Feeling blue
Seth Prins et al.
Sociology of Health & Illness, forthcoming
Abstract:
Despite a well-established social gradient for many mental disorders, there is evidence that individuals near the middle of the social hierarchy suffer higher rates of depression and anxiety than those at the top or bottom. Although prevailing indicators of socioeconomic status (SES) cannot detect or easily explain such patterns, relational theories of social class, which emphasise political-economic processes and dimensions of power, might. We test whether the relational construct of contradictory class location, which embodies aspects of both ownership and labour, can explain this nonlinear pattern. Data on full-time workers from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (n = 21859) show that occupants of contradictory class locations have higher prevalence and odds of depression and anxiety than occupants of non-contradictory class locations. These findings suggest that the effects of class relations on depression and anxiety extend beyond those of SES, pointing to under-studied mechanisms in social epidemiology, for example, domination and exploitation.
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Jessica Sales et al.
Frontiers in Psychology, June 2015
Abstract:
Psychosocial stress, including stress resulting from racial discrimination (RD), has been associated with elevated depressive symptoms. However, individuals vary in their reactivity to stress, with some variability resulting from genetic differences. Specifically, genetic variation within the linked promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) is related to heightened reactivity to emotional environmental cues. Likewise, variations within this region may interact with stressful life events (e.g., discrimination) to influence depressive symptoms, but this has not been empirically examined in prior studies. The objective of this study was to examine whether variation in the 5-HTTLPR gene interacts with RD to predict depressive symptoms among a sample of African–American adolescent females. Participants were 304 African–American adolescent females enrolled in a sexually transmitted disease prevention trial. Participants completed a baseline survey assessing psychosocial factors including RD (low vs. high) and depressive symptomatology (low vs. high) and provided a saliva sample for genotyping the risk polymorphism 5-HTTLPR (s allele present vs. not present). In a logistic regression model adjusting for psychosocial correlates of depressive symptoms, an interaction between RD and 5-HTTLPR group was significantly associated with depressive symptomatology (AOR = 3.79, 95% CI: 1.20–11.98, p = 0.02). Follow-up tests found that high RD was significantly associated with greater odds of high depressive symptoms only for participants with the s allele. RD and 5-HTTLPR status interact to differentially impact depressive symptoms among African–American adolescent females. Efforts to decrease depression among minority youth should include interventions which address RD and strengthen factors (e.g., coping, emotion regulation, building support systems) which protect youth from the psychological costs of discrimination.
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African Genetic Ancestry is Associated with Sleep Depth in Older African Americans
Indrani Halder et al.
Sleep, August 2015, Pages 1185–1193
Study Objectives: The mechanisms that underlie differences in sleep characteristics between European Americans (EA) and African Americans (AA) are not fully known. Although social and psychological processes that differ by race are possible mediators, the substantial heritability of sleep characteristics also suggests genetic underpinnings of race differences. We hypothesized that racial differences in sleep phenotypes would show an association with objectively measured individual genetic ancestry in AAs.
Participants: Seventy AA adults (mean age 59.5 ± 6.7 y; 62% female) and 101 EAs (mean age 60.5 ± 7 y, 39% female).
Measurements and Results: Multivariate tests were used to compare the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and in-home polysomnographic measures of sleep duration, sleep efficiency, apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), and indices of sleep depth including percent visually scored slow wave sleep (SWS) and delta EEG power of EAs and AAs. Sleep duration, efficiency, and sleep depth differed significantly by race. Individual % African ancestry (¯) was measured in AA subjects using a panel of 1698 ancestry informative genetic markers and ranged from 10% to 88% (mean 67%). Hierarchical linear regression showed that higher ¯ was associated with lower percent SWS in AAs (β (standard error) = −4.6 (1.5); P = 0.002), and explained 11% of the variation in SWS after covariate adjustment. A similar association was observed for delta power. No association was observed for sleep duration and efficiency.
Conclusion: African genetic ancestry is associated with indices of sleep depth in African Americans. Such an association suggests that part of the racial differences in slow-wave sleep may have genetic underpinnings.
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Tattoos, gender, and well-being among American college students
Jerome Koch et al.
Social Science Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
This research note examines the relationship between survey respondents’ reports of escalating numbers of tattoos and their measured levels of self-esteem, depression, suicide ideation, and reports of one or more suicide attempts. Data were gathered from 2,395 college students attending six American public universities. Results indicate a four-fold higher level of reported suicide attempts among females with four or more tattoos as compared to those with no tattoos, or three or less. Paradoxically, results also indicate a statistically significant elevation in self-esteem within that same group. No other findings and comparisons are statistically significant. These findings are interpreted in light of previous research examining the relationship between tattoos and gender, body image, and deviance.
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M.F. Svahn et al.
Human Reproduction, September 2015, Pages 2129-2137
Study question: Is the risk of hospital admission or outpatient contact for mental disorders increased in children born to women with fertility problems compared with children born to women without fertility problems?
Study design, size, duration: This nationwide retrospective register-based cohort study included all 2 412 721 children born in Denmark between 1969 and 2006. All children were followed from date of birth until date of hospital contact for a mental disorder, date of emigration, date of death or 31 December 2009, whichever occurred first.
Participants/materials, setting, methods: Information concerning maternal fertility status for all children in the cohort was obtained by linkage to the Danish Infertility Cohort, which contains data on nearly all women with fertility problems in Denmark since 1963. A total of 124 269 (5%) children were born to women with fertility problems and 2 288 452 (95%) to women without fertility problems. To identify children hospitalized for a mental disorder, the cohort was linked to the Danish Psychiatric Central Research Registry. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between maternal fertility status and the risk of hospital admission or outpatient contact for various groups of mental disorders, including any mental disorder and all 11 main discharge diagnostic groups, classified according to the International Classification of Diseases, version 10.
Main results and the role of chance: During a mean follow-up period of 21 years (range, 0–40 years), 168 686 (7%) children were admitted to hospital or had an outpatient contact for a mental disorder. Children born to women with fertility problems had a significantly higher risk of any mental disorder (HR 1.23; 95% CI 1.20–1.26) and for most of the 11 main discharge groups, including schizophrenia (HR 1.16; 95% CI 1.07–1.27), mood (affective) disorders (HR 1.21; 95% CI 1.15–1.28) and disorders of psychological development (HR 1.15; 95% CI 1.09–1.21) as well as the subgroup of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders (HR 1.36; 95% CI 1.29–1.45) compared with children born to women without fertility problems. The risk estimates did not change markedly when analyses were performed separately for mental disorders diagnosed during childhood (0–19 years) and in young adulthood (20–40 years).
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Bringing Anomie Back In: Exceptional Events and Excess Suicide
Mark Anthony Hoffman & Peter Bearman
Sociological Science, April 2015
Abstract:
In this article we show that imitation is not the mechanism behind the observed increase in suicides subsequent to highly publicized celebrity suicides. Instead, we show that most celebrity suicides are exceptional events and because of that have similar effects on the daily suicide rate as other exciting events. This finding suggests that Durkheim was right in rejecting the Tardean hypothesis that imitation is an operative mechanism and provides substantial support for the competing hypothesis that disruptive and/or exciting events (whether favorable or unfavorable) induce anomie and with it suicide.
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The Short-Term Effect of Depressive Symptoms on Labor Market Outcomes
Lizhong Peng, Chad Meyerhoefer & Samuel Zuvekas
Health Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
We estimated the short-term effects of symptoms of depression on labor market outcomes using data from the 2004–2009 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. After accounting for the endogeneity of depression through a correlated random effects panel data specification, we found that exhibiting depressive symptoms reduces the likelihood of employment. We did not, however, find evidence of a causal relationship between depressive symptoms and hourly wages or weekly hours worked. Our estimates are substantially smaller than those from previous studies and imply that depressive symptoms reduce the contemporaneous probability of employment by 2.4 percentage points. In addition, we examined the effect of depression on work impairment and found that exhibiting depressive symptoms increases annual work loss days by about 1.4 days (33%), which implies that the annual aggregate productivity loses because of depression-induced absenteeism range from $900m to $1.9bn in 2009 USD.
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fMRI neurofeedback facilitates anxiety regulation in females with spider phobia
Anna Zilverstand et al.
Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, June 2015
Background: Spider phobics show an exaggerated fear response when encountering spiders. This fear response is aggravated by negative and irrational beliefs about the feared object. Cognitive reappraisal can target these beliefs, and therefore has a fear regulating effect. The presented study investigated if neurofeedback derived from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) would facilitate anxiety regulation by cognitive reappraisal, using spider phobia as a model of anxiety disorders. Feedback was provided based on activation in left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and right insula, as indicators of engagement and regulation success, respectively.
Methods: Eighteen female spider phobics participated in a randomized, controlled, single-blinded study. All participants completed a training session in the MRI scanner. Participants assigned to the neurofeedback condition were instructed to shape their regulatory strategy based on the provided feedback. Participants assigned to the control condition were asked to adapt their strategy intuitively.
Results: Neurofeedback participants exhibited lower anxiety levels than the control group at the end of the training. In addition, only neurofeedback participants achieved down-regulation of insula activation levels by cognitive reappraisal. Group differences became more pronounced over time, supporting learning as a mechanism behind this effect. Importantly, within the neurofeedback group, achieved changes in insula activation levels during training predicted long-term anxiety reduction.
Conclusions: The conducted study provides first evidence that fMRI neurofeedback has a facilitating effect on anxiety regulation in spider phobia.
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Suicide Rates and State Laws Regulating Access and Exposure to Handguns
Michael Anestis & Joye Anestis
American Journal of Public Health, October 2015, Pages 2049-2058
Objectives: Using previous research, we examined the impact of 4 handgun laws (waiting periods, universal background checks, gun locks, and open carrying regulations) on suicide rates.
Methods: We used publicly available databases to collect information on statewide laws, suicide rates, and demographic characteristics for 2013.
Results: Each law was associated with significantly lower firearm suicide rates and the proportion of suicides resulting from firearms. In addition, each law, except for that which required a waiting period, was associated with a lower overall suicide rate. Follow-up analyses showed a significant indirect effect on overall suicide rates through the proportion of suicides by firearms, indicating that the reduced overall suicide rate was attributable to fewer suicide attempts, fewer handguns in the home, suicide attempts using less lethal means, or a combination of these factors. States that implemented any of these laws saw a decreased suicide rate in subsequent years, whereas the only state that repealed 1 of these laws saw an increased suicide rate.
Conclusions: Our results were supportive of a potentially vital role in suicide prevention for state legislation that limits access and exposure to handguns.
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Spreading of healthy mood in adolescent social networks
E.M. Hill, F.E. Griffiths & T. House
Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences, 22 August 2015
Abstract:
Depression is a major public health concern worldwide. There is evidence that social support and befriending influence mental health, and an improved understanding of the social processes that drive depression has the potential to bring significant public health benefits. We investigate transmission of mood on a social network of adolescents, allowing flexibility in our model by making no prior assumption as to whether it is low mood or healthy mood that spreads. Here, we show that while depression does not spread, healthy mood among friends is associated with significantly reduced risk of developing and increased chance of recovering from depression. We found that this spreading of healthy mood can be captured using a non-linear complex contagion model. Having sufficient friends with healthy mood can halve the probability of developing, or double the probability of recovering from, depression over a 6–12-month period on an adolescent social network. Our results suggest that promotion of friendship between adolescents can reduce both incidence and prevalence of depression.
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Arpi Minassian et al.
JAMA Psychiatry, forthcoming
Importance: Disrupted autonomic nervous system functioning as measured by heart rate variability (HRV) has been associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is not clear, however, whether reduced HRV before trauma exposure contributes to the risk for development of PTSD.
Design, Setting, and Participants: Between July 14, 2008, and May 24, 2012, active-duty Marines were assessed 1 to 2 months before a combat deployment and again 4 to 6 months after their return. The first phase of the Marine Resiliency Study (MRS-I) included 1415 male Marines, 59 of whom developed PTSD after deployment. Participants in the second phase of the Marine Resiliency Study (MRS-II) included 745 male Marines, 25 of whom developed PTSD after deployment. Analysis was conducted from November 25, 2013, to April 16, 2015.
Results: After accounting for deployment-related combat exposure, lower HRV before deployment as measured by an increased low-frequency (LF) to high-frequency (HF) ratio of HRV was associated with risk of PTSD diagnosis after deployment (combined MRS-I and MRS-II cohort meta-analysis odds ratio, 1.47; 95% CI, 1.10-1.98; P = .01). The prevalence of postdeployment PTSD was higher in participants with high predeployment LF:HF ratios (15.8% [6 of 38 participants]) compared with participants who did not have high LF:HF ratios (3.7% [78 of 2122 participants]).
Conclusions and Relevance: This prospective longitudinal study provides initial and modest evidence that an altered state of autonomic nervous system functioning contributes to PTSD vulnerability, taking into account other key risk factors. If these findings are replicated, interventions that change autonomic nervous system function may open novel opportunities for prevention and treatment of PTSD.