Perceptions of life-pattern disintegrity as a link in the relationship between stress and illness

The weak but significant association between stressful events and illness suggests the importance of understanding the specific conditions under which stress is likely to result in illness. The research was undertaken to determine whether a perception of disintegrity--a perception that life has not gone as it should have--may be such a link. Ninety-one master's-prepared nurses between the ages of 55 and 70 completed a measure of the extent to which they had experienced stress in balancing a career with other life involvements. They also assessed the extent of integrity-disintegrity in their life pattern and recorded the illnesses that had occurred during their middle years. In a path analysis, once the indirect path through disintegrity was considered, the direct path between stress and illness was so minimal that it was considered eliminated. This result suggests that unless stress leads to feelings of disintegrity, it is not likely to lead to illness.