Transitory Impact of Life-Event Stress on Psychological Symptoms in Older Adults

Abstract

A probability sample of 1,429 adults aged 55 and older was interviewed in their homes three times at six-month intervals. Measures of symptoms, social support, and education were obtained before measures of life-event stress. A LISREL analysis of three waves and two intervals of data yielded a goodness offit of .989 between the data and the model. For both intervals, increases in stress led to increases in symptoms, which supported the Dohrenwend hypothesis of a normative stress reaction. This reaction typically did not persist beyond six months unless there was high stress over both intervals. Contrary to Dohrenwend's resource mediation hypothesis, social support and education did not influence either the reaction to or the recovery from stress. Symptoms were very stable over the one-year period. Overall, the results depict older adults as quite consistent and resilient. Because life events were correlated over time and were predicted by person characteristics, they should not be considered as independent of person factors. A panel of stress researchers from both the biomedical and the behavioral sciences conducted a critical assessment of the state of the sciences related to stress, health, and disease (Elliott and Eisdorfer 1982). This panel developed a conceptual framework to organize its review of findings and its recommendations. The framework included activators, reactions, consequences, and mediators. Activators are potential stressors in the environment that can prompt a reaction in the individual; the reaction may or may not lead to a more permanent condition, a consequence. Mediators act at each