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Biomedical subjects

C S Aneshensel

Publications and source records attributed to C S Aneshensel.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Body image, perceived pubertal timing, and adolescent mental health.

PURPOSE: To examine the impact of gender, racial-ethnic group, and perceived pubertal timing on body image and adolescent mental health. METHOD: A three-stage, area probability sample was selected which included 877 teens (13-18 years) with diverse social and demographic characteristics. Interviews in English or Spanish were conducted in person. The content emphasized emotional distress and problematic behavior, exposure to social stressors, coping resources and behaviors, and socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the adolescent and his or her family. RESULTS: Girls were more depressed and had lower self-esteem than boys, but not after controlling for body image. Hispanics were more depressed and had lower self-esteem than other racial-ethnic groups, a difference that remained when controlling for body image. African-Americans had the most positive body image, a finding that could not be attributed to higher self-esteem or fewer depressive symptoms. The impact of perceived pubertal timing on body image varied considerably by gender and across racial-ethnic group. CONCLUSIONS: Negative feelings about their bodies contribute to the higher prevalence of depressive symptomatology and lower self-esteem among girls. African-Americans appear to take pride in their bodies in a manner that sets them apart from other teenagers, suggesting they hold a different ideal. Relative to teenagers of other racial-ethnic backgrounds, Hispanics may be at elevated risk for mental health problems.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

AIDS caregiving and health among midlife and older women.

This study reports on analyses of survey data from 121 midlife and older women engaged in AIDS caregiving in Los Angeles and San Francisco. These data revealed that these women provided substantial support to persons living with HIV or AIDS (PWAs) despite other role commitments associated with family and work. Although the characteristics of these women differed according to their relationship to the PWA (mother, wife, sister, or friend), they tended to be similar with regard to both the amount of care provided and its impact on their health. The results indicated that the severity of the PWA's illness and the duration of caregiving were more consequential to health than were the hands-on tasks of caregiving.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1998

The integration of informal care, case management and community-based services for persons with HIV/AIDS.

This research examines the integration of informal and formal care for persons with HIV/AIDS. Data come from a panel survey of informal HIV/AIDS caregivers (N = 642) and are analyzed using a modified version of the Behavioral Model that allows for inclusion of predisposing, enabling and need characteristics of persons with HIV/AIDS and their caregivers. The outcome component of our model emphasizes the role of case management as an intermediary service designed to facilitate linkage to other services. Results indicate: substantial use of case management and other services among persons receiving informal care; characteristics of care recipients, caregivers and dyads directly influence case management and service use; case management positively influences service use at baseline and change in service use over time; and the association between case management and service use generates indirect influences on service use related to characteristics of care recipients, caregivers and dyads. These results highlight the importance of case management as a mechanism for integrating informal and formal care and demonstrate that service utilization is influenced by the social context of illness.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1997

The physical costs of AIDS caregiving.

Informal care has become an increasingly important element in the delivery of health and social services to people living with HIV disease or AIDS (PWAs), yet the provision of such care does not come without costs to the caregiver. Instead, caregiving imposes burdens that may compromise caregiver health. Common ailments among AIDS caregivers were examined with two waves of data from a diverse sample of informal care providers in Los Angeles and San Francisco (N = 642). Symptoms of poor physical health are markedly present among AIDS caregivers and are significantly associated with care-related demands and stressors. This stress and health relationship varies significantly between caregivers who are HIV seropositive and those who are seronegative. Care-related effects are more direct among seronegative caregivers who are perhaps less overwhelmed with the maintenance of their own health. For all caregivers studied, level of depression and prior physical health are strong correlates of these physical ailments. Implications of these results are discussed.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1997

Community and dating violence among adolescents: perpetration and victimization.

PURPOSE: Adolescents are both the perpetrators and victims of violence in the United States. To reduce violence, it is important to identify those most at risk within particular contexts. METHODS: A social learning framework was used to investigate involvement in violence in a survey of 719 high school students. Four outcomes (community violence perpetration, community violence victimization, dating violence perpetration, and dating violence victimization) were examined as a function of demographic characteristics, exposure to violence, and several potential mediating variables. RESULTS: Exposure to weapons and violent injury in the community was the sole consistent predictor across the four outcomes. Gender generally was an important correlate of violence; there were substantial gender differences in the correlates of dating violence perpetration and victimization, but relatively few gender differences in the correlates of community violence involvement. Other demographic characteristics typically were of limited importance, and were largely accounted for by exposure to violence or other mediators. Personal norms about the circumstances under which the use of violence is perceived as justified were important for three of the four outcome: community violence perpetration, and dating violence perpetration and victimization. CONCLUSIONS: Being exposed to violence in one context appears to have crossover effects to victimization and perpetration in another context. Furthermore, victimization and perpetration often co-occur.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

The forms and mechanisms of stress proliferation: the case of AIDS caregivers.

Processes of stress proliferation are explored in a sample of informal caregivers to people with AIDS. Proliferation refers to the tendency for stressors to beget stressors. Two forms of proliferation are explored, each based on the distinction between primary and secondary stressors. Among AIDS caregivers, primary stressors are the hardships rooted in the caregiving role. Secondary stressors result from primary stressors, but arise in roles and activities outside of caregiving. One form of proliferation is the expansion of primary stressors, reflected in an increase in role overload and a growing sense of being a captive of the caregiver role. Expansion is largely driven by the course of AIDS and the elevation of demands it places on the caregiver. The second form of proliferation is the surfacing of secondary stressors in social and leisure life and in the occupational realm. This form arises from the strains imposed by the emerging caregiver role on the other roles and activities of the caregiver. It is proposed that the systematic assessment of proliferated stressors can help illuminate the dynamic connections between stress and health.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1996

The neighborhood context of adolescent mental health.

Mental health disorders in adolescence are pervasive, often carry into adulthood, and appear to be inversely associated with social status. We examine how structural aspects of neighborhood context, specifically, socioeconomic stratification and racial/ethnic segregation, affect adolescent emotional well-being by shaping subjective perceptions of their neighborhoods. Using a community-based sample of 877 adolescents in Los Angeles County, we find that youth in low socioeconomic status (SES) neighborhoods perceive greater ambient hazards such as crime, violence, drug use, and graffiti than those in high SES neighborhoods. The perception of the neighborhood as dangerous, in turn, influences the mental health of adolescents: the more threatening the neighborhood, the more common the symptoms of depression, anxiety, oppositional defiant disorder, and conduct disorder. Social stability and, to a lesser extent, social cohesion, also emerge as contributors to adolescent disorder. This investigation demonstrates that research into the mental health of young people should consider the socioeconomic and demographic environments in which they live.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Support service use by persons with AIDS and their caregivers.

The purpose of this study was to identify factors related to the use and non-use of emotional and practical support services by persons with AIDS (PWAs) and their informal caregivers. Unmet need for PWA support services and perceived barriers to the use of these types of services were also identified. Structured interviews were conducted with 472 self-selected informal AIDS caregivers in greater Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area. Data from a cross-sectional survey interview were analysed using logistic regression models fit for three categories of service use. Use of support services was substantial in this sample. Case management, caregiver HIV status, education, co-residence, and type of interpersonal relationship were important predictors of service use. Unmet need for PWA services was also substantial. The PWA's unwillingness to use services and lack of access were identified as key barriers to service use. Even in the presence of an informal caregiver, PWAs require considerable supplemental assistance from institutional sources. The presence of informal assistance to PWAs does not eliminate the need for institutional support. Moreover, caregivers themselves demonstrate considerable need for support.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1993

Stress, role captivity, and the cessation of caregiving.

Difficulties experienced when caring for an impaired elderly relative, including decisions to place this person in institutional care, are examined as a function of caregiver stress. Three annual interviews were conducted with 555 caregivers to parents or spouses with Alzheimer's Disease. All patients were initially cared for at home, but 192 were subsequently placed in institutional care and 146 died. Background-contextual factors and disease characteristics have only limited associations with institutionalization. Two secondary stressors--consequences of caregiving that do not directly involve care-related tasks--exert the most proximal impact upon placement: role captivity and economic strain. Role captivity is stable over time when in-home care continues, but institutionalization alleviates this sentiment. The odds of patient death increase substantially following institutionalization, even when health status is controlled. These results illustrate that in-home care may be beneficial for care-recipients, but increase role-related stress for the care provider.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Responses to Depression Scale items among Mexican-Americans and non-Hispanic whites.

This study examined two possible patterns of ethnic differences in responses to Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale items: isolated differences in relatively disparate items and consistent differences in conceptually related items. Data were from randomly selected household residents (4,222 Mexican-Americans, 1,063 non-Hispanic Whites). The most common symptoms reflected lack of positive affect; least common were crying, feelings of failure, and feeling disliked. Mexican-Americans were more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to report symptoms that reflect lack of positive affect, which suggests possible limitations on this dimension's cross-cultural validity. U.S.-born Mexican-Americans reported more somatic and negative affect symptoms than did the Mexican-born, which suggests an overall immigration difference in depressed mood.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Depression in the community: an investigation into age of onset.

Age of onset of any lifetime depressive disorder was investigated to identify periods of the life course associated with increased risk of depression. In this large community-based sample of adults, one fourth of those with a major depressive disorder at some point in their lives reported onset during childhood or adolescence; over one half reported onset by age 25. Women were likely to have an earlier onset of depression than were men; non-Hispanic Whites and Mexican Americans born in the United States reported earlier onset than did Mexican-American immigrants. Age of onset did not appear to be consequential in terms of the number, type, or severity of the symptoms occurring during the worst depressive episode or with the probability of relapse. These findings imply that age of onset may contribute to group differences in prevalence rates.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Onset of fertility-related events during adolescence: a prospective comparison of Mexican American and non-Hispanic white females.

Ethnic differences in the first occurrence of fertility-related events are assessed for non-Hispanic White and Mexican American female adolescents. A community-based sample of 1,023 females ages 13 to 19 years was interviewed in 1984-85; 874 (85.4 percent) were reinterviewed approximately two years later. Mexico-born Mexican Americans have the lowest rate of early sexual intercourse, but the highest rate of early births because they are most likely to become pregnant if sexually active, and most likely to have a birth if pregnant. Non-Hispanic Whites have the highest rate of early sexual intercourse, but the lowest rate of early births because pregnant non-Hispanic Whites terminate pregnancies most often. US-born Mexican Americans are intermediate between the other two groups. Delays in the onset of sexual activity among Mexican Americans are not converted into corresponding delays in first pregnancies and births. Early marriage among Mexico-born Mexican Americans, however, accounts for much of the ethnic difference in early fertility.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed1989

Fertility and fertility-related behavior among Mexican-American and non-Hispanic white female adolescents.

Ethnic differences in fertility-related behavior are examined in a community-based probability sample of 706 Mexican-American and 317 non-Hispanic white females aged 13 through 19 years. Mexican-Americans are more likely than whites to have had a live birth, but are no more likely to have been pregnant and are less likely to have had sexual intercourse. Sexually experienced Mexican-Americans, however, are twice as likely as whites to have been pregnant. Among those ever pregnant, Mexican-Americans are more likely to have had a live birth, while whites are more likely to have had an abortion. Ethnic differences remain strong when socioeconomic status and indicators of social instability are controlled statistically, lending more support to the "minority status" hypothesis than to the "characteristics" hypothesis concerning the fertility-related behavior of minority group members.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Tests for the comparability of a causal model of depression under two conditions of interviewing.

Although many, if not most, surveys have an explanatory purpose, comparisons of the results obtained through telephone and in-person interviews have generally been focused on descriptive outcomes only. We assessed interview method effects on parameter estimates for a latent variable causal model of age, sex, socioeconomic status, illness, and depression. The data were derived from interviews with a community sample of adults randomly assigned to either telephone or in-person interviews. We found that the measurement model for five constructs was highly similar for the two groups. Differences appeared in the estimation of causal paths among these constructs, but were not statistically significant. In both groups, the largest single effect was the impact of illness on depression. A comparison of factor means also revealed only minor method effects. In general, the two interview methods appeared to yield highly comparable estimates of the causal model, which suggests that relations among variables are stable across methods of interviewing.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1983

Race, ethnicity, and depression: a confirmatory analysis.

This study addresses two questions: (a) Are depressive-symptom scales equally indicative of depression in different racial/ethnic groups and (b) are there mean differences between the groups in the underlying depressive disorder assessed by these scales? The data consist of interviews obtained from a large community survey of depression in Los Angeles County. Four racial/ethnic groups were considered: Anglos, blacks, English-speaking Hispanics, and Spanish-speaking Hispanics. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test both one-factor and two-factor models of depression. An invariant factor pattern was demonstrated. No significant mean differences on a factor of Depression were found, but the groups were found to differ on a Well-Being factor. Implications for survey research on psychiatric impairment among different racial/ethnic groups are discussed.

Black or African American↗