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Life Events

Questions about adverse life events were asked at ages 36 (1982), 43 (1989), 53 (1999), 60-64 (2006-10) 74-75 (2020-22) and 76-77 (2022-24) years. Items are not identical at all ages, but variously refer to:

  • serious illness
  • divorce or separation
  • death or injury of a relation, friend or close contact
  • problems with relations or friends
  • experience of burglary or robbery
  • crises or disappointments at work, and
  • crises or disappointments with family or close contacts

At ages 36 and 43 years (but not since) follow-up questions asked about reactions to the events, and whether these events had changed the lives of survey members.

A list of the questions and variable names for the life events sections can be seen below. In 1982, the questions were mostly phrased in terms of events happening to ‘friends or relatives’. This was adapted in successive years, hence why there are not many direct equivalent variables across all four collections.

Several other 1982 life events variables are present, they can be found on Skylark by searching for ‘year and category’ (1982 and category ‘social support or life events’).

Life Events Questions 1982 1989 1999 2006-10 2022-24
Have you had an accident or received an injury that has affected you for a month or more in the last 12 months? – AC89 ac AC09 AC22x
Have you had any serious difficulties with any of your children, because of their health or behavior or for other reasons in the last 12 months? – CHDF89 chdf CHDF09 CHDF22x
Have you had any serious disagreements with your spouse/partner or felt betrayed or disappointed by them in the last 12 months? – DSSP89 dssp DSSP09 DSSP22x
Have you moved house in the last 12 months? – HOUM89 hou2 HOU209 –
Did you move away from the area where most of your friends lived? – HOUMA89 houm HOUM09 HOUM22x
Have you developed, or found out that you have a serious illness or disability in the last 12 months? – ILL89 ill ILL09 ILL22x
Have you lost your job or thought you would soon lose your job in the last 12 months? – LJOB89 ljob LJOB09 –
Have you fallen out or had a serious disagreement with a friend or relative (other than your spouse/partner or children) or someone you know well or felt betrayed by them in the last 12 months? – RDIS89 rdis RDIS09 RDIS22x
Has a friend or relative (other than your spouse/partner or children) or someone you know well died in the last 12 months? RELDI82 RELD89 reld RELD09 RELD22x
Has a friend or relative (other than your spouse/partner or children) or someone you know well had a serious accident or illness or received a serious injury in the last 12 months? RELI82 / RELH82 RELIL89 relil RELIL09 RELIL22x
Have you lost contact with a close friend or relative (other than your spouse/partner or children) for any other reason in the last 12 months? – RLOS89 rlos RLOS09 –
Have you been assaulted, robbed or been a victim of attempted robbery in the last 12 months? ROBB82 ROB89 rob ROB09 ROB09
Have your spouse/partner had a serious accident or illness, or received a serious injury, or been assaulted in the last 12 months? – SPAC89 SPAC3 SPAC09 SPAC09
Have your spouse/partner had any other crises or serious disappointments in their work in the last 12 months? – SPCR89 spcr SPCR09 –
Have your spouse/partner lost their job or thought they would soon lose their job in the last 12 months? – SPLJ89 splj SPLJ09 –
Have you had any other serious upsets or disappointments in the last 12 months? UPSET82 UPS89 ups UPS09 UPS09
Have you had any other crises or serious disappointments in your work or career in general in the last 12 months? WKCR82 WKC89 wkc WKC09 –

 

A summary of these events at ages 36 and 43 years can be found in PDF Icon Hatch et al. (2009).  These authors categorise life events as family and economic stressors vs. interpersonal relationship stressors, with reference to total number of events (0, 1, 2, 3 or 4+), and whether there was life change (no stressors, stressors with no change, stressors with change).

COVID Questionnaires

Life events were asked as part of the COVID questionnaires (age 74-75). The study member were asked about events in the year before the outbreak, and then during the outbreak.

For a full list of questions and variables – PDF Icon COVID_Life_Events

Obtaining the standard life events variables

  • As the life events variables are largely independent of each other, it has not been possible to select a standard basket.
  • If you are interested in an aspect of this topic, an appropriate keyword search (based on the question text) on Skylark should give the results you need.
  • For example, search for ‘robbery’, ‘moved house’ or ‘serious disagreement’.