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Biomedical subjects

W M Ensel

Publications and source records attributed to W M Ensel.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

The life stress paradigm and psychological distress.

The paper focuses on two forces (stressors and resources) in the life stress process as they affect psychological distress. Utilizing three waves of panel data from a representative community sample in upstate New York, six causal models of the life stress process are tested with indicators of two types of stressors (social and physiological) and two types of resources (social and psychological). Both deterring and coping models are tested. Analysis shows that: (1) stressors and resources in the social environment have a direct impact on depressive symptoms, (2) social resources mediate the effects of social stressors on psychological distress, and (3) psychological resources indirectly affect distress by enhancing social resources. The critical role played by the social environment in the life stress process involving psychological distress is substantiated. The implications of these and other findings are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1989

Measuring the communication of social support from adult children.

Further knowledge of the nature and significance of the relationships of elderly persons to their adult children requires the application of social support scales tapping the quality and content of their interactions. Scaling efforts must further address conceptual and operational specification, the differentiation of sources and dimensions of support, the objectification of self-report scales, and construct validity. Respondents to this survey are a community, stratified probability sample of adults aged 50 and older (N = 1,174). Measures employed include 2 items reflecting instrumental support and 17 items designed to tap Cobb's (1976) definition of expressive support as consisting of information that one is loved, esteemed, and embedded in a social relationship characterized by mutual caring and obligation. Factor analyses consistently discern one instrumental and three expressive dimensions of support: Caring and Concern, Social Integration, and Love and Affection. These subscales are differentially correlated with sociodemographic characteristics of the parents and adult children, as well as with depression and disability. Implications of these and other findings are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

The role of age in the relationship of gender and marital status to depression.

Research on sex and marital status differences in depression has grown rapidly in the last decade. However, little has been done to examine these relationships in a life course perspective. Utilizing a random community sample of adults in upstate New York, the current paper examines "male-female," as well as "married-unmarried" differences in depression, controlling for age. Generally, unmarried females are found to be the most depressed of all sex-marital status groupings. However, among the married, controlling for age, young married females (17 to 24) are found to be contributing the most to the role of depression in married women. Excluding this subgroup from computations, there is no significant difference in the mean level of depression between married men and women. A specific test of Gove's "sex role hypothesis" is presented and the feasibility of utilizing a "clinical caseness" cutoff point on the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale is examined. The implications of these and other findings are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Social support scales: a methodological note.

The relationship between social support and depression has implications for researchers studying schizophrenia. In this article, the authors attempt to conceptualize social support and assess the reliability and validity of its various measures. They then evaluate the ability of social support, along with stressors, to explain psychiatric symptoms. Representative data from a community survey of adults, ages 17-70, suggest that social support measures show strong relationships to depression and other psychiatric symptoms. The implications of these and other findings for the study of schizophrenia are discussed.

Depressive Disorder↗