Arjun, a 19-year-old in Lucknow, has to choose a college course. He loves dance but is also drawn to psychology, and he keeps changing his choice. He has made it his rule to score full marks in every mock test, and he sets targets far above what his teachers ask of him. His entrance results came out last week. Since then he replays every wrong answer late into the night and wonders what his relatives will say. A month before the results, his family moved to a new house across the city, and he now travels an hour to meet his old friends.
The family's move and Arjun's entrance results came within about a month of each other. Which of the following statements about stressful life events is correct?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Several life events, planned or unpredicted, within a short period make one more prone to stress symptoms.
Option (1) Small, everyday changes cause more upheaval than major events, because they disturb our routine daily. — Incorrect. The idea is reversed. We learn to cope with small, everyday changes; it is major life events that disturb our routine and cause upheaval.
Option (2) The correlation between life events and illness is high, so such events predict illness quite well. — Incorrect. The link is reversed. The correlations between life events and any particular illness are low, which shows only a weak association between life events and stress.
Option (3) About two life events within a year are, on average, enough to produce overt physical or mental illness. — Incorrect. This turns the finding around. About two stressful life events a year is the mean number a person faces without producing overt physical or mental illness.
Option (4) Several life events, planned or unpredicted, within a short period make one more prone to stress symptoms. — Correct. The house move is a planned life event, and the entrance results are a second one. When several such events come within a short period, we find it hard to cope and become more prone to the symptoms of stress.
NCERT (2026-27): “Life Events “The mean number of stressful life events experienced over a period of one year without producing overt physical or mental illness is approximately two. However, the correlations between life events and susceptibility to any particular illness is low, indicating a weak association between life events and stress. …” |