The National Health Interview Survey's 1985 Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Questionnaire included questions on the amount of stress experienced in the past 2 weeks, the effect of stress on health, thoughts about seeking help for personal or emotional problems, and actual help-seeking behaviors. This report examines responses to these questions and analyzes self-reported levels of stress by sex and other respondent characteristics. In 1985, an estimated 34 million people aged 18 years and older experienced "a lot" of stress in the 2-week period preceding the interview. Women were more likely than men to report a lot of stress (23 percent versus 18 percent), and respondents 65 years of age or older were more likely than younger respondents to report "almost no" stress. An estimated 21 million people (13 percent) believed that, over the past year, stress had "a lot" of effect on their health. Seventeen percent of the population considered seeking help in the past year for personal or emotional problems from family, friends, helping professionals, or self-help groups. Sixty-nine percent of those who thought about seeking help reported that they actually did seek help. In terms of health practices, men and women who reported higher levels of stress than others of their sex also were more likely to report that they rarely or never ate breakfast, slept 6 or fewer hours per night, were physically less active than their peers, or drank more alcoholic beverages than usual in the 2 weeks prior to the survey.

Adolescent↗

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Control of stress and violent behavior: mid-course review of the 1990 health objectives.

Control of stress and violent behavior is 1 of the 15 priority areas addressed in the 1990 health objectives for the nation. For control of stress, improved awareness of appropriate community service agencies and increased scientific knowledge of stress effects are the main objectives. For control of violent behavior, the objectives focus on three major problems: (a) deaths from homicide among young black males, (b) adolescent suicide, and (c) child abuse. Since the last progress report, published in 1984, more than 200 research projects directly related to these objectives have been funded, and a variety of implementation actions have been undertaken. During this period, baseline data on such critical concerns as homicides among blacks and Hispanics, suicide, family violence, and perceived stress have been obtained, thereby encouraging further study and facilitating achievement of the objectives. The mid-decade status report and recommendations that are presented in this article were initiated in a September 1985 review, by the Acting Assistant Secretary for Health, of progress toward achieving the 10 stress and violent behavior objectives selected for Federal implementation by the year 1990. The most recent available data have been used to update information on these 10 priority objectives.

Adolescent↗

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The Cuban immigration of 1980: a special mental health challenge.

The 124,769 Cubans who entered the United States from Cuba in a boatlift in 1980 included a small minority of people who needed mental health care. Some had been taken involuntarily from psychiatric hospitals, mental retardation facilities, jails, and prisons. The National Institute of Mental Health, Public Health Service (PHS), was responsible for mental health screening, evaluation, and treatment of the Cuban Entrants. Bilingual psychiatrists and psychologists found that many Entrants given preliminary evaluations showed evidence of transient situational stress reactions, not psychiatric illnesses. Entrants who had not yet been sponsored were consolidated into one facility in October 1980, and about 100 of those with severe problems were transferred to an Immigration and Naturalization Service-PHS evaluation facility in Washington, DC. Between March 1, 1981, and March 1, 1982, a total of 3,035 Entrants were evaluated at both facilities. Among the 1,307 persons who presented symptoms, there was a primary diagnosis of personality disorders for 26 percent, schizophrenic disorders for 15 percent, adjustment disorders for 14.5 percent, mental retardation for 8.6 percent, chronic alcohol abuse for 8.6 percent, and major depression for 7.2 percent. Only 459 Cubans with symptoms were found to be in need of further psychiatric care. As of October 1984, many Entrants with psychiatric illnesses remained under inpatient or community-based halfway house psychiatric care as a direct Federal responsibility. A PHS program for further placement in community-based facilities is underway.

Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders↗

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The comparative accuracy of the closet-speaking-space and the freeway space in measuring vertical dimension.

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Phonetics↗