Low assets and financial stressors associated with higher depression during COVID-19 in a nationally representative sample of US adults

BackgroundCOVID-19 and related containment policies have caused or heightened financial stressors for many in the USA. We assessed the relation between assets, financial stressors and probable depression during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsBetween 31 March 2020 and 13 April 2020, we surveyed a probability-based, nationally representative sample of US adults ages 18 and older using the COVID-19 and Life stressors Impact on Mental Health and Well-being survey (n=1441). We calculated the prevalence of probable depression using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (cut-off ≥10) and exposure to financial stressors by financial, physical and social assets categories (household income, household savings, home ownership, educational attainment and marital status). We estimated adjusted ORs and predicted probabilities of probable depression across assets categories and COVID-19 financial stressor exposure groups.ResultsWe found that (1) 40% of US adults experienced COVID-19-related financial stressors during this time period; (2) low assets (OR: 3.0, 95% CI 2.1 to 4.2) and COVID-19 financial stressor exposure (OR: 2.8, 95% CI 2.1 to 3.9) were each associated with higher odds of probable depression; and (3) among persons with low assets and high COVID-19 financial stressors, 42.7% had probable depression; and among persons with high assets and low COVID-19 financial stressors, 11.1% had probable depression. Persons with high assets and high COVID-19 financial stressors had a similar prevalence of probable depression (33.5%) as persons with low assets and low COVID-19 financial stressors (33.5%). The more assets a person had, the lower the level of probable depression.ConclusionPopulations with low assets are bearing a greater burden of mental illness during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Evidence-Based Landscape Architecture for Human Health and Well-Being

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12041360 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 1360 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Robert D. Brown ◽

Robert C. Corry

Keyword(s):

Human Health ◽

Architectural Design ◽

Landscape Architecture ◽

Well Being ◽

Evidence Based ◽

Natural Environments ◽

The People ◽

Outdoor Environments ◽

The Usa ◽

Health And Well Being

More than 80% of the people in the USA and Canada live in cities. Urban development replaces natural environments with built environments resulting in limited access to outdoor environments which are critical to human health and well-being. In addition, many urban open spaces are unused because of poor design. This paper describes case studies where traditional landscape architectural design approaches would have compromised design success, while evidence-based landscape architecture (EBLA) resulted in a successful product. Examples range from school-yard design that provides safe levels of solar radiation for children, to neighborhood parks and sidewalks that encourage people to walk and enjoy nearby nature. Common characteristics for integrating EBLA into private, public, and academic landscape architecture practice are outlined along with a discussion of some of the opportunities and barriers to implementation.

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The utility of self-rated health in population surveys: the role of bodyweight

Population Health Metrics ◽

10.1186/s12963-021-00255-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Robert Bozick

Keyword(s):

Treatment Group ◽

Large Scale ◽

Well Being ◽

Control Group ◽

Self Rated Health ◽

Risk Of Mortality ◽

Highly Sensitive ◽

The Usa ◽

Group Members ◽

Nationally Representative

Abstract Background Self-rated health (SRH) is one of the most commonly used summary measures of overall health and well-being available to population scientists due to its ease of administration in large-scale surveys and to its efficacy in predicting mortality. This paper assesses the extent to which SRH is affected by its placement before or after questions about bodyweight on a survey, and whether differences in placement on the questionnaire affects SRH’s predictive validity. Methods I assessed the validity of SRH in predicting the risk of mortality by comparing outcomes of sample members who were asked to rate their health before reporting on their bodyweight (the control group) and sample members who were asked to rate their health after reporting on their bodyweight (the treatment group). Both the control and treatment group were randomly assigned via an experiment administered as a module in a nationally representative sample of adults in the USA in 2019 (N = 2523). Results The odds of reporting a more favorable appraisal of health are 30% lower for sample members who were in the treatment group when compared with the control group. Additionally, the SRH of treatment group members is significantly associated with their risk of mortality, while the SRH of control group members is not. Conclusion The findings from this study suggest that for researchers to maximize the utility of SRH, closer attention needs to be paid to the context of the survey within which it asked. SRH is highly sensitive to the questions that precede it, and this sensitivity may in turn mischaracterize the true health of the population that the survey is intending to measure.

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After the bell: adolescents’ organised leisure-time activities and well-being in the context of social and socioeconomic inequalities

Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health ◽

10.1136/jech-2020-215319 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. jech-2020-215319

Author(s):

Petr Badura ◽

Zdenek Hamrik ◽

Maxim Dierckens ◽

Inese Gobiņa ◽

Marta Malinowska-Cieślik ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Socioeconomic Factors ◽

Leisure Time ◽

Well Being ◽

Subjective Well Being ◽

Total N ◽

Low Socioeconomic ◽

Nuclear Families ◽

Lower Socioeconomic ◽

Nationally Representative ◽

Health And Well Being

BackgroundPrevious research has linked adolescents’ participation in organised leisure-time activities (OLTAs) to better health and well-being. It remains unclear whether these associations can be observed consistently across social and socioeconomic strata and countries.MethodsThe present study used nine nationally representative samples of adolescents aged 11, 13 and 15 years (total n=55 429) from the 2017/2018 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey from Europe and Canada. Regression models with mixed effects to account for nested nature of data were applied to estimate: (1) the associations of social and socioeconomic factors with OLTA participation; (2) strengths of the associations between breadth and pattern of OLTA participation with health and well-being indicators, after adjustment for the social and socioeconomic factors.ResultsRates of OLTA participation varied by age, sex and country of adolescents. Participants from lower socioeconomic classes and non-nuclear families were less likely to participate in OLTAs across each of the nine countries. Moreover, breadth of OLTA participation was associated with higher well-being independent of socioeconomic status or family structure. All of the participation patterns were associated with higher life satisfaction, but sports (either alone or in combination with a non-sport OLTA) were also associated with fewer psychological complaints and excellent self-rated health.ConclusionAdolescents’ engagement in OLTAs was associated with adolescents’ subjective well-being regardless of country, age, sex and variance in social and socioeconomic factors. Policies aimed at increasing adolescents’ subjective well-being and OLTA participation should focus on adolescents from low socioeconomic classes and non-nuclear families.

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The Everyday Ageism Scale: Development and Evaluation

Journal of Aging and Health ◽

10.1177/08982643211036131 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 089826432110361

Author(s):

Julie Ober Allen ◽

Erica Solway ◽

Matthias Kirch ◽

Dianne Singer ◽

Jeffrey T. Kullgren ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Healthy Aging ◽

Psychometric Evaluation ◽

Well Being ◽

Preliminary Evaluation ◽

Internal Reliability ◽

National Poll ◽

The Everyday ◽

Nationally Representative ◽

Health And Well Being ◽

Everyday Discrimination

Objectives Older adults regularly encounter age-based discrimination and stereotyping in their day-to-day lives. Whether this type of routine ageism negatively affects their health and well-being is unclear, in part due to the absence of validated scales that comprehensively measure this phenomenon and distinguish it from other sources of everyday discrimination. Methods This study describes the development of a novel scale, the Everyday Ageism Scale, and its psychometric evaluation using a nationally representative sample of US adults age 50–80 from the December 2019 National Poll on Healthy Aging ( N = 2012). Results Exploratory factor analysis indicated a 3-factor structure comprised of ageist messages, ageism in interpersonal interactions, and internalized ageism. The ten-item scale was psychometrically sound and demonstrated good internal reliability. Discussion Everyday ageism is a multidimensional construct. Preliminary evaluation of the Everyday Ageism Scale suggests its utility in future studies examining the prevalence of everyday ageism and its relationships with health.

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Crucial Contributions

Human Nature ◽

10.1007/s12110-019-09356-2 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 30 (4) ◽

pp. 371-397 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Brooke A. Scelza ◽

Katie Hinde

Keyword(s):

Teaching And Learning ◽

Well Being ◽

Perinatal Period ◽

Reproductive Age ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Breastfeeding Support ◽

Critical Window ◽

Time Period ◽

Clinical Literature ◽

Health And Well Being

AbstractMaternal grandmothers play a key role in allomaternal care, directly caring for and provisioning their grandchildren as well as helping their daughters with household chores and productive labor. Previous studies have investigated these contributions across a broad time period, from infancy through toddlerhood. Here, we extend and refine the grandmothering literature to investigate the perinatal period as a critical window for grandmaternal contributions. We propose that mother-daughter co-residence during this period affords targeted grandmaternal effort during a period of heightened vulnerability and appreciable impact. We conducted two focus groups and 37 semi-structured interviews with Himba women. Interviews focused on experiences from their first and, if applicable, their most recent birth and included information on social support, domains of teaching and learning, and infant feeding practices. Our qualitative findings reveal three domains in which grandmothers contribute: learning to mother, breastfeeding support, and postnatal health and well-being. We show that informational, emotional, and instrumental support provided to new mothers and their neonates during the perinatal period can aid in the establishment of the mother-infant bond, buffer maternal energy balance, and improve nutritional outcomes for infants. These findings demonstrate that the role of grandmother can be crucial, even when alloparenting is common and breastfeeding is frequent and highly visible. Situated within the broader anthropological and clinical literature, these findings substantiate the claim that humans have evolved in an adaptive sociocultural perinatal complex in which grandmothers provide significant contributions to the health and well-being of their reproductive-age daughters and grandchildren.

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Delayed entry into HIV medical care in a nationally representative sample of HIV-infected adults receiving medical care in the USA

AIDS Care ◽

10.1080/09540121.2015.1096891 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

pp. 325-333 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

McKaylee Robertson ◽

Stanley C. Wei ◽

Linda Beer ◽

Demilade Adedinsewo ◽

Sandra Stockwell ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Medical Care ◽

Representative Sample ◽

Delayed Entry ◽

The Usa ◽

Nationally Representative

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Neuromodulation in Psychiatric Disorders

10.1093/med/9780190690557.003.0013 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Christina Herring

Keyword(s):

Electrical Activity ◽

Psychological Symptoms ◽

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽

Well Being ◽

Time Period ◽

Stimulation Period ◽

Multiple Pulses ◽

Quantitative Electroencephalogram ◽

Short Time ◽

Health And Well Being

Quantitative electroencephalogram (qEEG) is the transformation of the EEG by spectral analysis in which the amount of electrical activity at a particular frequency is determined and compared against a normative data base. EEG findings are specific for different psychiatric problems and help reveal brain abnormalities associated with psychological symptoms. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a system of delivering multiple pulses within a short time period that induce changes that outlast the stimulation period. Operant conditioning involves providing a reward to increase the probability of a certain behavior. Neurofeedback involves recording, analyzing, and presenting results of qEEG analyses in near real-time to patients in order to promote changes in brain electrical activity. This chapter reviews how neuromodulation works both clinically and from a neurophysiological perspective. This chapter also reviews current clinical data on the use of neuromodulation approaches for improving mental health and well-being.

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Correlates of mental health and well-being for Mexican female partners of migrants

International Journal of Migration Health and Social Care ◽

10.1108/ijmhsc-01-2016-0001 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 361-373

Author(s):

Marcela Sotomayor-Peterson ◽

Ana A. Lucero-Liu

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Marital Satisfaction ◽

Well Being ◽

Border Region ◽

Physical Contact ◽

Health Providers ◽

Content Type ◽

Female Partners ◽

The Usa ◽

Health And Well Being

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the associations between familism, frequency of physical contact, and marital satisfaction with mental health and well-being in a sample of 58 female marital partners of migrants who stayed in Mexico when their spouses migrated to the USA. Design/methodology/approach In total, 58 women were recruited through word of mouth in Sonora, Mexico. All women had their partner (the father of her children) living in the USA. Survey was administered face-to-face in participants’ homes. Findings Hierarchical regression analysis found that higher marital satisfaction and frequency of physical contact predicts mental health and well-being. However, familism was not associated with mental health and well-being for female partners of migrants. Originality/value This work is unique in that the current sample of female partners of migrants originate from the Sonora border region and has greater physical contact with their partner than most studies on transnational families assume. Approximately 40 percent of participants residing in the Sonora border state meet with their partners at least once a month. Additionally, this work provides an intimate face to the understanding of the very specific processes distinctive of inhabitants of border regions that are part of international migration. In order to promote health equity, health providers (e.g. counselors) need evidence-based information to tailor services to the specific needs of underserved Mexican transnationals.

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