Stressful Life Events and Psychological Status in Black South African Women

Abstract

The relationship between stressful life events and psychological status in Black South African women was explored, using a semistructured interview that consisted of a demographic questionnaire; the Xhosa Life Event Scale (XLES; Swartz, Elk, Teggin, & Gillis, 1983), which comprises mainly personal stressors; the Township Life Event Scale (TLES; Bluen & Odesnik, 1988), which comprises mainly sociopolitical stressors; and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ, Goldberg, 1972, 1978). The participants were a random sample of 100 Black women living in a South African township. There were significant positive correlations between psychological distress and (a) undesirable life changes, (b) recurring stressful events of a sociopolitical nature (but not of a personal nature), and (c) continuous stressful events of a sociopolitical nature (but not of a personal nature). The results indicated that adverse sociopolitical conditions and the stress that accompanied them had a stronger negative effect than stressful events of a personal nature did on the women's mental health.