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This paper examines the association between psychological distress and persons' perceptions of their physical well-being. Associations between psychological distress and ratings of health status within four diverse data sets are examined, controlling for physical health status as well as for sociodemographic variables. The results indicate that, despite variation in the characteristics of the populations under study, the mode of data collection employed, and the specific questions used to measure psychological distress, distress remains a statistically significant correlate of perceived health status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most studies of the mental health consequences of role occupancy do not consider racial/ethnic variation. Using a national sample of adults (19 = 13,017), this paper examines the relationship between three' role characteristics (role accumulation, role status, and role combinations) and mental health for Blacks, Mexicans, and Puerto Ricans and explores the extent to which these patterns differ from those for non-Hispanic Whites. Blacks and Puerto Ricans do not benefit from role accumulation whereas Mexicans and Whites who report a high number of roles report better psychological health than those who report few roles. All ethnic groups benefit from the spousal role but there is no consistent effect of either employment or parenthood. Membership in organizational groups benefits non-Hispanic Whites only, whereas familial roles (especially having a sibling) are related to improved mental health among all ethnic groups, except Puerto Ricans. In terms of role combinations, the psychological benefits of occupying all three adult social roles is more evident among non-Hispanic Whites and Mexican Americans compared to Blacks and Puerto Ricans. These findings are discussed in the context of their implications for sociological research which assumes that social psychological processes operate in the same manner across racial/ethnic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, a body of research has developed which purports to show that the well-established relationship between race and psychological distress is duc entirely to social class. In our paper we demonstrate that this view is incorrect: Most prior research has assumed that the effects of race and social class are additive; our analysis shows that they are actually interactive. The form of interaction is such that thc true effect of race is suppressed and tire true effect of social class is magnified in a model that fails to take the interaction into consideration. An analysis of eight different epidemiologic surveys documents this result and shows that race differences in psychological distress are particularly pronounced among people with low incomes. On the basis of this result we call for renewed interest in the effect of race on mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 22-item scale developed through the Midtown Manhattan Study is considered from methodological, substantive, and theoretical perspectives. This paper concludes that the instrument is, at best, a very incomplete measure of mental illness. A review of previous literature suggests a more reasonable interpretation is that it measures psychological stress and physical malaise, although even for these purposes it is a less than ideal measure. Use of the instrument examining the relationship between stressful life experiences and mental illness is further discouraged due to a conceptual confounding of the independent and dependent variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evidence-based interconnection between mental health with lifestyle medicine practice is discussed. The extent to which physical health, and mental and behavioral health overlap are significant, and their interaction is seen in many ways. These bidirectional influences form a continuous thread through all lifestyle medicine pillars. The intersection of mental health and lifestyle should be considered and applied to provide optimal evidence-based lifestyle medicine for all patient populations who will benefit from the specific attention to diet, physical activity, relationships, stress, sleep, and substance use. Lifestyle medicine can be utilized to directly address and treat a range of mental health symptoms and disorders, and physical illnesses. In addition, behavior change skills and addressing the psychological factors contributing to barriers are crucial to helping patients reach their lifestyle medicine goals. Approaches to practice that attend to, and address, mental and behavioral health are relevant to and necessary for all types of providers who work within the lifestyle medicine framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Due to the insufficient and inadequate policies on the psychological well-being of the aged population, we aimed to examine the multidimensional determinants of well-being during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Data were collected from face-to-face interviews with1,232 participants aged 50 and older living in Southern Taiwan. We used multivariate logistic regression to examine the associations between demographics, the physical health, mental health, social ties domains, and well-being. Results: We found that (i) in physical health, no dental problems and exercise were related to better well-being; (ii) in mental health, stress and depression decreased well-being, but laughing every day, and a positive attitude toward aging had adverse effects; and (iii) in social ties, subjective social status, family support, and place attachment to the community were positively associated with well-being. Discussion: Our findings highlight the multidimensional needs at the individual and community levels for the Chinese population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to formally evaluate whether the deleterious impact of unemployment on mental health increases as skin shade darkens for black women in the U.S. Using data drawn from the National Survey of American Life, we find strong evidence of a gradient on depression between skin shade and unemployment for black women. These findings are consistent with the premises of the emerging field of stratification economics. Moreover, the findings are robust to various definitions of skin shade. Unemployed black women with darker complexions are significantly more likely to suffer their first onset of depression than unemployed black females with lighter skin shade. While in some cases, lighter skinned black women appeared not to suffer adverse effects of unemployment compared to their employed counterparts, persons with dark complexions did not enjoy the same degree of protection from poor mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Due to the insufficient and inadequate policies on the psychological well-being of the aged population, we aimed to examine the multidimensional determinants of well-being during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Data were collected from face-to-face interviews with1,232 participants aged 50 and older living in Southern Taiwan. We used multivariate logistic regression to examine the associations between demographics, the physical health, mental health, social ties domains, and well-being. Results: We found that (i) in physical health, no dental problems and exercise were related to better well-being; (ii) in mental health, stress and depression decreased well-being, but laughing every day, and a positive attitude toward aging had adverse effects; and (iii) in social ties, subjective social status, family support, and place attachment to the community were positively associated with well-being. Discussion: Our findings highlight the multidimensional needs at the individual and community levels for the Chinese population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents an analysis of 3.5 million calls made to a mental health and well-being helpline, seeking to answer the question, what different groups of callers can be characterised by specific usage patterns? Calls were extracted from a telephony informatics system. Each call was logged with a date, time, duration and a unique identifier allowing for repeat caller analysis. We utilized data mining techniques to reveal new insights into help-seeking behaviours. Analysis was carried out using unsupervised machine learning (K-means clustering) to discover the types of callers, and Fourier transform was used to ascertain periodicity in calls. Callers can be clustered into five or six caller groups that offer a meaningful interpretation. Cluster groups are stable and re-emerge regardless of which year is considered. The volume of calls exhibits strong repetitive intra-day and intra-week patterns. Intra-month repetitions are absent. This work provides new data-driven findings to model the type and behaviour of callers seeking mental health support. It offers insights for computer-mediated and telephony-based helpline management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Psychiatry is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article focuses on consequences of child mental health and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Topics discussed include problem of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) associated with fetal alcohol syndrome, children referred to fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) clinics are found to have risk exposures in addition to PAE like physical abuse and exposure to parental substance use after birth, and requirement of evidence in alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder (ARND) diagnosis.

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Psychiatry is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Information about several papers discussed at a meeting on the impacts of television on child health is presented. According to a Public Health consultant, violence portrayed in television is not always harmful. According to a psychologist, British television compared to its American counterpart provides authentic cultural, historical and literary information. The meeting featured several psychologists including Alan Maryon-Davis and Maire Messenger Davies.

This article examines whether long journeys to work are negatively associated with commuters’ mental health. Fixed-effects models were applied to the panel data on 5,216 participants in the British Household Panel Survey who were working at the time of interview and aged between 16 and 64 years. Mental health status was established using the General Health Questionnaire. Long journeys to work are associated with a higher risk of poor mental health for women but not for men, controlling for a number of demographic and socioeconomic factors. Previous studies have asserted that long journeys to work are a stressful event, which affects men and women as an acute stressor. Our results from the 16-year panel data found that the long-term effect applies only for women. The fact that women with children are most likely to suffer from long commuting suggests that such daily travel behavior is particularly difficult for women. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Graduate students occupy social positions within institutions of higher education that are rife with role strain and, relative to broader power relations within these institutions, are marginalized. In this study, we inquire how the social positions and concomitant roles of graduate students shape their mental health experiences, investigating potential institutional sources of stress. Our findings suggest that master’s and doctoral students have unique mental health concerns related to their roles and social positions as graduate students. Major institutional sources of stress include role strain, mentor relationships, isolation, and funding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theories of work-family conflict (WFC) and health remain limited because they emphasize individual-level antecedents to the exclusion of broader contexts, such as residential neighborhoods. We address this issue by focusing on the impact of neighborhood social composition on WFC. Among couples with children we assess whether socially similar neighbors relative to oneself reduce perceptions and mental health consequences of WFC, and whether these associations differ by gender. We argue that the convergence of similarities in residents’ features relative to the respondent’s own may affect WFC by influencing normative expectations about work and family, and assumptions of available support. We use data on intact families with at least one child between the ages of 9 and 16 from Toronto, Canada, linked to census data. Results highlight that greater similarity between respondents and residents reduces perceptions and consequences of WFC for women but not men. We discuss these findings in relation to neighborhood effects and mental health literature. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Research shows a strong association between traumatic life experience and mental health and important gender differences in that relationship in the western European Diaspora; but much less is known about these relationships in other settings. We investigate these relationships in a poor rural Asian setting that recently experienced a decade-long armed conflict. We use data from 400 adult interviews in rural Nepal. The measures come from World Mental Health survey instruments clinically validated for this study population to measure depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and intermittent explosive disorder. Our results demonstrate that traumatic life experience significantly increases the likelihood of mental health disorders in this setting, and that these traumatic experiences have a larger effect on the mental health of women than men. These findings offer important clues regarding the potential mechanisms producing gender differences in mental health in many settings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Despite the proliferation of studies documenting the relationship between physical limitation and depressive symptoms in the United States, we currently do not know (1) whether physical impairment is associated with other dimensions of emotional well-being and (2) if these associations differ for men and women as well as married and nonmarried adults. We use panel data from two national samples to examine gender and marital status variations in the impact of physical limitation on four indicators of mental health. We find that physical limitation is associated with increases in depressive symptoms and negative feelings as well as decreases in positive emotions. Although the patterns are complex, we also find gender and marital status differences in these associations. Our results provide additional support for Aneshensel’s (1992; Aneshensel, Rutter, and Lachenbruch 1991) argument about the highly contingent nature of stress reactivity and contribute to theory about both gender and marital status differences in the impact of stress on mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Dropping out of school is a worldwide phenomenon with drastic mental health consequences for children, families and society. Aim and Materials & Methods: This study examines school dropouts in one district in Kerala with an emphasis on looking at multiple reasons for the problem. Results: The most common "reason" was various Physical disorders (80, 21.8%) followed by Mental Retardation (77, 20.9%). Child labour (Employment) came last (30, 8.1%) as a "reason" while financial issues constituted 50 (13.6%). Family issues accounted for 63 (17.1%) and School-related issues 68 (18.5%). Conclusion: This study highlights the need to examine a space of reasons for this phenomenon with active involvement and coordination of multiple agencies to examine and support getting children back to school and prevent dropouts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociological research focuses on how poverty, family, and neighborhood dynamics shape children’s problems, but knowledge about how school is related to children’s mental health is underdeveloped, despite its central presence in children’s lives. Using a social structure and personality-stress contagion perspective, the authors use a nationally representative sample of first graders (N = 10,700) to assess how the classroom learning environment affects children’s emotional and behavior problems. Children in more negative environments—such as classrooms with fewer material resources and whose teachers receive less respect from colleagues—have more learning, externalizing, interpersonal, and internalizing problems. Moreover, children in classrooms with low academic standards, excessive administrative paperwork, rowdy behavior, and low skill level of peers have more problems across one or more outcomes. Some school effects vary across race and ethnicity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We analyze data from the South African Stress and Health Study, a nationally representative in-person psychiatric epidemiologic survey of 4,351 adults conducted as part of the World Mental Health Survey Initiative between January 2002 and June 2004. All blacks (Africans, Coloreds, and Indians) initially report higher levels of non-specific distress and anger/hostility than whites. Access to socioeconomic resources helps explain differences in non-specific distress between Coloreds and whites and Indians and whites. However, only when social stressors are considered do we find few differences in psychological distress (i.e., non-specific distress and anger/hostility) between Africans and whites. In addition, self-esteem and mastery have independent effects on non-specific distress and anger/hostility, but differences between Coloreds and whites in feelings of anger/hostility are not completely explained by self-esteem and mastery. The findings contribute to the international body of work on social stress theory, challenge underlying assumptions of the minority status perspective, and raise a series of questions regarding mental health disparities among South Africans. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article seeks to accomplish four tasks related to self-actualization. First is to provide an orderly introduction that briefly summarizes a typology of motivation theory espoused in 194; second, to elaborate on and diagram psychologist A. H. Maslow's early theory; third, to introduce the work of Maslow that transcends his 1943 model and proposes a modification to that model; and fourth, to discuss the managerial implications and applications of the expanded model. Self-actualization may be commonly misunderstood as a focus on self and as the last level of Maslow's hierarchy. This article is an amplification and affirmation of what it appears Maslow intended, that is, movement from self to other.

Using National Population Health Survey data and the stress process model, this study investigates the relationship between food insufficiency and the risk of depression among Canadian adults. The study presents three principal findings. First, after controlling for conventional socioeconomic and socio-demographic variables, food insufficiency increases the risk of depression and actually predicts this risk better than measures of low income, main source of income, and education. Second, the negative effect of food insufficiency is not attributable to social resources disparities, even though these resources significantly reduce the size of the effect. Third, the effects of food insufficiency on depression are generally stronger for women than for men, but the results also indicate that single fathers from food insufficient households face more depression than other groups, including single mothers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay considers the dual roles occupied by the sociologist of mental health. These roles involve the articulation of social causation in the study of mental health outside of the discipline, coupled with the articulation within the discipline of the importance of mental health in the study of sociology. I consider these roles both through examples and speculation, emphasizing the unique combination of conceptual and methodological tools that define the intellectual terrain of this area of sociology. The advantage of this dual role--of looking outward while also looking inward--is that we are able to draw from the essential developments and innovations from one source and "move" these insights toward the other. The difficulties of this position are also clear: As an area, we may be structurally marginal from both perspectives, at the same time that we offer considerable analytic power that could significantly impact the direction of research involving mental health in both realms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes an ethnographic evaluation of an educational grief program that was based on a curriculum drawn from mental health rehabilitation theory. Theoretical rationale; Method used; Discussion.

Conflicting evidence suggests that marijuana use may be associated with either positive or negative mental health. This study explores the possibility that the association of marijuana use with mental health differs among various subgroups of users. Specifically, we investigate the hypothesis that marijuana use and the personality disposition of introspectiveness interact in their effects on psychological well-being. Results support this hypothesis and show that marijuana use is associated significantly with psychological distress for highly introspective individuals. In contrast, marijuana use has no such association for those low on introspectiveness. Additional evidence shows that marijuana use involves primarily self-oriented cognitive and emotional experiences for highly introspective individuals, whereas for those low on introspectiveness it is characterized more often by perceptual distortions and sensorimotor sensations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study contributes to the growing body of research on situational determinants of coping. Based on a general population sample of 1556 married men and women, it goes beyond previous efforts in two ways. First, it presents the first large-scale analysis of situational determinants of coping effectiveness in response to a wide variety' of stressful life events and chronic difficulties. This analysis documents that previous aggregate analyses overlooked a number of specifications which, when observed, provide insights into the mechanisms of coping effectiveness. Second, it assesses the importance of two empirically generated multivariate coping profiles, passivity and versatility. The study's findings suggest that these profiles are associated significantly with adjustment to stress, that these associations differ across situations, and that they help to interpret the effects of separate coping strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A probability sample of 1,429 adults aged 55 and older was interviewed in their homes three times at six-month intervals. Measures of symptoms, social support, and education were obtained before measures of life-event stress. A LISREL analysis of three waves and two intervals of data yielded a goodness of fit of .989 between the data and the model. For both intervals, increases in stress led to increases in symptoms, which supported the Dohrenwend hypothesis of a normative stress reaction. This reaction typically did not persist beyond six months unless there was high stress over both intervals. Contrary to Dohrenwend's resource mediation hypothesis, social support and education did not influence either the reaction to or the recovery from stress. Symptoms were very stable over the one-year period. Overall, the results depict older adults as quite consistent and resilient. Because life events were correlated over time and were predicted by person characteristics, they should not be considered as independent of person factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working-class mothers with dependent children are at relatively high risk for mental health problems. Although paid employment has not been found to influence the mental health of mothers in general, there is some evidence that working-class mothers do benefit. In a community survey of 193 working-class mothers, we tested for direct effects of employment and examined these effects in interaction with life event stress, social support, and the presence of a preschool child. Subject selection minimized confounding among these variables. No overall effect of paid employment or preschool children was found. Mothers who had suffered a severely stressful life event in the previous year had higher levels of psychiatric symptomatology. Employment reduced this risk when social support was available but, in the absence of social support, was associated with high symptom levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined how patterns of coping and defense, as well as their main effects, influence well-being. Using a cross-sectional survey design, questionnaire data were collected and analyzed from 207 university students facing the stress of annual examinations in India. Coping was generally and positively correlated with positive affects (such as satisfaction) whereas defense was primarily and positively correlated with somatic complaints and negative affects. Regarding patterns of coping, mobilization to take action was associated with negative affect when the coping mechanism of problem diagnosis was relatively low. When diagnosis was relatively high, mobilization was associated with either no change in affect or an improvement in it. Coping and defense, but not their combinations, buffered certain effects of poor fit on indicators of ill-being. The similarities and differences between these findings and those of other investigators suggest that coping may buffer the effects of stressors on ill-being only when stressors are subjectively controllable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Confirmatory factor analyses were used to map dimensions of subjective mental health underlying 25 indexes of well-being and distress assessed in a 1976 national representative survey of adults. Partially confirming hypotheses, six dominant factors (Unhappiness, Lack of Gratification, Strain, Feelings of Vulnerability, Lack of Self-Confidence, and Uncertainty) emerged for both men and women. Comparative analyses revealed that the six-factor model derived for men fit the data of both sexes equally well. Thus, this model provides a means of assessing men's and women's self-evaluations comparably. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated the divergent validity of the dimensions in the model by differentially relating certain demographic' and behavioral measures to the various factors. Four critical theoretical issues were discussed as underlying measures of subjective mental health: affective orientation (positive vs. negative), object of focus (world vs. self), time referent (past vs. present vs. future), and mode of reaction (spontaneous vs. reflective). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The buffering hypothesis suggests that social support can moderate the impacts of life events upon mental health. However, several problems have yet to be resolved in tins literature. Social support has been inadequately conceptualized and operationalized therefore, the specific dimensions of support that reduce event impacts cannot be identified. The direct effect of events upon support and the interactive (buffering) effect of events with support have been confounded in many studies, such that results may have been biased in favor of the hypothesis. The relationships between events, support, and psychological disturbance have not been clarified theoretically; thus, the possibility that support itself is an etiological factor has beet: overlooked. This article reviews empirical work on the buffering hypothesis, outlines alternate conceptualizations and operationalizations of support, presents a refined hypothesis and model for analysis, and suggests three theoretical approaches that may be used to explain the interrelationships between support, events, and disturbance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two models of the relationship between life change and illness behavior are tested in a prospective study of surgical patients in six disease-operation categories. The sensitization model hypothesizes that higher levels of life change experienced prior to surgery will be related positively to the number of problems perceived by patients with their postoperative recovery. The physiological reaction model predicts that life change will be positively related to the patients' actual morbidity postoperatively. Inconsistent results were found for each model. Small effects in the direction predicted by the sensitization model were found with gastric surgery, abdominal hysterectomy and vaginal hysterectomy categories. The physiological reaction model received weak support from two categories: abdominal and vaginal hysterectomy. The remaining four categories failed to show support for the physiological reaction model. Overall, the findings are interpreted as failing to show clear support for either model. Various explanations for these negative results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research assessed the posttreatment functioning of alcoholic patients in relation to (1) the presence or absence of marital and occupational resources, and (2) if present, the type of social environment they provided. Patients in stable marital and/or work situations at admission had significantly better outcomes (drinking, psychological, social) than patients without those resources (N = 429). Among the married patients, a more positive family milieu was associated with relatively greater improvement in the functioning of the alcoholic member. Among working patients, a more positively perceived work environment was associated with more successful posttreatment performance, but only among patients lacking marital support; for patients living with their spouses, no relationship was found. The results underscore the importance of including environmental measures, in addition to patient background characteristics, in longitudinal and evaluation research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses aspects of mental health in education. The interrelationship of mental health and of education. William G. Hollister diagramed and described the emerging pattern of relationship between education and mental health; In the education of all children, including children with mild emotional handicaps, the relationship should be one of utilizing all social and behavioral science research in the development of curriculums and in the training of teachers, pupils-personnel workers, health workers, and administrative staffs. Educational and mental health agencies have become closer and more integrative in their efforts to provide effective educational experiences for moderately to severely handicapped children.

The desire to undergo cosmetic surgery of the nose appears to have its roots in the social and cultural pressures to conform to the dominant culture. A study of 89 rhinoplastic patients revealed that eradication of ethnic visibility was the predominating motive for approximately half of the group, while the other half sought surgery to avoid undesirable personality characteristics ascribed to those with certain stereotypic noses. Implications of these findings are discussed, and suggestions for further research in the area of mental health are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]