ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF NEGATIVE LIFE EVENTS IN ADULTHOOD - ALONGITUDINAL-STUDY

Objective: This study investigated whether negative life events affect ed subjects' long-term physical and mental health. Method: One hundred thirteen normal college men completed biennial follow-up questionnair es from age 26 until age 62. At age 62 they retrospectively assessed 1 6 major negative life events with a self-report checklist. A blind rat er read each man's complete records over the 35 years and completed th e same checklist prospectively. The men had independent physical exami nations at age 65. Results: It was demonstrated that negative life eve nts affect men's psychological health more than their physical health. The correlation of negative life events with physical health was so l ow that no significant relationship between the two variables could be established. Negative life events were significantly associated with affective spectrum disorder and its relevant indicators. Further, the Cox proportional hazards model revealed that negative life events, fam ily history of depression and psychosocial stability during the colleg e years were independent and statistically significant predictors of d epression. Conclusions: This study supports the widely held belief tha t biological factors (heredity), psychological factors (unstable perso nality), and social factors (negative life events) are all etiological ly related to depression.