ABSTRACT
Life events have an impact not only due to the life event per se but also due to what that particular life event represents for the individual in their life context and how any underlying vulnerability is triggered. This chapter provides a brief overview of the numerous methodological flaws of checklists and outlines some of the consequences resulting from their continued dominance. One area that has suffered and continues to suffer due to poor life event measurement techniques is the hugely invested field around gene × environment interactions. The chapter presents a case study from a recorded LEDS interview undertaken as part of the recent CLEAR study to demonstrate firsthand how the same events were rated (or not) using the LTE-Q checklist severe life event measure. It illustrates how interviews are able to gather much more pertinent information and gives a fuller understanding of the respondent’s experienced life events and a potentially more accurate level of external stressors.
