A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF PESSIMISM, TRAIT ANXIETY, AND LIFE STRESS ON DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN

The relative contributions of life stress, menopausal status, and pess imism and trait anxiety during the presence and absence of stress on i ncreases in depressive symptoms across 3 years were examined in a samp le of 460 premenopausal women, aged 42-50, who had few depressive symp toms at study entry. Multivariate analyses showed that after statistic al adjustments for initial depressive symptoms and education, depressi ve symptoms at follow-up were higher among women (a) who reported stre ssful events, especially of a chronic nature, (b) who scored highly on trait anxiety, and (c) who were pessimistic and subsequently experien ced a stressful ongoing problem. Change in menopausal status was not r elated to symptoms. The study confirms that midlife stress and both op timism and trait anxiety are important predictors of depressive sympto ms during midlife.