Showing papers by "Helen Christensen published in 1999"

Attitudes towards people with a mental disorder: a survey of the Australian public and health professionals

Abstract: Objective: The aim of this paper was to compare the Australian public's attitudes towards people who have been treated for a mental disorder with the attitudes of general practitioners, psychiatris...

Health, cognitive, and psychosocial factors as predictors of mortality in an elderly community sample.

Abstract: STUDY OBJECTIVE: To examine whether cognitive and psychosocial factors predict mortality once physical health is controlled. DESIGN: A prospective study of community dwelling elderly. Mortality was assessed over a period of 3-4 years after the baseline assessment of predictors. The data were analysed using the Cox proportional hazards model. SETTING: Canberra and Queanbeyan, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: A sample of 897 people aged 70 or over and living in the community, drawn from the compulsory electoral roll. RESULTS: For the sample as a whole, the significant predictors of mortality were male sex, poor physical health, poor cognitive functioning, and low neuroticism. Men had an adjusted relative risk of mortality of 2.5 compared with women. For the male sub-sample, poor self rated health and a poor performance on a speeded cognitive task were significant predictors, while for women, greater disability, low systolic blood pressure, and a low score on a dementia screening test were the strongest predictors. CONCLUSIONS: Mortality was predicted by physical ill health and poor cognitive functioning. Psychosocial factors such as socioeconomic status, psychiatric symptoms, and social support did not add to the prediction of mortality, once sex, physical health, and cognitive functioning were controlled. Mortality among men was more than twice that of women, even when adjusted for other predictors.

Smoking and mental health: results from a community survey.

Abstract: Objective To assess the relationship of smoking with depression and anxiety symptoms and with risk factors for depression. Design and setting A community survey conducted in Canberra in 1997. Participants 2725 persons aged 18-79 sampled from the electoral roll. Main outcome measures Smoking was investigated in relation to psychiatric symptoms (anxiety, depression, alcohol misuse), sociodemographic characteristics (age, sex, education, occupational status), social stressors (divorce, unemployment, financial difficulties, negative life events, childhood adversity), personality (extraversion, neuroticism, psychoticism), and social support (family and friends). Results Smokers had more depression and anxiety symptoms, more stressors and lower socioeconomic status compared with non-smokers. The association between smoking and psychiatric symptoms persisted even when stressors, socioeconomic characteristics and other factors were statistically controlled. Conclusions Smoking is associated with poorer mental health. In helping patients to give up smoking, doctors need to be aware that some may have underlying mental health problems that require attention.

Dispersion in Cognitive Ability as a Function of Age: A Longitudinal Study of an Elderly Community Sample

Abstract: This longitudinal study investigated whether age is associated with increased dispersion among major domains of cognitive ability. Three samples were examined: the full sample of 760 elderly community dwellers aged 70 years and older who were tested in 1990; a subset of the original sample who died between testing occasions; and the sample of 426 who survived with full data sets in 1994 (followed up for a mean 3.5 years). Dispersion, as measured by the within-individual standard deviation of ability scores and by the within-individual deviations from crystallized intelligence for speed, memory and spatial functioning, was significantly correlated with age in all three samples at Wave 1 and at Wave 2 (for the longitudinal sample). The rate at which dispersion increased was not significantly correlated with age. In a more detailed analysis of the 426 survivors, dispersion as a function of age was similar for demented persons within this sample, those without dementia, those with poor and excellent education...

Emotional response of participants to a mental health survey

Abstract: Following participation in a mental health survey of 2725 adults aged 18–79, respondents were asked if the questionnaire had made them feel distressed or depressed, and if it had been an intrusion on privacy or had made them feel good about themselves. While 5% reported feeling distressed, 3% depressed and 3% were concerned about privacy, 35% reported feeling good about themselves. The participants reporting negative feelings were more likely to be younger women, to be higher on negative personality measures, to report more anxiety and depression symptoms, and to have had more childhood adversity and lower social support. Those who reported positive feelings had higher positive personality scores, more social support and lower anxiety and depression. This group was more likely to be older women. Despite the sensitive nature of many of the questions, only a small percentage of respondents reported distress, while many found that the questionnaire had made them feel good about themselves. This is important information to present to Institutional Ethics Committees and to future participants in such studies.

Pregnancy may confer a selective cognitive advantage.

Abstract: This study investigated women's subjective complaints of problems with memory during pregnancy and their objective performance on a variety of tests of attention and memory. Objective testing revealed no differences between pregnant women (n = 52) and controls (n = 35) on tests of attention (dot probe), intentional and incidental recall, and direct and indirect memory (stem completion). On the baseline stem condition, pregnant women completed more (neutral) stems with pregnancy words than did controls. In an incidental recognition task, third trimester pregnant women recognized more pregnancy than neutral or anxious words. Women and their informants reported memory to have deteriorated during pregnancy. Given the power of the study, these findings suggest that pregnant women (1) may perform better than controls when the material is pregnancy-related and (2) may ‘falsely’ perceive their memory to have deteriorated during pregnancy.