Student Ratings of Stressful Experiences at Home and School

Abstract

Prior research examining children's ratings of stressful life events indicated that, by the time children are in sixth grade, they fear only going blind and losing a parent more than academic retention. The current study provides a contemporary analysis of elementary grade students' perceptions of stressful life events at home and school. First-, third-, and sixth-grade students in five different schools rated the stressfulness of twenty life events. Across grade levels, those events rated as most stressful by children were: losing a parent, academic retention, going blind, getting caught in theft, wetting in class, a poor report card, having an operation, parental fighting, and being sent to the principal. Overall, the student ratings in the current study were consistent with previous research findings. One difference was that grade retention was rated as the most stressful life event by the sixth-grade students in the current study, whereas it was ranked the third highest in previous research. The results are framed within a developmental perspective, with a discussion of the psychosocial implications of the child's view of retention and Other stressful life events.