Biomedical subjects

Stephen Rosenman

Publications and source records attributed to Stephen Rosenman.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Childhood adversity and adult personality.

OBJECTIVES: To explore how recalled childhood adversity affects trait measures of personality in three age cohorts of an Australian adult population and to examine the effects of particular adversities on adult personality traits. METHOD: A total of 7485 randomly selected subjects in the age bands of 20-24, 40-44 and 60-64 years were interviewed at the outset of a longitudinal community study of psychological health in the Canberra region of Australia. In the initial interview, subjects answered 17 questions about domestic adversity and three questions on positive aspects of upbringing to age 16 years. Personality traits were measured by Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, Behavioural Activation and Inhibition Scales, Positive and Negative Affect Scales and a measure of dissocial behaviours. RESULTS: Higher levels of childhood adversity substantially increase the risk of high neuroticism (OR = 2.6) and negative affect (OR = 2.6), less for behavioural inhibition (OR = 1.7) and for dissocial behaviour (OR = 1.7). No significant effect is seen for extraversion, psychoticism or behavioural activation. Age and gender had little effect on the pattern of risk. Maternal depression has significant and substantial independent effects on measures of neuroticism and negative affect as well as most other measures of personality. CONCLUSION: Childhood domestic adversity has substantial associations with clinically important aspects of personality: neuroticism and negative affect. Only small effects are seen on behavioural inhibition and dissocial behaviour, and no significant effect on extraversion and behavioural activation. These unexpected findings contradict clinical belief. Maternal psychological ill-health is pre-eminent among adversities predicting later disadvantageous traits, even for those traits that had only the slightest association with childhood adversity. Consequences of childhood adversity prevail throughout the lifespan in men and women equally. The study underlines the importance of childhood domestic adversity and especially maternal psychological ill-health as a target for preventive intervention for psychological difficulties at all ages.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Reconsidering the attention deficit paradigm.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the inadequacies and criticisms of the current categorical paradigm of Attention Deficit Disorder both in children and adults. CONCLUSIONS: An alternative, more dimensional paradigm linking executive functions is described and its advantage over categorical diagnostic paradigms is argued. Consideration of a more discriminating and dimensional behavioural model would help psychiatrists operating in this area.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Childhood adversity in an Australian population.

BACKGROUND: The impact of adversity in childhood is well established in clinical populations, but there is little information about adversity in wider populations. The aim of this paper is to report and to explore the distribution of childhood family adversity in an Australian population. METHOD: A total of 7485 randomly selected subjects in 20-24, 40-44 and 60-64 year age bands were interviewed at the outset of a longitudinal community study of psychological health in the Canberra region of Australia. In the initial cross-sectional interview, subjects answered 17 questions about experience of adversity in the home to age 16 years. RESULTS: In the population, 59.5% had experienced some form of childhood adversity and 37% had experienced more than one adversity. Domestic conflict and parental psychopathology and substance use are the common adversities. Parental sexual abuse was reported by 1.1%. Adversity was highest in the 40-44 year age group and reported more in women in all age groups. The majority of subjects saw their childhood as happy or normal despite adversity, but happiness is affected most by domestic warmth and harmony, and normalcy by abuse and neglect. Severe adversities, physical and sexual abuse and neglect, were uncommon, but were related to multiple and other severe adversities. CONCLUSION: Some form of adversity is a common experience, although the severest abuses are less common in this population. Multiple adversities are common and only a minority experience single adversities. Physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect rarely occur alone, but indicate a context of abuse.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

Trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in Australia: findings in the population sample of the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing.

AIM: To investigate the distribution and risk factors for trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in the Australian population sample taken for the 1997 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing. METHODS: The confidentialised unit record file (CURF) was prepared by the Australian Bureau of Statistics from the survey sample of 10 641 adults. It was interrogated for the lifetime experience of specific trauma and the 12-month prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder according to DSM-IV and ICD-10. Univariate and multivariate analyses were applied to quantify risks for traumatic experience and for DSM-IV posttraumatic stress disorder. RESULTS: Fifty-seven per cent of the population reported lifetime experience of the specified trauma. Men were more likely to experience most traumas and multiple traumas except for sexual assaults. The twelve-month prevalence of DSM-IV posttraumatic stress disorder in the overall adult population was 1.5%. It occurred in 3.8% of women and 2.0% of men who had experienced trauma. While female gender, youth, lower education and residence in poorer areas predicted posttraumatic stress disorder after trauma, multivariate analysis showed that the nature of trauma (especially sexual assault) predominated. Gender ceased to be a significant contributor to the risk of posttraumatic stress disorder when analysis controlled for type and number of trauma, and for the passage of time. CONCLUSION: Trauma is ubiquitous in the community and posttraumatic stress disorder is comparatively less common, persisting into the past year in 2.8% of those who have experienced lifetime trauma. The conventional models of female susceptibility to post-traumatic stress disorder are not supported in this sample. The type of trauma appears the most important determinant of progression to posttraumatic stress disorder. These com-munity prevalence statistics complement causal understanding that comes from studies of clinical and other special populations in which posttraumatic stress disorder and selection for treatment may be confounded.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

Cervical pregnancy: two case reports.

REASON FOR STUDY: To determine if there is a safe and effective treatment for cervical pregnancy. MAIN FINDINGS: There is no study presently which shows whether the medical vs surgical vs medical and surgical treatment combined for cervical pregnancy is more efficient. Continued studies are necessary to validate any treatment and confirm which would increase survival with fewer complications. PRINCIPAL CONCLUSION: There is no definitive treatment for cervical ectopic pregnancies. The risk and benefits of each treatment must be entertained before a decision is made on either medical or surgical treatment.

Abortifacient Agents, Nonsteroidal↗