SPECIFICITY IN THE ASSESSMENT OF DAILY HASSLES - HASSLES, LOCUS OF CONTROL, AND ADJUSTMENT IN COLLEGE-STUDENTS

Research has shown that the perceived level of daily life hassles is an important correlate of personal adjustment. Most existing research in this area involves administering the Hassles Scale to a wide variety of populations. In the current paper, we present the argument that there are important differences in the hassles experienced by various populations and that measures of daily life hassles should be constructed specifically for the particular population being studied. The argument is supported by the results of two studies conducted with college students who received a modified version of the Hassles Scale, a multidimensional measure of locus of control, and various measures of adjustment. It was found that this abbreviated version of the Hassles Scale was associated significantly with depression in Study 1 and with depression and anxiety in Study 2. However, the perception of daily hassles did not interact with an external locus of control to predict unique variance in adjustment scores in either study. Moreover, it was found in both studies that females gave higher severity ratings to their life hassles. The results are discussed with reference to the role of life hassles in personal adjustment and the need for specificity in the assessment of daily fife hassles.