Stressful life events and the onset of a generalized anxiety syndrome.

In a study of 2,902 subjects from the National Institute of Mental Health Epidemiologic Catchment Area Project in North Carolina, the association between life events and the onset of new cases of generalized anxiety syndrome varied across demographic subgroups and type of life event measure. Men reporting four or more life events had a risk of generalized anxiety syndrome 8.5 times that of men reporting zero to three life events; no association was found for women. Both men and women reporting one or more unexpected, negative, very important life events had a threefold increase in the risk of developing generalized anxiety syndrome.