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Biomedical subjects

A Zautra

Publications and source records attributed to A Zautra.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

The trait-state-error model for multiwave data.

Although researchers in clinical psychology routinely gather data in which many individuals respond at multiple times, there is not a standard way to analyze such data. A new approach for the analysis of such data is described. It is proposed that a person's current standing on a variable is caused by 3 sources of variance: a term that does not change (trait), a term that changes (state), and a random term (error). It is shown how structural equation modeling can be used to estimate such a model. An extended example is presented in which the correlations between variables are quite different at the trait, state, and error levels.

Humans↗
PubMed1993

Temporal covariation of soluble interleukin-2 receptor levels, daily stress, and disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE: To examine synchronous changes in soluble interleukin-2 receptor (sIL-2R) levels, daily indicators of emotional stress, joint inflammation, and reported pain in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: Fourteen patients were studied on each of 6 occasions, 2 weeks apart. Measures included daily ratings of mood disturbance, undesirable events, and joint pain; clinical examination of joint swelling; and serum assays of sIL-2R. Pooled within-person correlations among these variables were calculated. RESULTS: Consistent with the results of previous research, joint inflammation covaried directly with sIL-2R levels. Changes in mood disturbance were unrelated to changes in joint inflammation, but increases in mood disturbance were linked with decreases in sIL-2R levels and increases in reported joint pain. CONCLUSION: These findings provide preliminary evidence that psychoimmune processes may be implicated in short-term changes in RA disease activity.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Coping and adjustment to genital herpes: the effects of time and social support.

The current study investigated the relationship of the passage of time and membership in a self-help group with coping behaviors and distress among people with genital herpes. A comparison between 116 people in herpes support groups and 36 community volunteers on the use of coping and level of emotional adjustment was undertaken. Results of the study indicated that people employed fewer coping strategies with increasing time since the onset of the stressor. This pattern was particularly clear in non-support-group subjects. In comparison, support-group members did not exhibit as significant a decrease in the use of coping strategies or as great an improvement in the level of depression and degree bothered by herpes over time. Selection factors and effects of self-help group membership are discussed as alternative explanations for these differences. Future research in the area of group membership as well as helpful and nonhelpful processes in these groups is suggested.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Subjective well-being and physical health: a narrative literature review with suggestions for future research.

In this article the authors review the findings of eighty-one studies that have tested the relationship between health status and subjective well-being. Support was found for an association between health and well-being, although the source and extent of that relationship could not be clearly delineated given the numerous measurement problems and methodological inconsistencies found among the studies. Objective indices of health tended to have lower correlations with subjective well-being than with self-reports suggesting that various report biases may account for some, but probably not all, of the relationships obtained. Problems in study design and health measurement are also noted. An outline of the major competing hypotheses is presented that would explain the health-well-being association to guide future research and call for more direct study of psychological processes affected by changes in health in future research.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

A needs assessment of perceived life quality and life stressors among medical hospital employees.

This study was designed to assist an employee-counseling program in a medical hospital by assessing the life quality and life stressors of its employees. 246 employees completed a written questionnaire which included a life events inventory and the Perceived Quality of Life (PQOL) Inventory (Andrews & Withey, 1976). Items on both inventories covered the areas of job, family/support, and financial affairs. Items measuring self-efficacy from the PQOL scale served as the criterion for potential counseling service utilization. Results indicated that family-support concerns were the most predictive of perceptions of self-efficacy. In addition, negatively perceived life changes were more powerful predictors of life quality than were life changes per se. Finally, employees who were identified as less satisfied in the various quality of life areas were separated from their spouses, over 55 years of age, and had lower education levels, large families, and low incomes.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1981

Satisfaction and distress in a community: a test of the effects of life events.

A household survey of 537 residents was conducted to test conflicting hypotheses about the correlates of life events derived from three general models of well-being: an equilibrium, a life crisis, and a positive mental health model. Consistent with the predictions of a positive mental health approach, positive life events were correlated with both reports of distress and satisfaction. Further, positive and negative events were intercorrelated; the distress effects of positive events could be accounted for to a large extent by the negative events associated with them. The findings suggest that community studies need to assess the potentially positive as well as stressful effects of life events.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Blaming-a sign of psychosocial tensions in the community: findings from two surveys.

Blame attributions were studied as indicators of tension between a person and his/her psychosocial resources. An eight-item blame scale was constructed to tap the areas of one's life about which a person made causal attributions to explain misfortune. This scale along with other measures was administered through household surveys to two samples of 537 and 185 community residents. Consistent with the predictions of the study, demographic groups with fewer social resources had higher blame scores, and residents reporting more stressful life events were more likely to blame. As expected, blame attributions were positively correlated with three measures of maladjustment and were unrelated to a separate measure of positive well-being. Discontent with social life, followed by financial situation, family life, and life opportunity blame, were consistently related to reports of maladjustment. Self-blame, however, was only marginally associated with poor adjustment. The same findings were obtained for two divergent samples of residents, suggesting that the relationships obtained here have considerable generalizability.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Life events and personal causation: some relationships with satisfaction and distress.

The factors that generate happiness or distress in people are not well understood, nor are factors that change such states. This study attempted to show that accounting for people's sense of personal causation could provide a clear understanding of the relationship between live events, personal activity, and measures of psychological well-being. After pretesting, three randomly selected groups of college students were given instructions either to (a) engage in 12 activities from a self-selected list of pleasurable activities, (b) engage in 2 activities from that list, or (c) return after 1 month for retesting only. Covariance analyses revealed that subjects instructed to engage in either 2 or 12 pleasurable activities reported greater pleasantness and a higher quality of life than controls; there were no differences between groups on reports of psychiatric distress. Prior negative life change was treated as a factor in the design and was found to interact with the activity instructions: Subjects reporting many prior negative changes exhibited less psychiatric distress along with greater pleasantness when instructed to engage in 12 activities rather than 2 or none. The results suggested that engaging in pleasant activities increases positive aspects of well-being in general, but may reduce distress only for subjects who are experiencing considerable life stress.

Female↗
PubMed1980

Some uses of client and census records in community mental health planning.

A conceptual framework is presented which outlines uses of client and community data for mental health planning. Client records from a mental health center and 1970 census data were analyzed three ways to illustrate some of these uses: (a) a geographic analysis which compared service utilization rates with the social characteristics of census tracts; (b) a demographic analysis which compared the social characteristics of clients with those of the catchment area population; and (c) an analysis of clients who dropped out of treatment and who left therapy unimproved. The results revealed that (a) census areas characterized by high proportions of disenfranchised groups (e.g., divorced, low status, Spanish heritage) showed high service utilization rates; (b) higher proportions of divorced, high school educated, and unemployed residents utilized services than expected by population estimates; and (c) dropouts from therapy could be discriminated based on demographic differences in marital status, income level, employment status, educational level, ethnicity, and previous mental health treatment.

Community Mental Health Services↗
PubMed1979

Some effects of positive life events on community mental health.

Measures of positive and negative events were derived from a life-event inventory to test the predictions of an equilibrium model and a positive mental health model of psychological well-being. These measures were related to indicators of individual and community well-being with data obtained through a household survey of 454 residents. Residents who reported more negative events also reported more psychological distress and less positive adjustment. Positive events were associated with reports of positive adjustment. An analysis of census tract scores on life events revealed that the relative absence of positive events in census tracts was associated with higher service utilization rates to the community mental health center serving those tracts. The number of negative events was unrelated to service rates for census tracts but was related to several demographic indicators of well-being.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1978

The effects of life crisis on psychological adjustment.

In this survey study the question was asked how "life crisis," social conditions, and ratings of quality of life are related to psychological adjustment. The survey included 454 residents, and data were collected on five social conditions: income, education, age, marital status, and religious participation; four ratings of life quality: family, personal life, income, and overall quality of life; the number of recent changes in the lives of the respondents; and two indicators of psychological adjustment. These data were analyzed with multivariate analyses of variance and stepwise regression. Life crisis was associated directly with psychological adjustment. Social conditions and life quality ratings also had significant effects. People with high life-crisis scores reported more psychological distress, and poor social conditions appeared to further exacerbate their adjustment problems. Regardless of the magnitude of the crisis, quality of life ratings had sizable effects on reports of psychological adjustment.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1978

An assessment of a community's mental health needs.

In this study social indicators and survey measures were used to predict 3-years of service utilization by the residents of 26 census tracts served by a community mental health center. Ten social indicators were selected from available census tract statistics, and seven survey measures were taken from an epidemiological survey of the catchment area of the mental health center. These data were analyzed first with univariate analyses of variance and then with stepwise regression to test their independent and combined relationship with utilization rates. The results showed that mental health utilization rates can be predicted with considerable accuracy by social indicators and survey measures. Combining survey measures and social indicators provided the greatest accuracy; implying that both social and psychological forces need to be considered. Social indicators alone were shown to be more powerful predictors than survey measures alone. Survey measures may be particularly valuable in identifying the special problems of members of different neighborhoods, while social indicators provide clues about the location of high-risk neighborhoods.

Affect↗
PubMed1977

The dimensions of life quality in a community.

In this study the dimensions of the quality of life construct were investigated; 454 residents of a large suburban community were asked questions on life changes, psychiatric distress, happiness, and effective participation in life concerns. Selected variables from this survey were factor-analyzed in order to define the dimensions of life quality and six demographic variables; age, sex, marital status, education, income, and religious participation were studied to see how they influenced those dimensions. The results of the analysis revealed that life quality is measurable in terms of a person's happiness, his community participation, and his preferences, answering three major questions that person may pose for himself: (1) How well do I like the life I lead? (2) In what meaningful ways do I spend my time? (3) Why? Each of the six demographic variables influenced these dimensions. Marital status and age, two life-cycle statistics, had the most powerful effects on quality-of-life ratings.

Adolescent↗