Minor stressors and generalized anxiety disorder among low-income patientsattending primary care clinics

The total number of minor life events and subjective ratings of distress as sociated with these events were assessed for individuals with generalized a nxiety disorder (GAD) and for nonanxious controls. Participants consisted o f 256 randomly selected, low-income patients from primary care medical clin ics. Diagnoses were obtained using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for th e DSM-IV (DIS-IV). An analysis of variance revealed that GAD individuals re ported significantly more minor life events than did nonanxious controls (F = 50.97, p < .001). An analysis of covariance indicated that persons with GAD perceived their minor stressors as significantly more stressful than di d nonanxious controls, even after the total number of events was controlled (F = 42.07, p < .001). These findings are consistent with cognitive theori es of GAD and current revisions to the definition of the disorder in the Di agnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Implications for theory and research on GAD are discussed.