The Holmes Rahe test was a table, ‘The Social Readjustment Rating Scale’, with a number of life events marked with a certain score. By reading through these and marking down the score of each of these life events that have happened to you in the previous year it will tell you what your score meant. After completing this test and only receiving 65 points this told me that within the last year I have had,”a relatively low amount of life change and a low susceptibility to stress-induced health breakdown”.
I feel like this test was directed more at individuals in a marriage, with children or older than me. The majority of the life events included things such as marriage, children, moving house, taking out a mortgage or divorce. All of which I have not experienced yet. Therefore, I feel like this was an inaccurate representation of my stress levels. Other life events such as examinations, studying, managing time efficiently, having a part time job while studying were all not considered. All of which I feel are relevant to my life, or the life of a student.
Stress affects individuals in a number of ways as some people may become stressed much easier than others. It is a very personal thing and every one has their own reasons behind why they are stressed. I feel like balancing my time is the most difficult and therefore most stressful thing for me. As I am a student, have university, studying and a part time job while also trying to fit in time to socialise with friends and family. It can sometimes get too much and I feel that I sometimes put my job before my studying when it should be the other way around. This can therefore affect the relationships that I have with my family and friends as all of my time is spent either at University, studying or being at work. Whereas, it is essential to find that balance in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle and manage stress.
Therefore, these are the reasons why I feel The Holmes stress inventory was an inaccurate representation of stress levels. Not only because they did not directly affect my life but because stress is an individual thing and many reasons behind stress may not have been named on the scale.
