This household survey of a random sample of 713 rural adults (ages 18 to 60) examined the influence of event characteristics upon the relationship between life change events and impairment. Data were obtained on the occurrence of events, event characteristics, demographic characteristics, and psychiatric impairment (using the General Weil-Being Schedule and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale). Analyses indicated that individuals experiencing higher proportions of undesirable, unanticipated, unpreventable, and disruptive events or events having minimal social support manifested higher levels of psychiatric symptomatology. Although total number of events was consistently the best predictor of impairment, it did not diminish the effects of the event characteristics on impairment. The independent effects of these event characteristics are discussed.