Israeli PERI life event scale: ratings of events by a community sample.

A schedule of life events was constructed for use in measuring recent exposure to potentially stressful experiences. The life event list was derived from two sources: the Psychiatric Epidemiology Research Interview (PERI) schedule and a list of events with special relevance to life in Israel. A probability sample of members of a community in Jerusalem, stratified by sex, education and region of origin, rated each event for the "amount of readjustment" it would necessitate relative to that required for a standard reference event, marriage. The ratings of 14 events showed significant variation with sex. There was little variation with education or region of origin. The schedule of life events has potential value not only for clinical and epidemiologic research in Israel, but also in community-focused primary care, as a tool for individual and community diagnosis and the identification of high-risk groups.