
42.	Christmas, New Year's Eve, birthday.
43.	Minor violation of law and order (fine for violating traffic rules).

Interpretation.

According to studies, it was found that 150 points means a 50% chance of developing some disease, and with 300 points it increases to 90%.

The total sum also determines the degree of resistance to stress. A large number of points is an alarm warning of danger. Therefore, something urgently needs to be done to eliminate stress. The calculated amount has another important meaning - it expresses (in numbers) the degree of stress of the subject.

For clarity, we provide a comparative table of stress characteristics.

If, for example, the total score is over 300, this means a real danger, that is, the subject is at risk of a psychosomatic illness, since he is close to the phase of nervous exhaustion.

Calculating the sum of points will make it possible to recreate the picture of stress and explain to the subject that it was not individual, seemingly insignificant events in his life that caused the stressful situation, but their complex impact.

ASSESSMENT OF THE LEVEL OF CLAIMS ACCORDING TO V.K.’S QUESTIONNAIRE GERBACHEVSKY

The level of a person’s aspirations is understood as his needs, motives or tendencies, manifested in the degree of difficulty of the goals that he sets for himself. The level of aspirations is usually assessed using an experiment according to the following scheme: a set of tasks of the same type is ranked by degree of difficulty, and subjects are asked to sequentially choose to complete a certain (often fixed) number of these tasks of any degree of difficulty. In this case, the experiment is usually presented as a test of intelligence. The level of a person’s aspirations is judged by the average degree of difficulty of the tasks he chooses. The possibility of using an experimental scheme is based on the assumption of the generality of the level of aspirations: in any activity, regardless of its specifics, each person will develop a characteristic level of aspirations. However, along with data on the actual generalization of the level of aspirations, there are facts of the opposite kind, for example, indicating that the level of aspirations formed in a person in an experimental task differs from the level of aspirations that has developed in him in his usual professional activity. This characteristic bears the imprint specific story its formation and development and depends not only on internal, but also on external conditions.

Operating procedure. The questionnaire is filled out while performing, for example, a learning task. The experimenter records any stage in its implementation, the same for all students, and invites them to answer the questionnaire at the end of this stage. Before starting the educational task, the experimenter distributes forms with text and explains the procedure for working with the questionnaire with the following instructions.

Instructions: When you complete a fixed stage of the task proposed to you, take the form with the text of the questionnaire, carefully read the instructions and start answering. Remember that the questions refer to the moment when part of the task has already been completed, but there is still work to be done on the remaining part. In the process of working with the questionnaire, you read each of the statements given in the form in order and decide to what extent you agree or disagree with it. Depending on this, you circle one of the following numbers on the right side of the form: if you completely agree - +3; if you agree - +2; if you rather agree than disagree - +1; if you completely disagree - -3; if you do not agree - -2; if they disagree rather than agree - -1; finally, if you can neither agree with the statement nor reject it - 0. All statements refer to what you think, feel or want at the moment when work on the task is interrupted.

Questionnaire.

Order number	Statements	Response scale
	I'm pretty tired of research	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I'm working to the limit of my strength	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I can show everything I'm capable of	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I feel like I'm being forced to achieve high results.	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I'm curious what will happen	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	The task is quite difficult	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	What I do is of no use to anyone	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I'm interested in whether my results are better or worse than others	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I wanted to quickly get on with my business	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I think my results will be good	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	This situation could cause me trouble	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	The better the result you show, the more you want to surpass it	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I try hard enough	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I believe that my best result is not accidental	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	The task does not arouse much interest	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I set my own goals	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I'm worried about my results	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I feel energized	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I can't get better results	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	This situation matters to me	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I want to set increasingly difficult goals	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I am indifferent to my results	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	The longer you work, the more interesting it becomes	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I'm not going to "give my best" to this job.	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	Most likely my results will be low	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	No matter how hard you try, the result will not change	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I would do anything right now, but not this research	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	The task is quite simple	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I am capable of better results	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	The more difficult the goal, the greater the desire to achieve it	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I feel that I can overcome all difficulties on the way to my goal	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I don't care how my results compare to others.	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I got caught up in working on a task	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I want to avoid a poor result	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I feel independent	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I feel like I'm wasting my time and energy	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I'm working half-heartedly	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I'm interested in the limits of my capabilities	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I want my result to be one of the best	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I will do everything in my power to achieve the goal	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	I feel like I won't succeed	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3
	The test is a lottery	-3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3

Data processing involves converting answers into points according to the rule of either direct translation or reverse translation. Points are calculated for each of the 15 components of the motivational structure using a special key. The numbers of those statements, the answers to which are converted into points according to the direct translation rule, are given without indexes, and the statements transformed according to the reverse translation rule are provided with the index “o”.

The technique is a psychometric scale of self-assessment of the current level of stress over the past year. Developed by Holmes and Rahe in 1967.

Theoretical basis

Doctors Holmes and Rague studied the relationship of diseases (including infectious diseases and injuries) to various stressful life events in more than five thousand patients. They concluded that 151 mental and physical illnesses are usually preceded by certain major changes in a person's life. Based on their research, they compiled a scale in which each important life event corresponds to a certain number of points depending on the degree of its stressogenicity.

A distinctive feature of the scale is the fact that the stressfulness of an event is determined only by the intensity of the experience, and has no sign. That is, illness or marriage are considered almost equally stressful.

According to studies, it was found that 150 points means a 50% chance of developing some disease, and with 300 points it increases to 90%.

Internal structure

The scale consists of a list of traumatic events ranked by points that determine their degree of stress.

Procedure

Interpretation

Scoring

The final score on the scale determines the current level of stress for the individual. This score is compared with known levels of stress experience:

Less than 150 - Quite high resistance to stress 150-199 - High resistance 200-299 - Threshold resistance 300 or more - Low (vulnerability) Quite a high degree of resistance to stress. You reveal a fairly high degree of stress resistance. You are characterized by a minimal degree of stress load. Any activity of an individual, regardless of its focus and nature, is more effective the higher the level of stress resistance. This makes it possible to talk about managerial activity as one that is highly stressful. Increasing the level of stress resistance of an individual directly and directly leads to prolongation of life. High degree of resistance to stress. You are characterized by a low degree of stress load. You exhibit a high degree of stress resistance. You do not waste your energy and resources on fighting negative psychological states that arise during stress. Therefore, any of your activities, regardless of its focus and nature, becomes more effective. This makes it possible to talk about management activity as one that is stressful in nature. Increasing the level of stress resistance of an individual directly and directly leads to prolongation of life. Threshold (average) degree of stress resistance. You are characterized by an average degree of stress load. You reveal an average degree of stress resistance. Your resistance to stress decreases as stressful situations in your life increase. This leads to the fact that the individual is forced to spend the lion’s share of his energy and resources on combating negative psychological states that arise during the process of stress. This makes it possible to talk about managerial activity as one that is to a small extent stressful in nature. Low degree of resistance to stress. You are characterized by a high degree of stress load. You reveal a low degree of stress resistance (vulnerability). This leads to the fact that the individual is forced to spend the lion’s share of his energy and resources on combating negative psychological states that arise during the process of stress. This makes it possible to talk about management activities as those in which the stressful nature is reduced to a minimum. A large number of points (more than 300) is an alarm warning you of danger. Therefore, you need to do something urgently to eliminate stress. If the score is over 300, then you are at risk of a psychosomatic illness, since you are close to the phase of nervous exhaustion.

Practical significance

The technique is suitable for a simple screening determination of the level of current stress and the likelihood of developing borderline neuropsychiatric disorders.