Table 1.

Health status and stress.^a

Variable	Quartile of perceived stress				P stress
	Lowest	Middle lowest	Middle highest	Highest
Perceived stress	11.1 ± 0.1	21.2 ± 0.1*	27.4 ± 0.1*	35.1 ± 0.1*	0.000
Self-rated general healthb	3.3 ± 0.04	3.5 ± 0.04*	3.8 ± 0.04*	4.0 ± 0.04*	0.000
Self-reported clinical depression	0.24 ± 0.02	0.49 ± 0.02*	0.65 ± 0.02*	0.80 ± 0.02*	0.000
CES-D scorec	8.5 ± 0.5	17.1 ± 0.5*	22.5 ± 0.5*	32.7 ± 0.5*	0.000
Self-reported clinical anxiety	0.16 ± 0.02	0.31 ± 0.02*	0.48 ± 0.02*	0.63 ± 0.02*	0.000
Bad life eventsd	4.6 ± 0.4	7.6 ± 0.4*	8.2 ± 0.4*	1.21 ± 0.4*	0.000
Good life eventsd	7.5 ± 0.3	8.2 ± 0.3	7.5 ± 0.3	6.1 ± 0.4*	0.003
Emotional supporte	87.1 ± 2.6	78.9 ± 2.5	7.61 ± 2.6*	67.6 ± 2.7*	0.000
Food securityf	1.2 ± 0.04	1.4 ± 0.04*	15 ± 0.04*	18 ± 0.04*	0.000
Smoking status (# cigarettes/day)	8.1 ± 1.0	11.6 ± 1.0*	11.3 ± 1.0	12.7 ± 0.9*	0.012
BMI	31.5 ± 0.3	31.7 ± 0.3	32.8 ± 0.3*	31.3 ± 0.3	0.023

^aValues are 1s mean ± S.E. and adjusted for sex, age, education, BMI, income to poverty ratio, and diabetes.

^bA higher score reflects poorer health.

^cCenter for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Score, range 0–60.

^dReported number of bad and good life events over the past year measured through the Life Events Inventory Questionnaire.

^eReported emotional support was measured through the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire.

^fA higher score indicates a greater frequency of not having enough food to eat in the past 12 months.

^*Statistically different from the lowest quartile (P ≤ 0.05).