ABSTRACT
The purpose of this short contribution is to review the field's recent history, to anticipate the continuing development of area of research and to offer suggestions concerning those lines of enquiry that may prove most productive. The historical antecedents of life event research have already been described by Dohrenwend and Dohrenwend. For present purposes, therefore, it will suffice to begin 20 years ago, when Holmes and Rahe published the Social Readjustment Rating Scale, an attempt to quantify life stress. Events classed as undesirable, and what the authors called 'exit' events, were particularly implicated as having adverse effects. In summarising the life event research of the past two decades, it is possible to identify a number of major trends which have implications for further research. In conclusion, life events research has flourished despite many methodological problems and also despite having undergone considerable modification and expansion.
