The Effects of Life Events Inventory

There has been some disagreement in the literature regarding the wisdom of including negative and positive life events in life event scales. However, underlying much of this discussion has been the assumption that the negativity or positivity of various events may be denoted a priori. The present study investigated the relative desirability and impact of 66 life events rewritten to suit the culture of the samples used. In addition, the effect of recency of occurrence of these events was explored. Results clearly indicated that some apparently negative life events were experienced as desirable by some participants, and that some apparently positive events were experienced as undesirable by several participants. Differences in response patterns according to age, gender, anxiety level, and type of presenting problem were also examined. The implications of these findings for assessment in clinical and research situations are discussed.