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ABSTRACT: Prevailing child psychopathology paradigms focus on caregiving in isolation from market work. Yet most children's caregivers - mothers and fathers - are also employed. Although policy and academic debate has voiced concerns that employment could hamper mothers' capacity to care, less emphasis is given to the benefits generated by mothers' jobs. By contrast, theories of child mental health often view fathers' employment as beneficial, indeed necessary, for children's wellbeing, and few problematise fathers' capacity to combine work and care. This paper aims to integrate these seemingly contradictory concerns. We consider whether mothers' and fathers' rewards from combining employment with childcare may be protective for children's mental health, and whether their conflicts and dilemmas generate risks. Analyses use cross-sectional data from a representative survey of families with 4-5 year old children (Growing Up in Australia Study). We restricted our sample to employed parents (N = 2809 mothers; 3982 fathers), using data gathered in 2004. While a majority of parents reported benefits and rewards from working (work-family facilitation), more than one third also reported difficulties and conflicts (work-family conflict). When mothers or fathers experienced conflict we found elevations in young children's emotional and behavioural symptoms, with the risks compounding if both parents experienced conflict between work and family. Associations persisted after adjusting for family socioeconomic circumstances and composition, and they were not offset by work-family facilitation. We did not find evidence for heightened vulnerability to work-family conflict in families with few socioeconomic resources. However, among these disadvantaged families we observed stronger protective associations with children's mental health when parents had rewarding and supportive jobs. Our study extends current paradigms of child mental health by considering the interplay between care environments and market work. Jobs which help mothers and fathers to combine employment with caregiving could yield health benefits across generations.
Social Science [?] Medicine 06/2013; 87:99-107. · 2.70 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: BackgroundAnalysis of the Psychiatric Morbidity Survey of Great Britain showed that the prevalence of common mental disorders was lower
amongst men at or above Britain’s state pension age of 65, relative to younger men. Retirees below this age had consistently
higher rates of mental disorders than working men. In contrast, the low prevalence of mental disorders amongst retirees aged
65 and older was similar to that of their working peers. The aim of this analysis was to investigate this pattern of results
in a national sample of Australian men, and the mediating role of socio-demographic factors.
MethodData were from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics (HILDA) in Australia survey (2003). The analyses included men aged
45–74years who were active in the labour force (n=1309), or retired (n=635). Mental health was assessed using the mental health scale from the Short-Form 36 Health Questionnaire.
ResultsRetirees were more likely to have mental health problems than their working peers, however this difference was progressively
smaller across age groups. For retirees above, though not below, the age of 55 this difference was explained by poorer physical
functioning. When age at retirement was considered it was found that early retirees who were now at or approaching the conventional
retirement age did not display the substantially elevated rates of mental health problems seen in their younger counterparts.
Further, men who had retired at age 60 or older did not display an initially elevated rate of mental health problems.
ConclusionsThe association between retirement and mental health varies across older adulthood. Retired British and Australian men below
the conventional retirement age of 65 are more likely to have mental health problems relative to their working peers, and
retirees above this age. However, poor mental health appears to be linked to being retired below this age rather than an enduring
characteristic of those who retire early.
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 04/2012; 41(7):515-522. · 2.70 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: This study examines measures of psychosocial job quality developed from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, and reports on associations with physical and mental health.
The study used seven waves of data from the HILDA Survey with 5,548 employed respondents. Longitudinal random-intercept regression models assessed the association of time-varying and between-person measures of psychosocial job quality job adversity with physical and mental health.
Respondents' specific experience of psychosocial job adversity, except marketability, was associated with increased risk of mental health problems, whereas the association between psychosocial job adversity and physical health was largely driven by differences between people.
Moving into jobs with different psychosocial quality is associated with changes in mental health. In contrast, individuals with poor physical health show an increased propensity to work in poor-quality jobs but it seems that changes in physical health are not as strongly tied to changes in job quality. Differences in the relationship between physical and mental health and psychosocial job quality have implications for the design of employment, health and social policy. The HILDA Survey is an important resource for policy development in Australia, and the availability of valid measures of psychosocial of job quality will enhance its use to better understand this important determinant and correlate of health.
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 12/2011; 35(6):564-71. · 1.20 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: To investigate the extent improvement or deterioration in employee job security, control or workload is associated with a change in mental health.
Self-report panel data (2000, 2004) on mental health (symptoms of depression and generalised anxiety) and job demands, control and insecurity. Changes in exposures and outcomes were calculated by subtracting wave 1 from wave 2 scores. Changes in mental health were regressed onto changes in work conditions, adjusting for confounders. Sensitivity analyses assessed reverse causation, floor and ceiling effects.
Two adjoining cities in south-east Australia.
1975 employees aged 40-48 years, 50% (n=995) male.
Improvements and deterioration in each work condition were associated with corresponding improvements or deterioration in mental health. The association between changes in job insecurity and symptoms of depression was B=0.386 (95% CI 0.245 to 0.527) and with anxiety symptoms was B=0.434 (95% CI 0.267 to 0.601). Similarly, changes in job control were associated with changes in depressive (B=-0.548; 95% CI -0.791 to -0.304) and anxiety symptoms (B=-0.608; 95% CI -0.896 to -0.319) as were changes in job demands (B depression=0.386; 95% CI 0.245 to 0.527; B anxiety=0.434; 95% CI 0.267 to 0.601). Excluding people with severe symptoms at baseline did not alter the findings; however, path analyses indicated that depression may precede a worsening of work conditions.
Among mid-aged employees, deteriorating work conditions may amplify population health burdens, especially anxiety. Furthermore, better quality jobs, combining an array of positive conditions, could alleviate major population health burdens.
Journal of epidemiology and community health 06/2011; 65(6):529-34. · 3.04 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Poor mental health may influence people's decisions about, and ability to, keep working into later adulthood. The identification of factors that drive retirement provides valuable information for policymakers attempting to mitigate the effects of population ageing. This study examined whether mental health predicts subsequent retirement in a general population sample, and whether this association varied with the timing of retirement.
Longitudinal data from 2,803 people aged 45-75 years were drawn from five waves of the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey. Discrete-time survival analyses were used to estimate the association between mental health and retirement. Mental health was measured using the Mental Health Index (MHI-5). The relative influences of other health, social, financial, and work-related predictors of retirement were considered to determine the unique contribution of mental health to retirement behaviour.
Poor mental health was associated with higher rates of retirement in men (hazard rate ratio, HRR 1.19, 95% CI 1.01-1.29), and workforce exit more generally in women (HRR 1.14, 95% CI 1.07-1.22). These associations varied with the timing of retirement and were driven by early retirees specifically. Physical functioning, income, social activity, job conditions (including job stress for women and job control for men), and aspects of job satisfaction also predicted subsequent retirement.
Poor mental and physical health predict workforce departure in mid-to-late adulthood, particularly early retirement. Strategies to accommodate health conditions in the workplace may reduce rates of early retirement and encourage people to remain at work into later adulthood.
Social Psychiatry 04/2011; 47(5):735-44. · 2.05 Impact Factor
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Kaarin J Anstey,
Helen Christensen,
Peter Butterworth,
Simon Easteal,
Andrew Mackinnon,
Trish Jacomb,
Karen Maxwell, Bryan Rodgers,
Tim Windsor,
Nicolas Cherbuin,
Anthony F Jorm
International Journal of Epidemiology 02/2011; 41(4):951-60. · 6.41 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The paper reports on the first phase of a two-part research project that aims to substantiate a new approach to describing the Australian population for social policy purposes. By analysing psychosocial factors that contribute to overall wellbeing, the researchers have developed ways of generalising about the Australian population, which acknowledge the complexity of people's lives and may be more helpful for policy and program interventions than 'traditional' sociodemographic or economic analysis.This research proposes a method to understand how the multifaceted disadvantage that prevents people from participating and living full lives can be addressed; it also helps to explain why policies based solely on income support are often ineffective. This type of analysis sets up different ways of constructing groups of concern to social policy, which are theoretically sensible and intuitively suggestive of multidimensional policy responses (taking account of the different impacts on peoples lives) rather than one dimensional responses. The five 'contemporary Australian archetypes' identified by the researchers are: - Connected Retirees (representing 22 per cent of the population) - Financially Secure Working Couples (20 per cent of the population) - Time-pressured Couples with Children (26 per cent of the population) - Dissatisfied Working Age Singles (19 per cent of the population) - Marginalised Australians (13 per cent of the population).
Labor: Demographics & Economics of the Family eJournal. 12/2010;
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ABSTRACT: Whether the reported poorer mental health of ecstasy users is due to a bias in endorsement of somatic symptoms has been postulated, but rarely examined.
The purpose of this study is to investigate whether levels of ecstasy use were associated with differential probabilities of endorsing somatic mental health symptoms.
Current ecstasy users aged 24-30 years (n = 316) were identified from a population-based Australian study. Measures included frequency of ecstasy, meth/amphetamine, and cannabis use and the Goldberg anxiety/depression symptom scales.
Multiple indicator, multiple cause models demonstrated no bias towards endorsing somatic symptoms with higher ecstasy use, both with and without adjustment for gender, cannabis, and meth/amphetamine use.
Other studies using alternate measures of mental health should adopt this approach to determine if there is a bias in the endorsement of somatic symptoms among ecstasy users.
Psychopharmacologia 12/2010; 214(4):901-9. · 4.08 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: This project investigated the context in which relationship instability occurs, by examining the factors (at the individual, and the couple/family levels) that precede relationship dissolution within Australian families with children.The research considers whether mental health problems, impaired physical functioning, hazardous levels of alcohol consumption and smoking are associated with later divorce or separation. Background:The analysis in this paper is unique in that it considers data from both spouses. Data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey is used to take advantage of the household sampling frame that collects data from multiple household members. The analysis is limited to adult respondents with dependent children, considering couples in both marriage and de facto (common law) relationships. Overall, 1,498 mixed-sex couples were considered, having data available for both spouses and sufficient information across subsequent waves to ascertain if the couples remained together or separated. Having identified intact couples with dependent children at Wave 1, the authors contrast the initial circumstances of those who remain together with those who separate or divorce. Of the 1,498 couples: 1,384 (92.4 per cent) were classified as intact couples over the three waves of data and 114 (7.6 per cent) had separated.• The analysis confirmed marital stability was associated with physical health, mental health, smoking behaviour, relationship dissatisfaction, life dissatisfaction, receipt of income support, labour force status, financial hardship, educational attainment, religiosity, previous marriage-like relationships, parental divorce, cohabitation prior to marriage, being in a de facto relationship, and short relationship duration. • The analysis also found that there was significant spousal concordance or similarity for these characteristics, demonstrating the importance of considering how the characteristics of spouses may combine to influence relationship stability.• Couples in which women reported dissatisfaction with their relationship had a much higher risk of subsequent divorce or separation. The effect of women’s dissatisfaction subsumed the effect of men’s relationship dissatisfaction.• De facto couples had a greater risk of separation than married couples, consistent with the existing literature (Bradbury & Norris 2005b). Similarly, parental divorce remained a strong predictor of subsequent own divorce/separation (Amato 2000).• The analysis of health and health behaviours was a focus of this project. While there was no association between alcohol consumption and relationship instability and the effect of physical functioning was not apparent in the multivariate model, mental health (and life satisfaction which was also considered as an alternative measure of the same general construct) was associated with separation/divorce, though the effects were significantly attenuated in the full model. • The final analysis suggested that the effects of men’s poor mental health and women’s dissatisfaction with life were mediated through relationship satisfaction. • Across all of the analyses, there was a strong relationship between smoking status and marital instability. The final multivariate model showed that couples in which women were smokers (regardless of the male partner’s smoking status) were at increased risk of divorce or separation. The authors consider that this reflects the effectiveness of women’s smoking as a marker of social and economic disadvantage and adversity.• Research shows a strong effect of educational disparity on marital instability. Compared to couples in which partners had similar levels of educational qualifications, those couples in which women reported tertiary qualifications and men reported not completing high school had a ten-fold greater risk of divorce/separation. This may reflect two factors:1) Women’s educational attainment may be a proxy for financial independence and, thus, the opportunity for women to support themselves outside of the marriage. This removes a potential barrier to divorce or separation. 2) These couples may experience greater conflict or dissatisfaction within the relationship, perhaps associated with the fact that they are not fulfilling the traditional gendered roles within marriage. • Couples showing the opposite pattern of educational attainment (men with tertiary qualifications and women not completing high school) did not demonstrate an increased risk of subsequent marital instability and, if anything, showed somewhat greater than average stability.• In summary, the project demonstrated the need to look beyond financial circumstances and employment characteristics when considering factors associated with marital stability. These results demonstrate the nexus between social policy, public health and health policy.
Labor: Demographics & Economics of the Family eJournal. 11/2010;
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ABSTRACT: One important component of social inclusion is the improvement of well-being through encouraging participation in employment and work life. However, the ways that employment contributes to wellbeing are complex. This study investigates how poor health status might act as a barrier to gaining good quality work, and how good quality work is an important pre-requisite for positive health outcomes.
This study uses data from the PATH Through Life Project, analysing baseline and follow-up data on employment status, psychosocial job quality, and mental and physical health status from 4261 people in the Canberra and Queanbeyan region of south-eastern Australia. Longitudinal analyses conducted across the two time points investigated patterns of change in employment circumstances and associated changes in physical and mental health status.
Those who were unemployed and those in poor quality jobs (characterised by insecurity, low marketability and job strain) were more likely to remain in these circumstances than to move to better working conditions. Poor quality jobs were associated with poorer physical and mental health status than better quality work, with the health of those in the poorest quality jobs comparable to that of the unemployed. For those who were unemployed at baseline, pre-existing health status predicted employment transition. Those respondents who moved from unemployment into poor quality work experienced an increase in depressive symptoms compared to those who moved into good quality work.
This evidence underlines the difficulty of moving from unemployment into good quality work and highlights the need for social inclusion policies to consider people's pre-existing health conditions and promote job quality.
BMC Public Health 10/2010; 10:621. · 2.00 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: To investigate whether the observed elevated levels of psychological distress in cancer survivors relate specifically to aspects of cancer diagnosis, to treatment or to disability.
Self-reported questionnaire data on demographic, health and lifestyle factors and mental health from 89574 Australian men and women aged 45 years or older, sampled from the Medicare database for the 45 and Up Study from 1 February 2006 to 30 April 2008. Logistic regression was used to examine the risk of high levels of psychological distress in relation to cancer diagnosis and disability, adjusting for age, sex, income and education.
High psychological distress (Kessler Psychological Distress Scale score > or = 22).
Overall, 7.5% of participants had high levels of psychological distress. Among cancer survivors, the median time since diagnosis was 7.3 years. Compared with people without cancer, the odds ratios (95% CIs) for psychological distress were: 1.17 (1.09-1.26) in people reporting having had any cancer apart from non-melanoma skin cancer; 1.34 (1.08-1.67) in those with cancer diagnosed in the previous year; 1.53 (1.33-1.76) for those reporting treatment for cancer in the previous month and 1.11 (1.03-1.19) for those with cancer but without recent treatment. Using individuals with neither cancer nor disability as the reference group, the adjusted odds ratio (95% CI) for psychological distress was 6.51 (5.95-7.12) in those reporting significant disability but no cancer, 1.14(1.04-1.24) in those without disability but with cancer and 5.81(4.88-6.91) in those with both cancer and disability.
The risk of psychological distress in individuals with cancer relates much more strongly to their level of disability than it does to the cancer diagnosis itself.
The Medical journal of Australia 09/2010; 193(5 Suppl):S62-7. · 2.81 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey includes twelve items that assess different psychosocial characteristics of work. However, these items are not drawn from an established scale and, therefore, we do not know the best way to combine the items, or indeed the validity of doing so. The current study uses several different statistical methods to develop measures of the psychosocial characteristics of jobs using these items. Consistent with previous research and theory, the results show that the twelve HILDA survey items reflect three key components of psychosocial job adversity: job demands and complexity, job control and job security. This factor structure was consistent across the seven waves of the survey data available for analysis. Based on the current findings, we plan to use the psychosocial job quality items to investigate the relationship between job adversity and physical and mental health over time.
SIRN: Tax Structure (Sub-Topic). 07/2010;
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ABSTRACT: To contrast the level of anxiety and depression reported by older Australians providing assistance to someone who is ill, disabled or elderly with that of non-caregivers; and to identify secondary stressors and mediating factors which explain caregivers' poorer mental health.
Analysis of data from wave 2 of the PATH Through Life Study, a community survey of 2,222 adults aged 64-69 years conducted in Canberra and Queanbeyan, Australia. Mental health was assessed using the Goldberg depression and anxiety scales. Analyses focused on those who identified themselves as a primary carer and/or reported providing care for more than 5 hours per week. Analyses evaluated whether the association between caregiver status and mental health was mediated by financial factors, role strain, physical health, and social support and conflict with family and friends after adjusting for demographics.
Caregivers reported significantly poorer mental health than non-caregivers, and also reported poorer physical health, greater financial stress, greater responsibility for household tasks, and more conflict and less social support from their family and spouse. Mediation analysis showed that the poorer mental health of caregivers reflected elevated rates of their own physical impairment, a lack of social support and greater conflict.
The relationship between caregiving and mental health was largely explained by social support and levels of conflict within the family, which are modifiable and potentially amenable to change through policy and intervention. Research such as this can assist the development of appropriate interventions to improve the circumstances of informal caregivers in Australia.
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 07/2010; 44(7):616-24. · 2.93 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Socioeconomic position (SEP) in childhood and adulthood influences the risk of adult psychiatric disorder. This paper investigates first how cumulative childhood manual SEP influences the risk for mid-life depressive and anxiety disorders and secondly the effects of health selection based on psychological disorder in childhood and psychological distress in early adulthood on mid-life social position.
9,377 participants of the 1958 Birth Cohort were followed up at 45 years with the Revised Clinical Interview Schedule to measure depressive and anxiety disorders. SEP was measured by Registrar General Social Class in childhood (ages 7, 11 and 16 years) and adulthood (ages 23, 33 and 42 years). Internalising and externalising disorders were also measured in childhood.
Cumulative manual SEP in childhood was weakly associated with increased risk of mid-life disorder. Childhood internalising and externalising disorders were associated with less upward social mobility and manual adult social position. Psychological disorder on three occasions in childhood was associated with manual adult occupational status (OR = 3.33, 95% CI 2.63-4.21) even after adjusting for childhood SEP and malaise score at 42 years.
Both social causation and health selection contribute to the association of childhood socioeconomic disadvantage and mid-life depressive and anxiety disorders. Tackling accumulation of disadvantage and understanding and treating childhood psychological disorders and their educational and occupational consequences could reduce the risk of mid-life psychiatric disorders.
Social Psychiatry 04/2010; 46(7):549-58. · 2.05 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Abstract Background One important component of social inclusion is the improvement of well-being through encouraging participation in employment and work life. However, the ways that employment contributes to wellbeing are complex. This study investigates how poor health status might act as a barrier to gaining good quality work, and how good quality work is an important pre-requisite for positive health outcomes. Methods This study uses data from the PATH Through Life Project, analysing baseline and follow-up data on employment status, psychosocial job quality, and mental and physical health status from 4261 people in the Canberra and Queanbeyan region of south-eastern Australia. Longitudinal analyses conducted across the two time points investigated patterns of change in employment circumstances and associated changes in physical and mental health status. Results Those who were unemployed and those in poor quality jobs (characterised by insecurity, low marketability and job strain) were more likely to remain in these circumstances than to move to better working conditions. Poor quality jobs were associated with poorer physical and mental health status than better quality work, with the health of those in the poorest quality jobs comparable to that of the unemployed. For those who were unemployed at baseline, pre-existing health status predicted employment transition. Those respondents who moved from unemployment into poor quality work experienced an increase in depressive symptoms compared to those who moved into good quality work. Conclusions This evidence underlines the difficulty of moving from unemployment into good quality work and highlights the need for social inclusion policies to consider people's pre-existing health conditions and promote job quality.
BMC Public Health. 01/2010;
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ABSTRACT: Abstract
Background
Although often providing more reliable and informative findings relative to other study designs, longitudinal investigations of prevalence and predictors of suicidal behaviour remain uncommon. This paper compares 12-month prevalence rates for suicidal ideation and suicide attempt at baseline and follow-up; identifies new cases and remissions; and assesses the capacity of baseline data to predict serious suicidality at follow-up, focusing on age and gender differences.
Methods
6,666 participants aged 20-29, 40-49 and 60-69 years were drawn from the first (1999-2001) and second (2003-2006) waves of a general population survey. Analyses involved multivariate logistic regression.
Results
At follow-up, prevalence of suicidal ideation and suicide attempt had decreased (8.2%-6.1%, and 0.8%-0.5%, respectively). However, over one quarter of those reporting serious suicidality at baseline still experienced it four years later. Females aged 20-29 never married or diagnosed with a physical illness at follow-up were at greater risk of serious suicidality (OR = 4.17, 95% CI = 3.11-5.23; OR = 3.18, 95% CI = 2.09-4.26, respectively). Males aged 40-49 not in the labour force had increased odds of serious suicidality (OR = 4.08, 95% CI = 1.6-6.48) compared to their equivalently-aged and employed counterparts. Depressed/anxious females aged 60-69 were nearly 30% more likely to be seriously suicidal.
Conclusions
There are age and gender differentials in the risk factors for suicidality. Life-circumstances contribute substantially to the onset of serious suicidality, in addition to symptoms of depression and anxiety. These findings are particularly pertinent to the development of effective population-based suicide prevention strategies.
BMC Psychiatry. 01/2010;
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ABSTRACT: Although often providing more reliable and informative findings relative to other study designs, longitudinal investigations of prevalence and predictors of suicidal behaviour remain uncommon. This paper compares 12-month prevalence rates for suicidal ideation and suicide attempt at baseline and follow-up; identifies new cases and remissions; and assesses the capacity of baseline data to predict serious suicidality at follow-up, focusing on age and gender differences.
6,666 participants aged 20-29, 40-49 and 60-69 years were drawn from the first (1999-2001) and second (2003-2006) waves of a general population survey. Analyses involved multivariate logistic regression.
At follow-up, prevalence of suicidal ideation and suicide attempt had decreased (8.2%-6.1%, and 0.8%-0.5%, respectively). However, over one quarter of those reporting serious suicidality at baseline still experienced it four years later. Females aged 20-29 never married or diagnosed with a physical illness at follow-up were at greater risk of serious suicidality (OR = 4.17, 95% CI = 3.11-5.23; OR = 3.18, 95% CI = 2.09-4.26, respectively). Males aged 40-49 not in the labour force had increased odds of serious suicidality (OR = 4.08, 95% CI = 1.6-6.48) compared to their equivalently-aged and employed counterparts. Depressed/anxious females aged 60-69 were nearly 30% more likely to be seriously suicidal.
There are age and gender differentials in the risk factors for suicidality. Life-circumstances contribute substantially to the onset of serious suicidality, in addition to symptoms of depression and anxiety. These findings are particularly pertinent to the development of effective population-based suicide prevention strategies.
BMC Psychiatry 01/2010; 10:41. · 2.55 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The aim of this paper is to investigate two possible explanations for the higher levels of psychological distress observed among alcohol abstainers relative to light and moderate drinkers, and to investigate possible moderating effects of age on this association. The possible explanations were that: (i) the higher level of psychological distress among abstainers is due to the presence of a subset of former heavy drinkers in this group; and (ii) abstainers have poorer social relationships than light/moderate drinkers.
A national cross-sectional survey yielded data from 2856 Australians aged 20-22, 30-32 and 40-42 years (response rate 15.9%).
The sample was representative for many socio-demographic factors but under-represented people not in the labour force and over-represented those with university qualifications. In the oldest but not the younger age groups, abstainers reported significantly higher psychological distress relative to light/moderate drinkers. While abstainers in the oldest age group who were former heavy drinkers showed the highest levels of distress, excluding them from the analysis did not account for differences in distress between current abstainers and light/moderate drinkers. Abstainers aged 40-42 years were less socially integrated, less extraverted and had lower social support than light/moderate drinkers, and controlling for these factors partially explained their increased distress.
Significantly increased psychological distress of abstainers compared to light/moderate drinkers was demonstrated only in the oldest age group (40-42 years). The higher distress reported by abstainers in this age group was partially explained by abstainers having poorer social relationships than light/moderate drinkers.
Alcohol and Alcoholism 11/2009; 45(1):95-102. · 2.95 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: There is a strong association between financial hardship and the experience of depression. Previous longitudinal research differs in whether this association is viewed as a contemporaneous relationship between depression and hardship or whether hardship has a role in the maintenance of existing depression. In this study we investigate the association between depression and hardship over time and seek to resolve these contradictory perspectives. We also investigate the consistency of the association across the lifecourse. This study reports analysis of two waves of data from a large community survey conducted in the city of Canberra and the surrounding region in south-east Australia. The PATH Through Life Study used a narrow-cohort design, with 6715 respondents representing three birth cohorts (1975-1979; 1956-1960; and 1937-1941) assessed on the two measurement occasions (4 years apart). Depression was measured using the Goldberg Depression Scale and hardship assessed by items measuring aspects of deprivation due to lack of resources. A range of measures of socio-economic circumstance and demographic characteristics were included in logistic regression models to predict wave 2 depression. The results showed that current financial hardship was strongly and independently associated with depression, above the effects of other measures of socio-economic position and demographic characteristics. In contrast, the effect of prior financial difficulty was explained by baseline depression symptoms. There were no reliable cohort differences in the association between hardship and depression having controlled for socio-demographic characteristics. There was some evidence that current hardship was more strongly associated with depression for those who were not classified as depressed at baseline than for those identified with depression at baseline. The evidence of the contemporaneous association between hardship and depression suggests that addressing deprivation may be an effective strategy to moderate socio-economic inequalities in mental health.
Social Science [?] Medicine 07/2009; 69(2):229-37. · 2.70 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: There are many parallels between research on gambling and research on alcohol use, but a striking difference is the emphasis in the former area on problem gambling rather than the use of participation measures. We outline five topics that are underdeveloped as a consequence: (i) gambling participation and future problems; (ii) moderate gambling; (iii) separate measurement of exposures and harms; (iv) predictors of participation; and (v) natural history of participation. Challenges to the future development of gambling participation measures are discussed by reference to comparable difficulties in the field of alcohol use and some examples are given as to how progress could be made. Further development of measures will necessarily occur in the context of broader scientific aims. Some recent studies are highlighted that provide hope of gains in this area. We urge further progress to yield conceptually and operationally distinct indices of exposures and harms.
Addiction 03/2009; 104(7):1065-9. · 4.31 Impact Factor
