Stressful Life Events in Iranian Adults Society: Identification and Redefinition of Dimensions

Stressful life events can lead to psychological problems, heart disease, stroke, etc. Multidimensional nature of stress calls for advanced statistical methods that could evaluate these dimensions based on symptoms of stress. Therefore, current study aimed at identifying and redefining the dimensions of the stressful life events (SLE) questionnaire using a higher order factor model. This cross-sectional study was done in 4763 people participating in a project called SEPAHAN in Isfahan, Iran 2010. The perceived stress level was evaluated by the Iranian version of SLE questionnaire. First and second order exploratory and confirmatory factor models were applied for data analysis using AMOS V20. According to exploratory factor analysis, 11 domains of stress (first order factors) were extracted from 44 items, which explained 51.42% of the total variance. Based on these domains, two dimensions were identified as second-order factors (stressors), including individual and social stressors that explained 17.3% and 25.6% of total variance, respectively. The similar structure was identified both in total sample and in men and women separately. Also, the results in exploratory factor analysis were confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFI =0.78, GFI =0.89, RMSEA =0.05). It was found that the second-order factor model well fitted to the dimensions of the questionnaire identified. SLE questionaire has11 domains and two higher dimensions (individual and social stressors). Studying the types of stressors could be used in preventive strategies against mental health problems and also in training useful copying styles.