Purpose: To describe the occurrence and perceived stress of major life events, and to investigate whether adjusting for socioeconomic status reduced race/ethnicity differences.
Methods: Black (n = 639) and white (n = 419) women aged 35-49 years responded to 14 major life event questions within the domains of employment, health, relationship, finance, residential change, and crime.
Main findings: The total number of life events did not differ by race/ethnicity, but black women reported significantly more events in the domains of relationship, financial, and residential change than white women. White women generally reported higher stress for a given event than black women, although for "residential change" black women reported more severe stress than the white women.
Conclusions: Inclusion of both the occurrence and perceived stress of major life events can improve our understanding of how this stressor may affect health.