Current theory on the stress associated with family life events suggests that such events are intrinsically stressful, and that their impact on levels of psychosocial functioning can best be determined through use of a self-report scale, the Family Inventory of Life Events (FILE), reflecting (a) the raw total of events occurring, or (b) the sum of standardized weights obtained from a representative group sample. Using FILE as a model, a survey was conducted to determine whether capturing individual perceptions of the stressfulness of family life events through idiographic assessment would increase the proportion of the variance explained in psychosocial outcomes. Psychosocial functioning was assessed with the current health subscale of the Health Perceptions Questionnaire, the Generalized Contentment Scale (measuring non-psychotic depression), and the Index of Family Relations. The Index of Clinical Stress was introduced as an alternative self-report measure of stress not directly associated with family life events. A convenience sample of 265 subjects, including patients and family members of patients at a family practice residency clinic, completed the survey instrument. Findings demonstrated that idiographic scoring of FILE significantly improved the prediction of depression and family relations scores. Assessing subjects' perceived adequacy of available resources further increased the explanation of these dependent measures. Implications include a reassessment of the stress concept and its measurement, and an operationalization of the social work person-in-environment model. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-08, Section: A, page: 3198. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75899 |
| Contributors | ABELL, JOSEPH NEIL., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 181 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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