Studies of child and adolescent life experiences have attempted to determine how certain situational and psychological factors interact to moderate the effects that stressful life events have on adjustment. In this study a prospective design was used to examine the effects of negative life events and locus of control on emotional well-being. A total of 43 boys and 53 girls were surveyed from 8th grade to 12th grade and 40 boys and 47 girls were surveyed from 12th grade to the young adult follow-up. Prospective analyses, controlling for prior adjustment, revealed no significant effects for stress, locus of control, or the interaction terms at 12th grade. The results suggest that different moderators of life stress are important at different points in time. For example, between 8th and 12th grades, adolescents, for the most part, continue to live at home and can continue to utilize familiar resources to help them cope with stressful life events. Moderators for this age group could include quality of family relations and communication, as well as peer support. As young adult college students, late adolescents may no longer have ready access to prior sources of support during stressful times. Thus, they may have to rely on personal resources, such as attributional style, in order to attenuate the effects of stressful events. Five graphs are attached. (LLL)