title: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Spangenberg
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pieterse
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D044383:Black People; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008875:Middle Aged; D013019:South Africa; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology*