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Biomedical subjects

D Dooley

Publications and source records attributed to D Dooley.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

Economic stress and suicide: multilevel analyses. Part 1: Aggregate time-series analyses of economic stress and suicide.

Of the research on health and economic stress, the approach that has produced the strongest findings has been the aggregate time-series analysis of unemployment and suicide rates. A review of the literature indicates that this aggregate work has been disputed on both methodological and interpretive grounds. To address these issues, two studies of the relationship between economic stress and suicide were conducted on the same population. The first, reported in this paper (Part 1), replicated the aggregate time-series work with improvements in method, using monthly data for 1975-1982 for Los Angeles. A second study (reported in Part 2) combined aggregate economic indicators with individual-level measures of stressful events, symptoms, and suicidal ideation.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Economic stress and suicide: multilevel analyses. Part 2: Cross-level analyses of economic stress and suicidal ideation.

This paper reports the second of two studies of the hypothesis that the economy affects suicide; both studies were based in the same community during approximately the same time period. Although many aggregate-level tests have been conducted using archival measures of unemployment and suicide (the approach used in Part 1), the impact of economic climate on suicidal ideation has not been measured at the individual level. In the study reported here, aggregate economic indicators were combined with individual-level measures of stressful events, symptoms, and suicidal ideation obtained in a survey of Los Angeles from 1978 to 1982. Each of the two studies revealed small associations between economic stress and suicide or suicidal ideation, but they were inconsistent with respect to specific subgroups.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

The interaction of stressful life events and chronic strains on community mental health.

One of the possible adaptive costs of coping with stress is diminished capacity to respond to subsequent adaptive demands. This paper examined the complex interplay between major life events and one source of chronic strain. Residents of the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area exposed to higher levels of smog, who had also experienced a recent stressful life event, exhibited poorer mental health than those exposed to pollution who had not experienced a recent stressful life event. There were, however, no direct effects of smog levels on mental health. These patterns of results were replicated in both a cross-sectional and a longitudinal study. The interplay of psychosocial vulnerability and environmental conditions is discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1987

A test of reciprocal risk between undesirable economic and noneconomic life events.

The proposition that undesirable life experiences are risk factors for each other was explored by testing several hypotheses concerning the temporal relationships between economic and noneconomic life events. The tests were conducted using data describing the incidence of stressful experiences among approximately 3,500 Anglo and Hispanic residents of Los Angeles County. Findings suggested that Anglo men who have undesirable economic life experiences are at increased risk of subsequent undesirable noneconomic experiences. Anglo women, however, exhibited the opposite pattern in that those with undesirable noneconomic experiences were at greater risk of subsequent undesirable economic experiences. Implications for theory and practice are also discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1981

Economic antecedents of child abuse and neglect.

Previous cross-sectional studies of economic influences on child maltreatment reveal that higher rates of child abuse are associated with undesirable economic conditions. The cross-sectional approach, however, is inherently unable to reveal causal direction and leaves open the possibility that the relationship between the economy and child maltreatment is due to some third variable. The present study employs an aggregate longitudinal approach to test the hypothesis that undesirable economic change leads to increased child maltreatment. Cross-correlational analyses of data over a 30-month period reveal that increases in child abuse are preceded by periods of high job loss. This finding is replicated in 2 distinct metropolitan communities under very conservative criteria which rule out most "third-variable" explanations. The loss of jobs in a community may endanger the well-being of children.

California↗
PubMed1979

Economic, life, and disorder changes: time-series analyses.

Implicit in recent social science research and political discussions is a model linking the economy to mental disorder through the intervening constructs of life change and trauma. Using time-series analysis of a 16-month survey in Kansas City, Missouri (n = 1,140), economic and noneconomic life events and the Midtown scale were predicted using a variety of economic measures for the standard metropoliton statistical area. Both life event variables and the symptom measure were related positively to unemployment, and absolute economic change measures lagged 1 and 2 months. However, the life event variables were not strongly associated with the Midtown scale. Most striking of the subgroup findings was that, on the Midtown scale, the low-income group was more responsive than the middle-income group to economic fluctuations.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Money and mental disorder: toward behavioral cost accounting for primary prevention.

This paper reviews recent retrospective sociological research suggesting that rises as well as falls in the economy are associated with such indicators of mental disorder as suicide and mental hospitalization. The review emphasizes that a lag exists between economic change and the changes in associated mental indicators. It is suggested that these findings hold promise both for early warning for practitioners and for primary prevention. Also described is a survey in four centers of 93 community mental health workers, indicating that such workers are receptive to the use of such economic indicators but not well-informed about them. Suggestions are made for prospective research to relate economic change to mental disorder through such intervening constructs as life change and stress. Such research, it is hoped, would expand the capacities of community psychologists to account for the behavioral costs of economic policy alternatives.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1975

Assessing nonprofessional mental health workers with the GAIT. An evaluation of peer ratings.

Coed groups of undergraduates took the Group Assessment of Interpersonal Traits (GAIT) twice with either a 3-week or a 9-week interval. Peer ratings of the nine GAIT scales were unrelated to sex. Test-retest correlations were significantly positive for the short-interim Ss (N = 41) but were generally low for the long-interim Ss (N = 29). Peer-rated GAIT Therapeutic Talent variables (Understand, Accepting-Warm, Open) were significantly correlated with the self-reported Comrey Personality Scale of Empathy, and GAIT Open was significantly correlated with Comrey Activity. GAIT Open, Accepting-Warm, and Best Counselor ratings were significantly correlated with total verbal responses (as counted from audiotapes of the GAIT interactions). The highly intercorrelated GAIT Therapeutic Talent variables may not be discriminated by peer raters. It is suggested that peer GAIT Therapeutic Talent ratings may be tapping an underlying global dimension, Help-Oriented Activity. Attention is called to the need for standardizing Gait ratings and for retaining the economy and ease of the GAIT.

Allied Health Personnel↗
PubMed1975

Selecting nonprofessional counselor trainees with the Group Assessment of Interpersonal Traits (GAIT).

The GAIT is a procedure for sampling and measuring communication behavior. Candidates for a counselor-training program (136 Ss; 86% women; average age 44 yr.) took the GAIT in 18 groups and completed written forms for staff screening. Data included pre-GAIT first impression peer ratings and GAIT Empathy. Acceptance, and Openness ratings by peers and by trained audiotape judges. After nine months of training, 26 remaining Ss were judged on a counseling readiness criterion. First impression and peer GAIT ratings were positively intercorrelated, but none predicted counseling readiness. The criterion was correlated with both trained GAIT Empathy (Kendall tau = .40) and staff ratings (.41. both ps less than .01). Suggestions were made for using the GAIT as a counselor selection instrument.

Adult↗