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Biomedical subjects

S Hansell

Publications and source records attributed to S Hansell.

31 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1991

Adolescent drug use, psychological distress, and physical symptoms.

The longitudinal interrelationships among general drug use, psychological distress, and physical symptoms were investigated in a three wave panel study of a community sample of adolescents interviewed when they were 12, 15, and 18 years of age. Results did not provide any support for the hypothesis that adolescents use drugs in general to cope with pre-existing psychological distress and physical symptoms. In contrast, the results supported the hypothesis that general drug use contributes to physical and psychological impairments over time. However, such drug-induced psychological distress and physical symptoms only occurred in later adolescence (from ages 15 to 18), and no evidence of impairments due to general drug use or specific alcohol use was found in early adolescence (from ages 12 to 15). Psychological distress and physical symptoms influenced each other over time, and physical symptoms partially mediated longitudinal changes in psychological distress. However, general drug use did not mediate any longitudinal changes in psychological distress and physical symptoms.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1991

Marijuana use, introspectiveness, and mental health.

Conflicting evidence suggests that marijuana use may be associated with either positive or negative mental health. This study explores the possibility that the association of marijuana use with mental health differs among various subgroups of users. Specifically, we investigate the hypothesis that marijuana use and the personality disposition of introspectiveness interact in their effects on psychological well-being. Results support this hypothesis and show that marijuana use is associated significantly with psychological distress for highly introspective individuals. In contrast, marijuana use has no such association for those low on introspectiveness. Additional evidence shows that marijuana use involves primarily self-oriented cognitive and emotional experiences for highly introspective individuals, whereas for those low on introspectiveness it is characterized more often by perceptual distortions and sensorimotor sensations.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Divorce, family conflict, and adolescents' well-being.

The relative effects of family conflict and divorce on the well-being of adolescents were examined in a longitudinal study of a heterogeneous community sample. Higher levels of family conflict were associated with increases in adolescents' depressed mood, anxiety, and physical symptoms over time. In contrast, neither recent divorce nor earlier divorce was associated with longitudinal changes in any health outcomes. Also, adolescents living in intact families with high conflict had significantly poorer well-being than those living in families of divorce with low conflict. Finally, the longitudinal effects of divorce and family conflict did not differ by age and sex, but Hispanic adolescents experienced more negative effects of family conflict than non-Hispanic whites, and the well-being of Asian adolescents was influenced more strongly by recent divorce.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Factors associated with Medicare beneficiaries' interest in HMOs.

In this study we explore the demographic and health status factors associated with HMO awareness and enrollment interest among 314 Medicare beneficiaries. The results reveal that older adults most aware of HMOs were more demographically advantaged than others. In contrast, those most interested in information and HMO enrollment reported more financial vulnerability. An unanticipated finding was that self-reported health status and health care utilization were not associated significantly with HMO awareness or enrollment interest. If replicated, the findings suggest that relatively healthy Medicare beneficiaries with financial vulnerabilities could be enrolled in HMOs without necessarily increasing the proportion of high medical care utilizers.

Aged↗
PubMed1985

Introspectiveness and adolescent symptom reporting.

A new measure of introspectiveness--the tendency to devote diffuse attention to thoughts and feelings about the self--was used to investigate adolescent symptom reporting. Introspectiveness was correlated with psychological distress (r = .40) and with physical symptoms (r = .27) in a random sample of college freshmen, and remained the strongest correlate of distress and symptoms when controlling for a variety of other measures. Women, Jews, and certain Hispanic groups were higher on introspectiveness than other students. An unanticipated, but possibly significant, result was that economic discontinuities and discontinuities involving significant others had markedly different relationships with health. Strong associations between perceptions of parental characteristics, adolescent introspectiveness, and health suggested the importance of socialization processes for understanding distress and symptoms. Finally, measures of emotional sensitivity and time spent alone were associated with introspectiveness and symptom reporting. Taken together, these findings suggest the importance of introspectiveness and its correlates for understanding the processes leading to adolescent symptom reporting.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Is the substance abuse of inpatients with schizophrenia overlooked?

The utility of medical records and clinician reports for assessing substance abuse among inpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder was assessed in a sample of 296 patients recruited from four general hospitals in New York City. Measures derived from the medical record, the discharge summary, and primary clinician reports are compared to the results of a structured diagnostic interview. Analysis of the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and overall accuracy of the nondiagnostic sources found unexpectedly high levels of detection. Discharge summaries had the lowest sensitivity when compared to the diagnostic interview, raising concern that inpatient staff and clinicians may fail to communicate substance abuse problems to outpatient providers.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Type A behavior pattern and hypertension among inner-city black women.

Inner-city Black women were administered Rosenman and Friedman's A-B interview and invited to discuss stress experiences and traditional coronary heart disease risk factors while their blood pressure was monitored at two-minute intervals. Results revealed the essential reliability of the A-B classification for the sample and demonstrated a general congruence with type A behaviors reported in previous (mostly white male) samples. While type A Black women were not significantly more likely to be hypertensive than type B women, analyses of the intrasubject blood pressure variability revealed an interaction between A-B and hypertensive-normotensive status. Consistent with earlier findings, hypertensives were more variable than normotensives, but this was true only for type Bs; type As were intermediate and not differentiated in their variability. This finding calls attention to the possible adaptive function of type A behavior among stress inner-city Black females and raises the question of whether Rosenman and Friedman's personality theory might be objectionably simplistic.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Type A (coronary-prone) behavior and transient blood pressure change.

A study was conducted to delineate further the physiological mechanisms underlying the type A behavior pattern's influence on coronary heart disease. It was suggested that while chronically elevated blood pressure is apparently not associated with overall A--B distinctions (at least not for males), acting in a type A fashion may be accompanied by temporary increases in blood pressure. Changes in the speech characteristics of 33 black inner-city women during the A--B interview and subsequent unstructured dialogue were analyzed at one-minute intervals and correlated with concomitant blood pressure measurements. Differences in the speech characteristics of women classified type A as opposed to B were consistent with recent studies of white males (e.g., type As spoke significantly faster than type Bs). Further, within-subject blood pressure elevations were significantly associated with louder/more explosive, longer speech episodes. Additional research is urged which examines biochemical and physiological changes as a function of type A behavior considered as a transient state as well as a relatively enduring trait.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Engagement-involvement and blood pressure change: a methodological inquiry.

In a study that examined further Singer's model of engagement-involvement in a community nursing setting, 31 black inner-city women conversed informally with a nurse while their blood pressure was monitored at two-minute intervals using a Hoffman-LaRoche Arteriosonde. Type A (coronary-prone) and hypertensive subjects were judged to not display greater engagement than type B and normotensive subjects, respectively. Within-subject correlations between observers' ratings of engagement and blood pressure showed substantial differences across subjects. Nevertheless, for correlations based on engagement judgments corresponding to the minute immediately preceding the blood pressure determination the mean within-subject values ranged from .14 to .32 (mean = .20) and were all significantly different from zero. Attention is directed to the need for refining the criteria used for judging engagement and to identifying patients for whom increased engagement may invalidate blood pressure measurements in a clinical setting.

Blood Pressure↗