Life Event Classifications and the Event-Illness Relationship

Several theoretically important and distinct categories of life change are found in most life event scales. These categories can be organized in terms of at least three dimensions: the person's control over the event, the desirability of the event, and whether or not the independent variable of the event is confounded with the dependent variable of illness. It is important to separate conceptually and, to the extent possible, to distinguish empirically among events according to these dimensions, because several different models of the event-illness relationship are implied when events from several categories are combined. A secondary analysis of recently published data shows that the kinds of events associated with illness are undesirable events within the subject's control. It may not be necessary to consider these dimensions in predicting illness, but the prevention and understanding of illness are furthered by their consideration.