Perception of life change events by the elderly.

The perception of the amount of adjustment necessitated by the occurrence of common life events was assessed for 41 members of a senior citizens' club who ranged in age from 65 to 84. Significant agreement was found between the elderly subjects and the normative sample with regard to rank ordering of the life events. Markedly significant differences were found between the elderly and the normative sample in the magnitudes assigned to the life events, with the elderly group assigning the larger magnitude to most items.