Abstract
During the last two decades there has been ample documentation of the relationship between an accumulation of negative major life events and subsequent health impairments. Although there are a number of methodological problems with many of these studies, the consistency and pervasiveness of the effects are striking1,2. However, throughout most of this literature the size of the relationship between the number of negative life events and subsequent illness has been modest, with most studies showing correlations in the range of.301. In fact, most individuals who experience major life events do not become ill, or they only experience relatively short illness episodes that are frequently quite comparable to those experienced by their population agemates.