Given the facilitating conditions and the characteristic qualities of worry, the elderly seem to be particularly susceptible to the experience of worry. The Worry Scale was developed in response to the concerns expressed about life events measures and as an attempt to address the needs of elderly people directly. Older adults (N=94) from 11 senior center programs and meal-sites in New England completed the Worry Scale, a Background Information Questionnaire, a variation of the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist, and the Symptoms Checklist (SCL-90). The results indicated that respondents were generally healthy and worry free. Their primary worries included concern over sensory and motor losses, failing memory, illness or accident occurring to close family members, relocation, loss of independence, getting depressed, and loss of family and friends. There were no significant sex differences in responses, nor differentiation by socioeconomic status or marital status on the Worry Scale. Only health worry scales correlated significantly with increased age. Total Worry Scale scores and each subscale score were significantly correlated with anxiety scale scores. Respondents who were high in worry scores were shown to be less healthy, more anxious, less vigorous, and less contented than were respondents who did not indicate a high worry scale. These data have implications for the ways the elderly cope with stressful items. (NB)