scholarly journals Family Ruptures, Stress, and the Mental Health of the Next Generation: Reply

2018 ◽  
Vol 108 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 1256-1263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petra Persson ◽  
Maya Rossin-Slater

Persson and Rossin-Slater (2018) find that prenatal exposure to family ruptures affects childhood and adult mental health, as well as infant physical health. We compare children whose relatives die within 280 days post-conception to children whose relatives die in the year after birth. Matsumoto correctly notes that defining the control group using actual birth dates can bias our estimates. Here, we redefine our control group using expected birth dates. The effects on mental health in childhood and adulthood are statistically indistinguishable from those in our original paper. The infant health impacts are attenuated, but statistically significant in our main specifications. (JEL I12, J12, J13)

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Dyg Sperling ◽  
Nina Dalkner ◽  
Christina Berndt ◽  
Eva Fleischmann ◽  
Michaela Ratzenhofer ◽  
...  

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increased psychological strain on public mental health and may impact behavioral, mental, and physical health, presumably with effects on patients with severe mental disorders. This study examines pandemic-related physical and mental health and (compensatory) behavioral changes, in patients with BD as compared to healthy control individuals.Method: Physical and mental health and self-reported changes in daily structure and behavior due to the pandemic were assessed using a self-constructed questionnaire and the brief symptom inventory (BSI) in Germany, Austria, and Denmark in individuals with BD and a healthy control group.Results: The present study included 118 individuals with BD and 215 healthy controls. Individuals with BD reported statistically significant higher physical risk burden, increased weight gain, more physical comorbidities, and a decrease in physical activity and they further reported higher rates of COVID-19 testing, had more worries concerning health, and experienced more anxiety but less social distancing.Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic seems to have a greater impact on physical health in individuals with BD than in healthy controls. Individuals with BD appear to be having more difficulties compensating their behavior due to the pandemic which could amplify the effect of risk factors associated with poorer physical health. This highlights the necessity for optimizing and targeting the overall treatment of both mental and physical health in patients with BD during periods with far-reaching changes such as the COVID-19 pandemic.Limitations: Sampling issues and self-report forms, selectivity (missing elderly, and those lacking access or knowledge of technology).


2018 ◽  
Vol 108 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 1253-1255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brett Matsumoto

The empirical methodology used by Persson and Rossin-Slater (2018) to estimate the causal effect of in utero exposure to stress contains a potentially significant flaw. They define the control group in a way that may bias their causal estimates and can lead to the finding of a significant relationship when there is none. In this note, I describe the source of the bias and suggest an alternative specification of the control group. (JEL I12, J12, J13)


2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 299-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea McCloughen ◽  
Kim Foster ◽  
David Kerley ◽  
Cynthia Delgado ◽  
Adrienne Turnell

Author(s):  
Lisa Reyes Mason ◽  
Bonita B. Sharma ◽  
Jayme E. Walters ◽  
Christine C. Ekenga

The connection between mental health and weather extremes is a public health concern, but less studied to date than physical health. This exploratory study examines the mental health impacts of two kinds of weather extremes increasingly linked to climate change—summer heat waves and extreme winter weather—in a low- to middle-income population in the Southeastern U.S. The distribution of mental health impacts, and potential pathways to them, are examined with a focus on race. Data are from a random-sample survey of 426 participants and are analyzed with bivariate statistics and path analysis. Self-reported mental health impacts, in both seasons, were common in our study, with White participants tending to report worse impacts than participants who identified with other racial groups. Physical health had direct effects on mental health across several models, overall and by racial group. For summer heat waves, concern about climate change and social cohesion had direct and indirect effects, respectively, on mental health in White participants only. For extreme winter weather, preparedness had a direct negative effect on mental health in White, but not Black, participants. Results suggest that there may be racial differences in the influence of human and social capital factors on mental health related to weather extremes, warranting further study of this critical topic and with larger racial subgroup samples.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Annie Ro ◽  
Victoria E. Rodriguez ◽  
Laura E. Enriquez

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic may have disproportionately affected the mental and physical health of undocumented students and students with undocumented parents. Methods We analyzed primary data from 2111 California college students collected March–June 2020. We estimated the odds of mental or physical health being affected “a great deal” by COVID by immigration group and then examined whether this was moderated by campus belonging or resource use. Results Students with undocumented parents were least likely to report COVID-related mental and physical health effects. Undocumented students and students whose parents have lawful immigration status did not differ in their COVID-related physical and mental health. For all students, more campus resource use and higher campus belonging were associated with negative mental and physical health effects. Discussion Negative COVID-related mental and physical health was widespread. Separation from campus-based resources was detrimental during the early stages of the pandemic.


Medicina ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 43 (9) ◽  
pp. 736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daina Krančiukaitė ◽  
Daiva Rastenytė ◽  
Kristina Jurėnienė ◽  
Diana Šopagienė

The aim of the study was to compare the quality of life among stroke survivors and healthy controls and to evaluate the influence of age, sex, and social and demographic factors on the quality of life. Contingent and methods. The case group consisted of 508 inhabitants of Kaunas city who were 25–84 years of age and had experienced their first stroke. The control group consisted of age- and sex-stratified randomly selected 508 stroke-free inhabitants of Kaunas city. The quality of life was evaluated using the SF- 12 questionnaire. The study compared the quality of life between stroke survivors and controls in eight domains of quality of life and compared the evaluation of quality of life considering social and demographic features. Results. In the domain of physical and mental health, stroke survivors presented poorer evaluation of their quality of life compared to controls except for the evaluations of mental health in the age groups of 25–34 and 35–44 years. As compared to healthy controls, stroke survivors presented poorer evaluation of their quality of life in all domains except for pain. Only in the control group, females presented poorer evaluation of physical health, whereas no differences in the evaluation of mental health between sexes were found. The evaluation of physical health in both groups worsened with age. Both stroke survivors and controls presented better evaluation of their physical health if they were living not alone, were better educated, and were employed compared to those who were living alone, had poorer education level, and were unemployed. In addition, controls who were currently or previously engaged in mental work evaluated their physical health better. Conclusions. Stroke survivors presented poorer evaluations of their quality of life in both physical and mental health domains compared to controls. Only in the control group, females evaluated their physical health worse than males did. In both groups studied, poorer evaluation of physical health was associated with older age and lower social and demographic status. Relationship between mental health and subjects’ social and demographic status was not statistically significant in either of the studied groups.


2006 ◽  
Vol 189 (4) ◽  
pp. 330-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Slade ◽  
Paul McCrone ◽  
Elizabeth Kuipers ◽  
Morven Leese ◽  
Sharon Cahill ◽  
...  

BackgroundRoutine use of standardised outcome measures is not universal.AimsTo evaluate the effectiveness of standardised outcome assessment.MethodA randomised controlled trial, involving 160 representative adult mental health patients and paired staff (ISRCTN16971059). The intervention group (n=101) (a) completed monthly postal questionnaires assessing needs, quality of life, mental health problem severity and therapeutic alliance, and (b) received 3-monthly feedback. The control group (n=59) received treatment as usual.ResultsThe intervention did not improve primary outcomes of patient-rated unmet need and of quality of life. Other subjective secondary outcome measures were also not improved. The intervention reduced psychiatric inpatient days (3.5 v. 16.4 mean days, bootstrapped 95% CI 1.6-25.7), and hence service use costs were £2586 (95% CI 102-5391) less for intervention-group patients. Net benefit analysis indicated that the intervention was cost-effective.ConclusionsRoutine use of outcome measures as implemented in this study did not improve subjective outcomes, but was associated with reduced psychiatric inpatient admissions.


2012 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd I. Herrenkohl ◽  
Seunghye Hong ◽  
J. Bart Klika ◽  
Roy C. Herrenkohl ◽  
M. Jean Russo

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