Personality as a cause of adverse life events.

The element of chance and the role of the individual in causing negative life events was explored by examining the relationship between measures of personality, symptoms, and a number of demographic variables in a nonclinical population (n = 892). The results indicated that Eysenck's neuroticism was the best predictor of negative interpersonal life events. Symptoms added a negligible amount to the variance explained in the occurrence of life events. The well-established relationships between neuroticism and symptoms and life events and symptoms are discussed in the light of these findings.