After some pretty helpful training yesterday in pastoral care ministry for High Schools.
In amidst the stories emerging of students' difficult life stories, and what needs they approach
the 'available' adult with, I did some digging for my own interest and found this article.
From a journal called "Psychosomatic Medicine," (by J. Dise-Lewis) it featured an excellent study of Stressful Life Events which school-aged students face - routinely or otherwise. The study showed a long INVENTORY of the life events, and used a statistical analysis to RANK them in order of the Student's self-rated seriousness. Here's a sneak peak at the
TOP 10 RANKED LIFE EVENTS FOR STRESSFUL EXPERIENCE:
1. One of your parents died
2. Close family member died (Grandparent, brother, sister.)
3. Your parents decided to get a divorce
4. Your mum or dad was put in jail
5. You were picked up by police
6. You were suspended from school
7. Your mum or dad moved out of your home
8. You got caught stealing
9. You had to move in with relatives or a foster home
10. Someone close to you (friend) died
* Note: These inventories are general, and in speaking with kids about the stress they
feel, an item that's 'lower ranked' can be significantly stressful for a particular individual
student. In other words - knowing the territory of stress events is good; but no
final assumptions until you speak to the kid and hear his/her response to their stressors.
Dise-Lewis also makes an interesting little "summary" of the entire Life Event inventory,
also using stats, and found the student-rated stressful events fell naturally into
FOUR TYPES OF EVENT:
I: Traumatic/Crisis Events
II: Routine Frequently Occurring Events
III: Changes Affecting Family/Peer/Academic/School Roles
IV: Internally Generated Events & Worries
Hope this helps you to "know" the terrain, like it helped me,
Al
