Rahe et al (1970)

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  • Created by: Toni Lowe
  • Created on: 04-06-13 08:58
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  • Rahe et al (1970)
    • Procedure
      • 2500 male American sailors were given the SRRS to asses how many life events they had experienced in the previous 6 months.
        • The total score on the SRRS was recorded for each participant. Over the next 6 month tour of duty, records were kept of each sailor's health.
          • The life change scores were correlated with the illness scores.
    • Aim
      • To find out if scores on the Holmes and Rahe SRRS correlated with the subsequent onset of illness
    • Conclusion
      • Experiencing life events increases the chances of stress related health breakdown.
    • Findings
      • There was a positive correlation of +0.118 between Life Change Scores and illness scores.
        • The positive  correlation was small but still gave indication that there was a meaningful relationship between Life Changes and  heath.
    • Evaluation
      • Disadvantages
        • The correlation method
          • Correlation does not equal causation.
            • Extraneous variables could have caused or effected the DV and IV. Therefore, one cannot simply state that one variable caused or effected the other, or that there is actually any correlation at all.
        • Participant sample
          • Generalisability
            • The participants were male American sailors. This means that the results cannot easily be generalised to anyone outside of this group.
          • Representative
            • Due to the participants being only male American sailors, the research population in not representative of the whole population.
      • Advantages
        • Field experiment
          • Higher ecological validity
            • Due to the study being conducted in the natural environment of the participants, the results are more representative of real life.

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