The prevalence of chronic family difficulties, recent stressful life events and socioeconomic status were assessed in 106 families of children with juvenile arthritis, divided in 5 groups according to disease course types. Chronic family difficulties were assessed by semi-structured parent interviews and life events by questionnaires and interviews. Both chronic family difficulties and recent stressful life events appeared in about 2/3 of the families, but a correlation between these were found only for the pauci and polyarticular groups. Chronic family difficulties and recent stressful life events did not differ between groups and were not associated to severity of disease. To what extent stress influences the course of various disease types of juvenile arthritis warrants longitudinal follow-up. For this a life event questionnaire may be valuable.