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PubMedDate not supplied

Brief report: birth status, medical complications, and social environment: individual differences in development of preterm, very low birth weight infants.

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether medical complications mediate the relationship between birth status (i.e., birth weight and gestational age) and developmental outcome of preterm, very low birth weight (VLBW) infants, as well as the role of the early social environment (maternal distress and social support) in infant development. METHOD: Birth status and medical complication information was collected during the child's NICU stay. Maternal distress was assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory and the Parenting Stress Index at 4 months corrected infant age. Social support was measured with the Dunst Scales at 4 months corrected age. Child development measures were collected at 4 and 13 months corrected age (Bayley MDI and PDI), and at 36 months chronological age (PPVT-R and Achenbach CBCL). RESULTS: Medical complications mediated the birth status-outcome relationship at 4 and 13 months, but not at 36 months. The 36-month outcomes were predicted by 4-month maternal distress and social support. CONCLUSIONS: Prematurity and VLBW are indirectly related to early developmental outcome through their association with medical complications. However, by 36 months, developmental outcomes are more closely related to aspects of the early social environment than to early physiological factors.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Needs assessment and social environment of people living with HIV/AIDS in Hong Kong.

The present study examined the needs and perceived social environment among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Hong Kong (N=289). Sizeable demands were expressed for medical treatment, provision of HIV-related information, financial assistance and psychological counselling. Physical health (about 38%) and social discrimination (about 24%) were the two commonly named 'most difficult aspects' of their life. In addition, over 50% felt that they were discriminated in different settings such as in the workplace and in social relationships. Social support was also often lacking among many PLWHA in Hong Kong. Nearly 80% were worried/very worried about others knowing their HIV-positive status and 16% of them did not disclose the matter to any person.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1998

Shared social environment and psychiatric disorder: a multilevel analysis of individual and ecological effects.

We examined associations, in terms of relative and population-attributable risks, between shared social environment at the neighbourhood level and (1) treated incidence of non-psychotic, non-organic disorders, and (2) subsequent level of service consumption. The multilevel analysis used linked records of all individuals in contact for the first time with any catchment area mental health service for non-psychotic, non-organic disorder over various specified time periods between 1981 and 1995. Socioeconomic indicators of 36 neighbourhoods in the city of Maastricht yielded a multivariately defined neighbourhood deprivation score. There were significant linear trends in the association between level of deprivation and treated incidence, especially in the population under 35 years of age (adjusted rate ratio for linear trend 1.17, 95% confident interval 1.11-1.23), who constituted around half of the patient population. The fraction of the incidence of psychiatric disorder attributable to deprivation was 17.8%. Multilevel analyses of rates of a second cohort, with cases divided according to level of service use over a standardised follow-up of 5 years after first contact with psychiatric services, revealed that the effect of deprivation scores on rates declined with intensity of out-patient service use, but increased with level of in-patient use. Up to 50% of in-patient episodes in this group could be attributed to neighbourhood level of deprivation. The increase in risk conferred by neighbourhood deprivation remained after adjustment for the individual-level equivalent. The findings therefore suggest that elements in the shared social environment influence both incidence and severity of non-psychotic, non-organic disorders, over and above any individual-level effect.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

'Neurosis' and the personal social environment. The effects of a time-limited course of intensive day care.

The Interview Schedule for Social Interactions (ISSI) was used to assess the social environment of 65 British inner-city patients suffering from severe neurotic disorder; all patients were offered a 12-week course of intensive day treatment with an educational and psychodynamic basis. Compared with a general population in Canberra, the neurosis sufferers had lower (morbid) scores on the ISSI for the extent and quality of their social relationships. Of the 34 subjects who completed treatment and attended for the post-treatment investigation, 21 attained a PSE score below the level for 'caseness'. Twenty-five subjects who attended for follow-up at 18-24 months had improved significantly on all four of the standard ISSI measures, although they had not done so immediately after treatment. This suggests that although symptoms may improve at the time of treatment, social relationships improve only over several months.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

The effects of the social environment on stress-related cardiovascular activation: current findings, prospects, and implications.

Social relationships have been shown to be health-protective and to improve cardiovascular disease prognosis. One of the mechanisms by which social relationships may alter health status is through altering patterns of neuroendocrine or hemodynamic responding to ongoing activity. For example, research with non-human primates suggests that disrupted social relationships may increase cardiovascular risk through their effects on sympathetic nervous system activation. In humans, a number of recent reports have shown that the presence of an affiliative companion can reduce cardiovascular activity during psychologically challenging tasks, results which are consistent with this proposed mechanism of effect. We review the recent human literature which has examined the effects of the social environment on stress-related cardiovascular activity. Although findings in this literature are generally consistent, recent anomalous results are reviewed which shed light on some of the context-dependent effects of social affiliation. Additional areas for further investigation are examined, including possible mechanisms for explaining these social affiliation effects, individual differences which may moderate these effects, and emerging methodological advances for examining how these effects may generalize to the natural environment.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1992

Institutionalism and schizophrenia 30 years on. Clinical poverty and the social environment in three British mental hospitals in 1960 compared with a fourth in 1990.

In their comparison of chronic schizophrenic patients in three British mental hospitals in 1960, Wing and Brown found a strong association between the poverty of the social environment and the severity of 'clinical poverty' (blunted affect, poverty of speech, and social withdrawal). Between 1960 and 1968 the social environments of all three hospitals improved and a weak causal relationship between social poverty and clinical poverty was reported in a proportion of patients. Using the same assessment instruments as Wing and Brown, the present study re-examined the relationship between social and clinical poverty in the long-stay schizophrenic population of a fourth British mental hospital in 1990. The association found between social and clinical poverty was much weaker than in 1960. Reluctance on the part of patients to be discharged from the institution was unrelated to length of stay. There was no significant difference in severity of illness between the patients in the present study and those in the earlier study. However, patients in the former group spent more time doing nothing than those in the hospital with the most understimulating environment three decades before, with four-fifths doing nothing for over five hours a day, despite a greatly increased ratio of nurses to patients.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1985

The social environment and neurological disease.

This chapter has reviewed some of the methodological and theoretical issues in research linking the social environment to medical illnesses. The second part of the chapter has focused on three specific neurological entities to examine evidence for a possible association between neurological illness and life stress. There is some suggestion that certain vulnerable epileptic patients can experience convulsions in response to acute emotional upheaval or certain types of cognitive challenges. More commonly, it is probable that social stress and emotional tension can produce lowering of seizure threshold by increasing levels of fatigue and disrupting sleep. The latter factor, in particular, is known to lower seizure threshold. In the case of stroke, several dramatic cases of intracranial hemorrhage have been related to disastrous life circumstances. A general association between life stress and stroke has yet to be established. The case for a link between life events and onset of exacerbation of multiple sclerosis seems stronger. Events which produce emotional upset seem capable of worsening symptoms in patients with existing disease, and several studies have reported unusual life stresses in the period preceding onset of symptoms in this disorder.

Affect↗
PubMed2005

Social environments and the genetics of aging: advancing knowledge of protective health mechanisms.

We selectively review the literature in behavioral and molecular genetics, including both laboratory and epidemiologic studies, with emphasis on how social environments, particularly emotion in significant social relationships, influence gene expression. Attention is given to cross-talk between human and animal studies. Environments are pivotal in understanding phenotypic outcomes, and this demands research on gene-environment interactions. Illustrative interactions, involving both behavioral and molecular genetics, are provided. Many people with susceptibility genes for diverse diseases never proceed to disease status. Substantial associational evidence implicates social environmental factors as protective agents. Mechanistic understanding of these linkages is quite advanced in some animal populations and suggests new lines of inquiry in human studies. Developing the interface between genetics, social environments, and health will require close collaboration between those well versed in molecular biology and biochemistry and persons with expertise in genetic epidemiology and social psychology. Particularly important is the identification of environmental influences that protect susceptible persons from disease incidence.

Aged↗
PubMed1993

Child health and the social environment of white and black children.

Both poverty and other factors associated with race are related to child health. However, the mechanisms of these relationships have not been adequately specified. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship of the social environment to child health status in black and white children and further, to explore whether the patterns of the effects of social class were different by race. This study provides further evidence that the social environment is strongly associated with child health status. Several risk factors are similar for both white and black children: mothers who view their own health as fair or poor are much more likely to rate their children in poor health. The presence of childhood chronic medical conditions is independently associated with poor health status regardless of race. However, the relative importance of several social risks for poor health status differs between white and black children. Specifically, while low family income is a consistent risk factor for poor health among white children, low income alone is not a risk factor for black children. Among black children, other social risks that are associated with poverty, such as low maternal education and a mother's perception of her own health as poor, increased the risk of poorer health in the child.

Black or African American↗
PubMed2002

Social environment influences the progression of atherosclerosis in the watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic rabbit.

BACKGROUND: Although there is evidence that emotionally stressful behavior can accelerate the progression of atherosclerosis, there is less data to support the notion that affiliative social behavior can slow disease progression. The present study examines the influence of social environment on the progression of atherosclerosis in the Watanabe Heritable Hyperlipidemic (WHHL) rabbit, a model that spontaneously develops lesions because of a genetic defect in lipoprotein clearance. METHODS AND RESULTS: WHHL rabbits were assigned to 1 of 3 social or behavioral groups: an unstable group, in which unfamiliar rabbits were paired daily, with the pairing switched each week; a stable group, in which littermates were paired daily for the entire study; and an individually caged group. The stable group exhibited more affiliative social behavior and less agonistic behavior than the unstable group and significantly less aortic atherosclerosis than each of the other 2 groups. Although the unstable and individually caged groups had comparable aortic lesion areas, the severity of the disease progressed faster in the unstable group, as indexed by a larger area of calcification and increased fibrous cap thickness in complex lesions. The unstable group showed increased agonistic behavior and signs of chronic adrenocortical and gonadal activation, whereas the individually caged group was relatively sedentary, had low glucocorticoid levels, and was hyperinsulinemic compared with the other groups. CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrates that social environment can slow, as well as accelerate, the progression of atherosclerosis. It also emphasizes the importance of behavioral factors in atherogenesis, even in a model of disease with strong genetic determinants.

Adrenal Glands↗
PubMed1979

[Social environment of the puerpera and her attitude towards the child].

The mother's attitude towards the newborn child is influenced considerably as well by the number of children, the respective mother is responsible for, as by other factors of her social environment, by the partners attitude towards mother and child, by the efforts in respect of a conscious planning of the human reproduction. Small birth orders, favourable conditions regarding family and social environment, but nevertheless conscious family planning are in high correlation with a positive attitude of the young mother towards the newborn child.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Social environment and incidence of voice disturbances in children.

The incidence of voice disturbances was investigated in children living under different social environments. Two groups of children at the age of 12-13 years were examined, with a total number of 362 examinees. The first study group consisted of children living in a rural environment (204 examinees) and the second group consisted of children from an urban area (158 examinees). The state of the voice and phonatory system was investigated, revealing 3.92% of children with voice problems within the rural group and 43.67% within the city group. The influence of the social environment is discussed, and also the need for behavior modification to be included in voice therapy.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Parental views of the social environment of an outpatient bone marrow transplant clinic.

The purpose of this project was to investigate, through the eyes of the parents, the social environment of the outpatient bone marrow transplant (BMT) clinic. The BMT clinic provides children with posttransplant treatment and emergency care. The clinic consists of an open room with eight patient chairs where the staff can assess and treat the patients. Via investigator-designed questionnaires, 17 participants responded to items on the variables of comparison to traditional settings, privacy, comparison with other children, and social support. Content validity was established through review by nurse clinicians. Findings indicated that the parents preferred the environment of this clinic to traditional clinics and that the informal social support they and their children received while in the waiting room was a main strength. However, parents also identified negative aspects of comparing their children to others and lack of privacy. Overall, the parents reported the advantages of this clinic outweighed the possible negative aspects. Results indicated that the setting studied has the ability to foster a social environment complementary to the technical aspects of medical care.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Social environment and adjustment after laryngectomy.

The relationship between social environmental variables and psychological, physical, and speech dysfunction after laryngectomy surgery was examined. The relationships between these categories of dysfunction and the following three social environmental factors were examined: (1) acceptance and emotional support from family and friends; (2) disease-specific support from peers who have had the same surgical intervention and from professionals; and (3) socioeconomic status (SES). Data were collected from 60 total laryngectomy patients an average of 24.3 months after surgery. The type of support provided was different for each source of support, family-friend or peer-professional. Interpersonal support from family and friends was strongly associated with psychosocial and physical dysfunction but had a weaker association with speech adjustment. Diseases-specific support from speech therapists and other laryngectomees was a weaker predictor of dysfunction but a stronger predictor of communication adaptation. SES was not predictive of dysfunction or communication adaptation. Thus different sources of social support can make specific contributions to minimizing physical and psychosocial dysfunction and acquiring skills to overcome the limitations imposed by the surgery.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2000

[School-age smoking in the province of Seville. Epidemiology and influence of personal and social environment (smoking prevention campaign, 1998-1999)].

OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence os smoking in school children in Sevilla and the influence of personal and social environment on smoking patterns. METHODS: This study was part of a preventative anti-smoking campaign in schools. Students filled in anonymous questionnaires based on the World Health Organization survey instrument for population attitudes and habits. RESULTS: We surveyed 3385 students between 10 and 19 years of age at 47 schools in Seville and 28 villages in the surrounding province. Current smoking was reported by 19.1% of the students; slightly more girls (19.8%) than boys (18.3%) smoked. Smoking was related to having an older brother or sister who smoked and particularly to having friends who smoked (OR 20.5). The adolescents reported that parents were less permissive than the rest of their environment. Smokers associated tobacco with values such as independence and freedom; they believed that smoking might have an impact on health, although their conviction was less strong than that of non-smokers, regular smokers had high expectations of continuing. CONCLUSIONS: We found a high proportion of smokers among students of both sexes. Starting and continuing to smoke during adolescence is considerably influenced by the social environment of peers and is possibly affected by messages of independence and freedom transmitted through tobacco industry advertising.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Biographical situation of scoliotic children and their relationship to the social environment(author's transl).

Studies were conducted to determine whenther or not scoliosis in childhood affects the behavior and experience of the affected children. Two groups of scoliotic and nonscoliotic children were examined with selected psychological tests. No differences could be found in regard to neuroticism, extraversion, manifest fear or the children's self-image. Differences were found in regard to the social environment which scoliotic children experienced as more demanding and supportive. As a result they were more concerned with achievement in a performance situation and more confident of success. The type and extent of the psychological effects of scoliosis is determined by the position accorded to the children by the social environment. Negative consequences can best be dealt with by educating the parents.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Effects of dose of antigen and social environment on antibody response of high and low antibody response chickens.

Chickens selected for high (HA) and low (LA) antibody response were exposed to 10-fold doses of red blood cell and killed bacterial antigens while in three different social environments. Antibody responses of the HA and LA line chickens differed most in the socialized environment and at lower doses of antigen. Dose effects were most pronounced in LA-line chickens whereas relationship of humans to chickens was most important to HA-line chickens. Socialized chickens were more consistent than ignored chickens in their response to successive antigens. Correlation between antibody response to red blood cell antigen and Mycoplasma gallisepticum lesions was stronger among socialized chickens than among ignored chickens.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

The social environment and the adaptation of mothers of physically handicapped children.

Evaluated relationships between social environmental characteristics and adaptation in 50 mothers of congenitally physically handicapped 6- to 11-year-old children. Mothers reported on utilitarian resources, child adjustment, psychosocial family resources, service utilization, and three dimensions of adaptation. Analyses of the concurrent correlational design indicated significant proportions of the variance in mental and social functioning were explained by features of the social environment. Mother's physical health could not be significantly predicted. Consistently strong contributions were made by psychosocial family resources in all adaptation domains.

Adaptation, Psychological↗