[Association of stressful life events and psychological distress: a community-based study].

A cross-sectional study was conducted in 1999 to investigate the association between stressful psychosocial events and psychological distress. A Faces Scale was used to measure the outcome. Death and illness in the family, divorce, robbery, injury, migration, and loss of employment in the previous year were investigated through interviews with 3,942 individuals over 20 years. Logistic regression followed a hierarchical model using socio-demographic characteristics at the first level; psychosocial events at the second; and psychological distress at the third. Injury and migration were not associated with the outcome. The strongest effect was associated with divorce (adjusted OR=2.34). The highest population-attributable risks were from socioeconomic variables (education 38.2%; family income, 32.3%) and the occurrence of at least one event (36.4%). Public policies aimed at ameliorating adverse social factors such as loss of employment and crime, as well as social support to help individuals manage stressful life events are likely to improve psychological well-being.