Positive and negative life events: the relationship with coronary heart disease risk factors in young adults

Objective: to investigate the influence of positive and negative life event s (including daily uplifts and daily hassles) on several biological and lif estyle coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors. Methods: from the Amsterd am Growth and Health Longitudinal Study (AGHLS), a cross-section sample of 207 males and 231 females aged 32/33 years was used. Results: hardly any as sociations were found between both positive and negative life events and bi ological CHD risk factors. On the other hand, daily uplifts and positive li fe events were positively related to lifestyle. For both positive and negat ive life events coping behaviour played a role in these relationships. Furt hermore, it was shown that the associations of health-related variables wit h daily uplifts and hassles were comparable to those found for major positi ve and negative life events. Conclusion: This study could not fully determi ne whether or not different mechanisms play a role in the health benefits o f positive life events compared to the health burdens of negative life even ts. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.