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Biomedical subjects

Calvin D Croy

Publications and source records attributed to Calvin D Croy.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Methods for addressing missing data in psychiatric and developmental research.

OBJECTIVE: First, to provide information about best practices in handling missing data so that readers can judge the quality of research studies. Second, to provide more detailed information about missing data analysis techniques and software on the Journal's Web site at www.jaacap.com. METHOD: We focus our review of techniques on those that are based on the "Missing at Random" assumption and are either extremely popular because of their convenience or that are harder to employ but yield more precise inferences. RESULTS: The literature regarding missing data indicates that deletion of observations with missing data can yield biased findings. Other popular methods for handling missing data, notably replacing missing values with means, can lead to confidence intervals that are too narrow as well as false identifications of significant differences (type I statistical errors). Methods such as multiple imputation and direct maximum likelihood estimation are often superior to deleting observations and other popular methods for handling missing data problems. CONCLUSIONS: Psychiatric and developmental researchers should consider using multiple imputation and direct maximum likelihood estimation rather than deleting observations with missing values.

Adolescent↗

Social epidemiology of trauma among 2 American Indian reservation populations.

OBJECTIVES: We examined the prevalence of trauma in 2 large American Indian communities in an attempt to describe demographic correlates and to compare findings with a representative sample of the US population. METHODS: We determined differences in exposure to each of 16 types of trauma among 3084 tribal members aged 15 to 57 years through structured interviews. We compared prevalence rates of trauma, by gender, across the 2 tribes and with a sample of the US general population. We used logistic regression analyses to examine the relationships of demographic correlates to trauma exposure. RESULTS: Lifetime exposure rates to at least 1 trauma (62.4%-67.2% among male participants, 66.2%-69.8% among female participants) fell at the upper limits of the range reported by other researchers. Unlike the US general population, female and male American Indians exhibited equivalent levels of overall trauma exposure. Members of both tribes more often witnessed traumatic events, experienced traumas to loved ones, and were victims of physical attacks than their counterparts in the overall US population. CONCLUSIONS: American Indians live in adverse environments that place them at high risk for exposure to trauma and harmful health sequelae.

Adolescent↗

Imputing missing data.

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Data Interpretation, Statistical↗

The prevalence of DSM-III-R alcohol dependence in two American Indian populations.

BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests that American Indian (AI) populations may be at increased risk for problems with alcohol, but a lack of community-based research using diagnostic criteria has constrained our ability to draw inferences about the extent of severe alcohol problems, such as dependence, in AI populations. METHODS: This article draws on data collected by the American Indian Service Utilization, Psychiatric Epidemiology, Risk and Protective Factors Project (AI-SUPERPFP), which involved interviews with 3084 AI people living on or near their reservations. The AI-SUPERPFP sample was drawn from two culturally distinct tribes, which were designated with geographical descriptions: Northern Plains (NP) and Southwest (SW). Comparisons with data collected by the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS) were explored by using shared measures to situate the findings from AI-SUPERPFP in a national context. RESULTS: Lifetime rates of DSM-III-R alcohol dependence for men in both AI-SUPERPFP samples were 50% higher than those found in the NCS. Rates of lifetime alcohol dependence for women varied by sample, however; NP women had twice the rate of women in the NCS, but SW women had rates quite similar to those of NCS women. Patterns for 12-month alcohol dependence in AI-SUPERPFP were generally more similar to those found in NCS. CONCLUSIONS: The rates of DSM-III-R alcohol dependence found in AI-SUPERPFP were generally higher than US averages and justify continued attention and concern to alcohol problems in AI communities, but they are not nearly as high as those in other reports in the literature that rely on less stringent sampling methods. Furthermore, significant sociocultural influences on the correlates of alcohol dependence in AI communities are evident in these data, underscoring the need to appreciate the complex and varying influences on the patterning of alcohol problems in the diverse cultural contexts of the US.

Adolescent↗