Am J Psychiatry 1987; 144:1178-1183
Copyright © 1987 by American Psychiatric Association
Stressful life events and the onset of a generalized anxiety syndrome
D Blazer, D Hughes and LK George
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.
