Life Event Scale

The Life Event Scale, also known as the Holmes and Rahe stress scale, is a tool used to measure the impact of major life events on a person's stress level. Developed by psychiatrists Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe in 1967, the scale assigns numerical values to various life events, such as marriage, divorce, death of a loved one, job loss, and illness. The higher the number, the more stressful the event is considered to be. By adding up the scores for all the events a person has experienced in a given period of time, the scale provides an overall stress score. High scores on the scale have been linked to an increased risk of physical and mental health problems.