The social readjustment rating scale: a comparative study of Negro, Mexican and white Americans.

THE studies which most directly led to the current investigation began with the work of Hinkle and his co-investigators [l-4]. In their studies of telephone workers over a 20-yr period, they found that in most individuals illness tended to occur in ‘clusters’ during periods of ‘increased environmental load with disturbances of mood, behavior, physical activity, sleep patterns, appetite, and various bodily processes.’ The great majority of illnesses occurred at times when the subjects perceived their lives as unsatisfying, threatening, overdemanding, or conflictual, and felt that they could not adapt.