Life events and resistance to disease : an uncontrolled clinical study

The purpose of this study was to gather information about persons who have experienced extremely high levels of life change without attendant health decline. Following an extensive literature review, six domains of mediating variables in the life event-illness pathway were established. These domains were labeled psychosocial adaptation, perception of life events, personality, physical status, health care orientation, and coping. Data representing each domain were collected on a sample of 10 well-educated adult volunteers. The group included five males and five females. Criteria for selection required a Social Readjustment Rating Scale score above 300 for a recent 12 month period together with freedom from significant illness in the year prior to the study.

Data concerning the six domains of moderator variables were collected by means of interviews, a rating procedure for assessing the personal impact of life events, the MMPI, and the Interpersonal Adjective Check List. The Leary method was also applied to the MMPI and lACL results.

Findings from the study emphasized the preeminence of life event perception as a mediating variable. Where Ss appeared to be unique was at the level where life event perceptions were integrated with self-perceptions and broader attitudes about life in general. Ss consistently emphasized personal strength, self-reliance, and self-confidence in their self-views, and in their outlooks on life, they generally shared an attitude of optimism and acceptance. MMPI correlates of the Ss' optimistic and relativistic world views were equivocal, and the discovery that half of the Ss had experienced some form of stress-related health problems in earlier years argued against the primacy of intrinsic biological or personality factors in the formulation of the Ss' good health. Data concerning the Ss' health histories, self-care habits, and coping styles were also collected and discussed.