Urban Neighborhoods and Mental Health across the Life Course

Wellbeing ◽  
2014 ◽  
pp. 1-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Gilbert ◽  
Sandro Galea
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Urban Neighborhoods ◽  
The Life Course

scholarly journals A Faith to Move Mountains? Childhood Abuse, Religious Change, and Mental Health at Midlife

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 461-461
Author(s):  
Laura Upenieks
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Childhood Abuse ◽  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Attendance ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Religious Importance ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Of all the various forms of adversity experienced during childhood, childhood maltreatment (emotional and physical abuse) is shown to have the largest impacts on mental health and well-being. Yet we still have a limited understanding of why some victims of early maltreatment suffer immense mental health consequences later on in the life course, while others are able to cushion the blow of these early insults. Using two waves of data from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS), this study considers change in religiosity as a buffer across three dimensions for victims of childhood abuse: religious importance, attendance, and the specific act of seeking comfort through religion. Results suggest that increases in religious comfort during adulthood are positively associated with adult mental health for victims of abuse, while decreases in religious comfort over time were associated with worse mental health. Changes in religious attendance and religious importance were not significant associated with mental health for victims of abuse. Taken together, my results show that the stress-moderating effects of religion for victims of childhood maltreatment are contingent on the stability or increases or decreases in religiosity over the life course, which has been overlooked in previous work.

scholarly journals Trajectories of Unsecured Debt across the Life Course and Mental Health at Midlife

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Ruining Sun ◽  
Jason N. Houle
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Debt Accumulation ◽  
Unsecured Debt ◽  
Trajectory Models ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Substantial Heterogeneity

In this paper, we contribute to a growing literature on debt and mental health and ask whether patterns of unsecured debt accumulation and repayment over two decades are associated with depressive symptoms at age 50. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979 Cohort and group trajectory models, we have three key findings. First, we find substantial heterogeneity in debt trajectories across the life course. Second, respondents who report consistently high debt levels across the life course or who cycle in and out of high debt report significantly more depressive symptoms than respondents who hold consistently low levels of debt. These findings hold for both absolute and relative (debt-to-income) debt. Third, we find that the association between debt and depressive symptoms is strongest among respondents with less than a college degree, but we find less evidence for heterogeneity by race in this cohort.

scholarly journals Theories of Personality

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cassandra M Brandes ◽  
Kathleen Wade Reardon ◽  
Jennifer L Tackett
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Personality Development ◽  
Adult Individual ◽  
Foundational Research ◽  
The Life Course

The study of personality development has seen significant advances in the last two decades. For many years, youth and adult individual differences were studied from separate theoretical standpoints. However, more recent research has indicated that teenagers display personality traits in many of the same ways as adults. These personality traits are moderately stable throughout the life course, but there are important developmental shifts in their expression, structure, and maturation, especially in adolescence. This has resulted in an effort to study youth personality “in its own right” (Tackett, Kushner, De Fruyt, & Mervielde, 2013). Early personality associations with important lifelong outcomes including academic achievement, mental health, and interpersonal relationships further underscore the importance of studying traits in youth. Here we discuss current consensus and controversy on adolescent personality and highlight foundational research on the topic.

Depression, Work and Family Roles, and the Gendered Life Course

2017 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 422-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrina Leupp
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Protective Effect ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Child Rearing ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Traditional Gender Roles ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Work And Family Roles ◽  
The Life Course

Despite the importance of employment for shaping mental health over the life course, little is known about how the mental health benefits of employment change as individuals age through their prime employment and child-rearing years. This study examines the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979 Cohort ( N = 8,931), following respondents from their late 20s to mid-50s. Results suggest that among women, the aging of children is especially salient for shaping the mental health consequences of employment. Young children diminish the protective effect of mothers’ full- and part-time employment, but the salubrious effects of paid work increase as children get older. The benefit of employment for men’s mental health also changes over time, but it is the aging of men themselves rather than their children that alters the magnitude of full-time employment’s protective effect. Findings suggest the contribution of employment to life course mental health remains tethered to traditional gender roles.

scholarly journals Adversity Over the Life Course: A Comparison Between Women and Men Who Died by Suicide

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monique Séguin ◽  
Guy Beauchamp ◽  
Charles-Édouard Notredame
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Adverse Events ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Public Health Perspective ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Life Course

Purpose: This study sets out to compare the presence of life events across different domains throughout the life course which may contribute to the burden of adversity experienced differently among men and women who died by suicide.Method: In a sample of 303 individuals (213 men and 90 women), data was derived from extensive clinical interviews conducted with informants. Models allowed the identification of patterns of life trajectories.Results: Overall, the burden of adversity was similar across the life course except for the 5–9, 25–29, and 30–34 age ranges, where a significant difference appeared between genders [t-test = 2.13 (p < 0.05), 2.16 (p < 0.05) and 3.08 (p < 0.005), respectively] that seems to disadvantage women. The early adversities of violence and neglect, between 0 and 19 years old, are important for both groups. During the life course, women were more exposed to interpersonal adverse events such as being victims of negligence and violence, relational difficulties or abuse from their spouse, as well as tension with their own children. Men encountered more academic difficulties, legal entanglements and financial difficulties, and were more than three times more likely to develop an alcohol/drug abuse problem than women.Conclusions: The data suggests some gender differences in exposure to longstanding and severe life problems contributing to suicide vulnerability. For women, the continuing burden emerges from chronic interpersonal adversities, whereas, for men, the adverse events are to a larger degree socially exposed, compounded with alcohol misuse. The adversities, especially those of a public or social nature, may be witnessed by others, which should favor the detection of vulnerability over the life course, and psychosocial or mental health services should be offered and provided earlier during the life course. Yet more men die by suicide than women. Resiliency and protective factors may benefit women to a greater degree. Future research should tackle the challenge of investigating these important elements. Meanwhile, from a public health perspective, access to psychosocial and mental health services and social acceptability of seeking services should be part of an ongoing effort in all institutional structures as a way of decreasing downstream mental health problems and vulnerability to suicide.

Sexual orientation and mental health over the life course in a birth cohort

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (8) ◽  
pp. 1348-1355 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. K. Spittlehouse ◽  
J. M. Boden ◽  
L. J. Horwood
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Suicidal Ideation ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Latent Class Analysis ◽  
Birth Cohort ◽  
Sexual Minority ◽  
Latent Class ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
The Life Course

AbstractBackgroundSexual minority individuals consistently report higher rates of mental disorder than heterosexuals. However, much of the research has methodological limitations related to the classification of sexuality, the use of cross-sectional data and problematic sampling procedures such as using convenience samples.MethodsWe used longitudinal data from a birth cohort enrolled in the Christchurch Health and Development Study (n = 1040). Latent class analysis was used to classify participants sexuality based on self-report data of sexual behaviour, attraction, identity and fantasy, gathered over five assessments between the ages of 18 and 35 years. Mental health and substance use outcome data were gathered at four assessments between the ages of 21 and 35 years. Potential covariate variables were collected during childhood.ResultsThe latent class analysis identified four groups interpreted as: ‘heterosexual’ 82%, ‘mostly heterosexual’ 12.6%, ‘bisexual’ 3.5% and ‘gay/lesbian’ 1.9%. In the sexual minority groups, women outnumbered men by at least 2:1. Pooled rates for mental health disorders of depression, anxiety disorders, suicidal ideation, cannabis abuse and total disorders, after adjustment for childhood covariate variables, were significantly higher in the sexual minority groups (p < 0.01). The strength of association between sexuality group and mental health outcomes did not differ according to sex. Fluidity in sexuality reports appeared unrelated to risk of mental health outcomes.ConclusionsOver the life course, membership of a sexual minority group is clearly associated with mental health problems of depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation regardless of the age when same-sex attraction, behaviour, identity or fantasy is expressed.

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