A dimensional taxonomy of perceived characteristics of major life events.

Abstract

Major life events (MLEs) are studied in many different areas in psychology such as personality development, clinical psychology, or posttraumatic growth. In all of these areas, a common finding is that MLEs differ in their effects on psychological outcomes. However, a framework that allows a systematic examination of these differences is still absent. This paper presents a systematic literature review and 4 empirical studies (Ns between 226 and 449, total N = 1,477) in which we developed and evaluated a dimensional taxonomy of nine perceived characteristics of MLEs: valence, impact, predictability, challenge, emotional significance, change in world views, social status changes, external control, and extraordinariness. These event characteristics can be measured reliably with the Event Characteristics Questionnaire (ECQ). Perceived event characteristics predicted individual differences in changes in subjective well-being in both retrospective and longitudinal data after MLEs over and above established predictors of subjective well-being such as personality and demographic characteristics. A comparison between the ECQ and established taxonomies of situation characteristics such as the DIAMONDS (Rauthmann et al., 2014) showed high conceptual and empirical convergence between some ECQ subscales (e.g., valence, challenge) with characteristics of situations, whereas other ECQ subscales (e.g., social status changes, external control) were conceptually and empirically distinct from situation characteristics. In sum, including measures of perceived event characteristics in studies on MLEs may enhance our understanding of why MLEs differ in the direction, strength, and duration of their effects on psychological outcomes.

Stability and Change of Perceived Characteristics of Major Life Events

“…Responses were reversed if appropriate. Note that the ECQ version used in this study slightly differed from the final version proposed by Luhmann et al (2020). This is because the What's NEXT?…”

“…In most cases, either the experience of a single event or a sum score of experienced events is then used as predictor for outcomes such as life satisfaction, mental health, or personality change (Assari & Lankarani, 2016;Berenbaum et al, 2008;Headey & Wearing, 1989;Lüdtke et al, 2011;Shiner et al, 2017). This approach has several disadvantages (see Luhmann et al, 2020 for a more detailed discussion). First, the variability within a category is neglected.…”

“…For this reason, Luhmann et al (2020) developed the Event Characteristics Questionnaire (ECQ). The ECQ is a dimensional taxonomy to assess nine perceived characteristics of major life events: valence (positivity or negativity of the event), impact (extent to which the event changed one's life), predictability (extent to how predictably the event had occurred), challenge (amount of stress and anxiety caused by the event), emotional significance (extent to which the event elicited strong feelings), change in world views (extent to which the event changed one's views), social status change (extent of negative changes in one's social status), external control (extent to which the event was controlled or caused by others), and extraordinariness (extent of how extraordinary the event was).…”

“…The ECQ (Luhmann et al, 2020) was used to assess perceived characteristics of the major life event. The version of the ECQ used here included 37 items that were rated on a 5point scale ranging from 1 (not true at all) to 5 (absolutely true).…”

Derailment as a risk factor for greater mental health issues following pandemic

“…When considering the current environment, the COVID-19 pandemic presents with several factors that researchers for decades have suggested will lead to greater impact from major life events (for a review, see Luhmann et al, 2020). Given this event is truly a once-in-alifetime pandemic (World Health Organization, 2020), most individuals will view the event as extremely negative in valence, unpredictable, largely outside their own ability to control it, and relatively extraordinary in nature, insofar that it is unlike any past events they have experienced.…”