Stressnology: The primitive (and problematic) study of life stress exposure and pressing need for better measurement

Life stress is central to many contemporary theories of human health and behavior. Despite this fact, numerous conceptual and measurement issues remain unresolved. The present article explores these topics by first summarizing several key definitional and conceptual matters that are important for life stress research. Second, I introduce stressnology, defined herein as the fictitiously named, but otherwise very real and problematic approach to studying life stress exposure that involves measuring only the superficial contours of this very complex construct. Finally, I review some recent methodological advancements that have the potential to move us past primitive approaches to conceptualizing and assessing life stress. Ultimately, although the influence that life stress has on human health and behavior is profound, our understanding of this construct-and how it affects wellbeing, functioning, and development-is still very limited. Using state-of-the-art instruments for assessing life stress exposure, especially across the entire life course, should therefore be a top scientific and clinical priority.