The Adolescent Life Change Event Scale: its development and use

A variety of instruments have been used by researchers from several disciplines to assess life change events in adolescents. Most instruments have not been tested for validity and reliability, and have been used in one-time studies, with limited effort to synthesize all studies using the particular instrument. Because of the number of requests, over more than a decade, to use the Adolescent Life Change Event Questionnaire, the authors have attempted to review all known studies using this instrument as a preliminary step toward further testing of the questionnaire for validity and reliability. Twenty-five studies, involving a total of 4,024 adolescent subjects from nine states, were reviewed. Findings included gender and age differences in number of events experienced and the perceived stressfulness, and a relationship between events experienced and suicidal ideation. Recommendations are made regarding future development and use of the instrument.