La mesure des événements et des difficultés de vie : un cas particulier des problèmes méthodologiques liés à l’étude de l’étiologie sociale des troubles mentaux

Abstract

Significant methodological problems arise in the measurement of life-events. In the first generation of instruments, events were measured relatively to the change they could induce, notwithstanding their desirability. The second generation introduced the idea of desirability, events being measured in regard of the distress they could provoke rather than to the change they could induce. The basic weakness of these two categories of instruments is the use of the respondant's perpective which does not allow an independent measure of the provoking agents and of the symptoms. In the Life Events and Difficulty Schedule (LEDS), provoking agents are defined by the researcher, and not by the respondant. In assuring the dating of the variables and an independent measure of long term threat, the study of the etiology of mental disorders may be conducted with a valid and reliable instrument. Examples extracted from a study on the social origins of alcohol problems in women illustrate the application of this methodology.