Stress conceptions in life event research: Towards a person‐centred perspective

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Abstract
The present article focuses on a discussion of the theoretical foundations of life event research. Since critical life events are usually regarded as stressful events, the main question is which concepts of stress are employed in different life event approaches and what is their rationale. The discussion centres on two topics that have to be treated independently: the question of specificity vs nonspecificity and the question of individualized vs normative weightings. It is shown that different life event approaches rely on different concepts of stress. Numerous objections lead to a rejection of the nonspecificity concept and a normative proceeding. However, even when a specificity view of stress is advocated and individual weights are used, life stress measures do not account for a substantial proportion of the variance in the stress‐related dependent variables. Therefore, a reorientation of life event research is required. It is proposed that future life event research should concentrate on the individual meaning of events and adequately consider the time dimension as well CIS processes of coping.