Modification of life event questionnaires for use with female respondents.

The purpose of this research was to increase the relevance of a life-event questionnaire for adult female respondents of childbearing age. A two-step procedure with three subject groups was used to develop a modified life-event questionnaire for this population. First, open-ended interview questions were used with 32 single mothers to obtain relevant content. Ninety-eight responses were coded for congruence with existing life-event questionnaires. Nine new items were created from the noncongruent responses and the wording of existing items modified to reduce bias from sexist assumptions about marital status and other socio-economic factors. Two samples, 60 female graduate students and 69 single and partnered mothers, were used to study reliability, the frequency of selecting new items, and the validity of the revised 82-item instrument. As expected, the negative events score was related to negative mood states and psychiatric symptoms.