Biomedical subjects

Catherine E Ross

Publications and source records attributed to Catherine E Ross.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Sex differences in the effect of education on depression: resource multiplication or resource substitution?

Does education improve psychological well-being more for one sex than for the other? Resource substitution theory hypothesizes that education improves well-being more for women, because socioeconomic disadvantage makes them depend more on education to achieve well-being. Resource multiplication implies the opposite, that education improves well-being more for men, because they get bigger labor market payoffs from it such as authority and earnings. Data from a 1995 survey of US adults with follow-ups in 1998 and 2001 support the resource substitution hypothesis. Depression decreases more steeply for women than for men as the level of education increases. The gender gap in depression essentially disappears among persons with a college degree or higher. Two mediating interactions appear to account for the convergence. Education increases work creativity more sharply for women than for men, thereby reducing depression. Education increases the sense of control for both sexes equally, but depression declines more steeply for women as sense of control increases. Growth curve analyses of depression vectors confirm the resource substitution pattern. The adulthood life course pattern of depression levels and changes depends more strongly on education for women than for men.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Neighborhood disorder, psychophysiological distress, and health.

How do neighborhoods affect the health of residents? We propose that the impact of neighborhood disorder on self-reported health is mediated by psychological and physiological distress. We hypothesize a stress process in which chronic stressors in the environment give rise to a psychological and physiological stress response that ultimately affects health. The exogenous variable of interest is the neighborhood where disadvantaged persons live, which may expose them to chronic stressors in the form of crime, trouble, harassment, and other potentially distressing signs of disorder and decay. The mediator is the stress response that occurs in the body and brain. Of interest here is a psychological stress response in the form of fearful anxiety and depression, and a physiological stress response in the form of signs and symptoms of autonomic arousal, such as dizziness, chest pains, trouble breathing, nausea, upset stomach, and weakness. The outcome is poor health. This model is supported using data from the Welfare, Children, and Families project, a sample of 2,402 disadvantaged women in disadvantaged neighborhoods in Chicago, Boston, and San Antonio.

Crime↗

PubMed2002

Depression, parenthood, and age at first birth.

This study tests the hypothesis that the correlation between current depression and parenthood depends on the age at first birth for adults. An early first birth suggests a poor start in life. It may reflect a disordered transition from adolescence into adulthood and may itself disrupt that transition, with life long consequences that influence emotional well-being. To test the hypothesis we analyze data from a 1995 survey of 2592 US adults 18 through 95. Among the parents we find a generally negative association between age at first birth and recent feelings and signs of depression, adjusting for age, sex, minority status, and education of the respondent's parents. Respondents who had a first birth before age 23 report more feelings and signs of depression than do nonparents; those who had a first birth after age 23 report fewer than do nonparents. The association between depression and age at first birth is monotonic for males but parabolic for females. The age at first birth associated with the lowest predicted depression for females is around 30. Regression analyses indicate that several correlates account for the apparent psychological benefits of delaying first birth: later first marriages, higher educational attainment, lower risk of having had a prolonged period needing a job but not being able to find one, lower risk of having had periods lacking the money for household necessities, and better current physical health. For women, health consequences limit the emotional benefits of prolonged delay of the first birth.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

Measurement for a human science.

This paper argues a number of points about measurement in the sociology of mental health: (1) measurement is critical, (2) measures should represent and assess elements of human experience, taking measure of life as people feel it, sense it, and understand it, and (3) social scientists should create a human science, producing information for the people it studies so that they can better understand and control their own lives. We argue that a human science is best achieved with the use of indexes, not diagnoses, to measure mental health. We present a brief history of diagnostic instruments and detail how a diagnosis is made. We show how use of diagnoses to measure mental health discounts much human suffering. They dichotomize the true range of feelings and emotions into crude either/or distinctions that do not reflect the reality of people's lives, and they often exclude suffering such as that due to loss or illness that does not meet medical model preconceptions about mental disorder. Using diagnoses to measure mental health presents a reified image of hidden disease knowable and manageable only by trained professionals--beyond the capacity of the suffering individuals to understand and control.

Attitude to Health↗

PubMed2002

Family relationships, social support and subjective life expectancy.

Do supportive personal relationships increase subjective life expectancy? The objective existence of family relationships and the subjective sense of having someone to call on in need may increase the length of life a person expects by creating assurance about the future, by reinforcing healthy habits, and by improving current health. Using the 1995 Aging, Status, and Sense of Control representative sample of 2,037 Americans ages 18-95, we find that having adult children and surviving parents increases the length of life one expects, but young children in the home does not, and marriage only contributes years of life expected for older men. People expect to live longer when they report high levels of emotional support, and the association is mediated entirely by the perception that one has someone to call on when one is sick. People with informal health support expect to live longer than those without it, and this is especially true for persons with physical impairments. Although informal health practices shape subjective life expectancy, they explain little of the effects of supportive relationships. People who smoke, drink heavily, and have poor nutritional habits expect shorter lives, and those who walk and exercise expect longer lives. Better current health is associated with higher subjective life expectancy, but it does not explain the impact of supportive relationships. Most of the impact of supportive relationships appears to be a direct result of projected security about the future. Feeling that you have someone who would care for you if sick appears to increase the sense of security about surviving future health crises, thereby increasing one's perceived inventory of the essential property--life itself.

Adolescent↗