The stress generation hypothesis suggests that some individuals contribute more than others to the occurrence of dependent (self-generated), but not independent (fateful), stressful life events. This phenomenon is commonly studied in relation to psychiatric disorders, but effects are also driven by underlying psychological processes that extend beyond the boundaries of DSM-defined entities. This meta-analytic review of modifiable risk and protective factors for stress generation synthesizes findings from 70 studies with 39,693 participants (483 total effect sizes) from over 30 years of research. Findings revealed a range of risk factors that prospectively predict dependent stress with small-to-moderate meta-analytic effects (rs = 0.10–0.26). Negligible to small effects were found for independent stress (rs = 0.03–0.12), and, in a critical test for stress generation, most effects were significantly stronger for dependent compared to independent stress (βs = 0.04–0.15). Moderation analyses suggest effects of maladaptive interpersonal emotion regulation behaviors and repetitive negative thinking are stronger for interpersonal (versus non-interpersonal) stress; effects of repetitive negative thinking and excessive standards for self may be inflated by overreliance on self-report measures that fail to isolate psychological distress from objective experience. Findings have key implications for advancing stress generation theory and informing targets for intervention.

压力产生假说表明，某些人比其他人对依赖性（自身产生的）而不是独立（致命的）压力生活事件的发生贡献更大。这种现象通常与精神疾病有关，但其影响也是由超出 DSM 定义实体边界的潜在心理过程驱动的。这项针对压力产生的可改变风险和保护因素的荟萃分析综述综合了 30 多年研究中 70 项研究的结果，涉及 39,693 名参与者（483 个总效应量）。研究结果揭示了一系列风险因素，这些因素可以前瞻性地预测依赖性压力，并具有小到中等的荟萃分析效应（rs = 0.10-0.26）。发现独立压力的影响可以忽略不计到很小（r s = 0.03–0.12），并且在压力产生的关键测试中，与独立压力相比，大多数依赖性压力的影响明显更强（βs = 0.04–0.15）。调节分析表明，适应不良的人际情绪调节行为和重复的消极思维对人际（相对于非人际）压力的影响更大；过度依赖自我报告措施可能会夸大重复的消极思维和过高的自我标准的影响，而这些措施无法将心理困扰与客观经历隔离开来。研究结果对于推进压力产生理论和告知干预目标具有重要意义。