Reliability of two measures of life stress among outpatients at a Veterans Hospital

To measure test-retest reliability, 38 Veterans Administration clinic patients completed a modification of the Sarason Life Experience Survey (LES) twice within several weeks. Summary scores were found to be more reliable than scores on individual questions. Patients attending the Mental Hygiene Clinic responded less reliably than other patients. The "stress ladder"--a simple summary score measure--was found to be the most reliable measure of all.