Measuring Life Stress: Factors Affecting Fall-Off in the Reporting of Life Events

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Abstract
Although the use of life events inventories continues, concern persists regarding their reliability. A major problem is respondent failure to recall events which have occurred in the past. Information was gathered from a large national probability sample. Fall-off in reporting event occurrence is rapid during the first 12 mo. (.apprx. 5%/mo.) then begins to level off. The rate of fall-off varies by the type of event, such that some highly salient events (death of spouse, marriage, birth of child) show essentially no fall-off, while other events (death of friend, illness in family) have immediate and severe fall-off. The rate of fall-off varies according to respondent characteristics.

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