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The aim of the study is to verify the association between GAD, the severity of depressive symptoms and stressors in pregnant women between the first and second trimester. Cross-sectional study, part of a cohort that followed 980 women during the gestational period of a city in southern Brazil. We performed bivariate analysis using the t-test and chi-square. The variables that presented p ≤ 0.20 were taken for multivariate analysis, through logistic regression, in order to control possible confounding factors. The Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview Plus was used to evaluate GAD, the severity of depressive symptoms was investigated through the Beck Inventory of Depression II, and stress events according to the Social Readjustment Assessment Scale of Holmes e Rahe. The sample consisted of 980 women. Women with mild depression symptoms had 9.8 (IC95% 4.6;21.0) times more GAD, those with moderate symptoms had 27.5 (IC95% 12.5;60.0) times more GAD, and those with severe symptoms had 52.9 (IC95% 19.1;146.5) times more GAD when compared to pregnant women with no symptoms or minimal symptoms. Regarding the stressful events, the pregnant women who presented GAD had an increase of 1.0 (IC95% 1.0;1.1) point in the mean of occurrence of stressor events when compared to those without GAD. These findings highlight the need for prevention strategies and interventions to promote maternal mental health, which benefit the development of infants in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]