1. Unit 1 Human Lifespan Development
B – Factors affecting human growth and development

2. B6 – Major life events that affect development
Predictable events
Unpredictable events
Many events can be either predictable or unpredictable depending on the life course of the individual. These can include:
Starting school / nursery
Moving house
Marriage and divorce
Starting a family
Beginning employment
Retirement
Death of a relative / partner / friend
Accidents or injury
Changing employment
Leaving home
Promotion or redundancy
Serious illness
The effects of life events on health
Holmes-Rahe social readjustment rating scale and the effects of life events on a person’s stress levels and health.

3. Predictable Life Events
These are events that are expected to happen at a particular time, while expected, they may still have an effect on a person’s health and wellbeing. This effect can be positive or negative, regardless of the event.

4. Unpredictable Life Events
These are events that happen unexpectedly and can have serious physical and psychological effects on an individual. These effects can be positive or negative, regardless of the event

5. Predictable or Unpredictable
Split these life events into two headings according to whether they are predictable or unpredictable
Starting school / nursery
Moving house
Marriage and divorce
Starting a family
Beginning employment
Retirement
Death of a relative / partner / friend
Accidents or injury
Changing employment
Leaving home
Promotion or redundancy
Serious illness

6. Predictable or Unpredictable
Both, depending on situation
Starting school / nursery
Death of a relative / partner / friend
Marriage and divorce
Moving house
Accidents or injury
Starting a family
Beginning employment
Serious illness
Promotion or redundancy
Retirement
Changing employment
Leaving home

7. Reading and Task
Read through the information presented on the influences of two predictable and two unpredictable major life events on the development of an individual. Use this information to discuss the positive and/or negative effects of the life events on your P.I.E.S development. Complete the rest of the slides, explaining their effects

8. How can starting school affect you?
Effects of Life Events
Intellectually
Physically
How can starting school affect you?
Emotionally
Socially

9. How can moving house affect you?
Effects of Life Events
Intellectually
Physically
How can moving house affect you?
Emotionally
Socially

10. How can beginning employment affect you?
Effects of Life Events
Intellectually
Physically
How can beginning employment affect you?
Emotionally
Socially

11. How can retirement affect you?
Effects of Life Events
Intellectually
Physically
How can retirement affect you?
Emotionally
Socially

12. How can death of a friend /relative/ partner affect you?
Effects of Life Events
Intellectually
Physically
How can death of a friend /relative/ partner affect you?
Emotionally
Socially

13. How can accident or injury affect you?
Effects of Life Events
Intellectually
Physically
How can accident or injury affect you?
Emotionally
Socially

14. How can changing employment affect you?
Effects of Life Events
Intellectually
Physically
How can changing employment affect you?
Emotionally
Socially

15. How can leaving home affect you?
Effects of Life Events
Intellectually
Physically
How can leaving home affect you?
Emotionally
Socially

16. How can promotion or redundancy affect you?
Effects of Life Events
Intellectually
Physically
How can promotion or redundancy affect you?
Emotionally
Socially

17. How can serious illness affect you?
Effects of Life Events
Intellectually
Physically
How can serious illness affect you?
Emotionally
Socially

18. How do we cope with stress.
What is stress?
stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that "demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize." In less formal terms, we feel stressed when we feel that "things are out of control."
Our ability to cope with the demands upon us is key to our experience of stress. For example, starting a new job might be a wholly exciting experience if everything else in your life is stable and positive. But if you start a new job when you've just moved into a new house, or your partner is ill, or you're experiencing money problems, you might find it very hard to cope.
How much of this does it take to push you "over the edge?"

19. How do we cope with stress
What is the Holmes-Rahe Social Readjustment Rating Scale?
In 1967, psychiatrists Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe decided to study whether or not stress contributes to illness. They surveyed more than 5,000 medical patients and asked them to say whether they had experience any of a series of 43 life events in the previous two years.
Each event, called a Life Change Unit (LCU), had a different "weight" for stress. The more events the patient added up, the higher the score. The higher the score, and the larger the weight of each event, the more likely the patient was to become ill.
If a person has less the 150 life change units they have a 30% chance of suffering from stress.
life change units equates to a 50% chance of suffering from stress.
Over 300 life units means a person has an 80% chance of developing a stress related illness.
Use the website below to assess your stress levels

20. Criticisms of the Holmes-Rahe social readjustment rating scale.
Some people feel that different cultural groups react differently to different life events.
Most 43 life changes in the SRRS aren’t everyday events.  Kanner et al (1981) has designed a Hassles Scale which consists of 117 items, including concerns about losing things, traffic jams, arguments, disappointments, weight and physical appearance. Daily hassles are ‘irritating, frustrating, distressing demands that to some degree characterise everyday transactions with the environment’
The majority of research conducted by Holmes and Rahe was Androcentric (only tested the SRRS on males), therefore it may not be suitable for women.
The criteria within the SRRS are outdated and only relevant to society in 1967, so may be applied to today's society.
The relationships found between the SRRS and health is only correlational, we cannot infer that stress causes health problems but merely that the two are associated.
The SRRS does not distinguish between positive and negative life changes therefore it may lack internal validity as it is not a true measure of life events and stress.
The SRRS fails to consider that some individuals may find aspects more or less stressful than others. This scale assumes that life events are the same for everyone, for instance Christmas is more stressful for some than others.
Questionnaires are self-report measures and the SRRS is an unreliable assessment of life events as people may not recall life events accurately.