Responses to stressful circumstances have psychological and physiological dimensions, and are related to anxiety symptoms and mental disorders such as depression. Nonetheless, the relationship between subclinical stress and anxiety symptoms is still elusive. To explore possible associations between stress and anxiety symptoms, patients with major depression (N = 77) and mentally healthy individuals of different age clusters and occupations (N = 412) were enrolled into the study. Stress was assessed with the new subclinical stress symptom questionnaire (SSQ-25). Anxiety was studied with the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), mainly focusing on clinical anxiety, whilst anxiety as a personality trait was assessed with the trait aspect of the State Τrait Αnxiety Ιnventory Y (STAI Y). Statistical analyses included ANOVA, Scheffe test, linear regression models and a two-step cluster analysis using Log-Likelihood Distance measure and fixed number of two clusters. Age, stress symptoms and BAI scores differed significantly between among groups (P < 0.001), whilst STAI Y scores did not. Stress levels were found to be related to clinical anxiety (P < 0.001), while neither group identity nor age exerted any influence on anxiety levels (P > 0.05). The two Step Cluster analysis classified 76 out of 77 participants with milder stress (subclinical) symptoms into the cluster with moderate anxiety, as indicated by BAI scores, and all individuals with more severe stress into the severe anxiety cluster. The observed associations between stress and anxiety shed light on the interrelations between even very mild (subclinical) stress and anxiety symptoms and may point to the potential of mild stress to serve as a target for early interventions aiming to prevent anxiety morbidity.

中文翻译：

---

精神健康个体和重度抑郁症的（亚）临床压力与焦虑症状之间的关联：一项横断面临床研究。

对压力环境的反应具有心理和生理方面的问题，并且与焦虑症状和精神障碍（例如抑郁症）有关。尽管如此，亚临床压力与焦虑症状之间的关系仍然难以捉摸。为了探索压力与焦虑症状之间的可能联系，将重度抑郁症患者（N = 77）和不同年龄组和职业的心理健康个体（N = 412）纳入研究。使用新的亚临床压力症状问卷（SSQ-25）评估压力。贝克焦虑量表（BAI）研究了焦虑症，主要集中在临床焦虑症上，而人格特质的焦虑程度则通过州特质焦虑量表Y（STAI Y）的特征进行评估。统计分析包括ANOVA，Scheffe检验，线性回归模型以及使用对数似然距离度量和固定数量的两个聚类的两步聚类分析。年龄，压力症状和BAI评分在各组之间存在显着差异（P <0.001），而STAI Y评分则没有。发现压力水平与临床焦虑有关（P <0.001），而群体身份和年龄均未对焦虑水平产生任何影响（P> 0.05）。通过BAI评分，两步聚类分析将77位参与者中的76位有轻度压力（亚临床）症状的参与者分类为中度焦虑，并且将所有重度压力较大的个体分类为重度焦虑。