[Events anticipated as stress factors]

The majority of research work carried out on stress factors have dealt with life events from a person's past. In this article, the authors also look at the impact of anticipated events. Past events are measured according to Life Events and Difficulties Schedule, or LEDS (Brown and Harris, 1978). The characteristics of anticipated events, namely the number, life domain and valence (positive, negative or neutral), are compared to those of actual events. To illustrate the advances of LEDS in the area of anticipated events, the authors examined the infertility context. Thirty-five couples and seven woman without their spouse, all of whom are trying to have children, were recruited by two clinics of the Québec City region. Results show that anticipated events are fewer than actual events. In addition, the proportion of anticipated negative events is less than the proportion of actual negative events. However, in the last twelve months, the subjects experienced a significantly greater number of negative events as opposed to positive events. The authors discuss the possibility of the sampling having a positive cognitive bias concerning the future, in addition to examining the usefulness of an individual's capacity to anticipate.