Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T15:59:30.643Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Epidemiology of Life Events and Long-term Difficulties, with some Reflections on the Concept of Independence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

P. McC. Miller ,
C. Dean ,
J. G. Ingham ,
N. B. Kreitman ,
S. P. Sashidharan  and
P. G. Surtees
P. McC. Miller*
Affiliation:
MRC Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry, University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Momingside Park, Edinburgh EH 10 5HF
C. Dean
Affiliation:
MRC Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry, University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Momingside Park, Edinburgh EH 10 5HF
J. G. Ingham
Affiliation:
MRC Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry, University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Momingside Park, Edinburgh EH 10 5HF
N. B. Kreitman
Affiliation:
MRC Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry, University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Momingside Park, Edinburgh EH 10 5HF
S. P. Sashidharan
Affiliation:
MRC Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry, University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Momingside Park, Edinburgh EH 10 5HF
P. G. Surtees
Affiliation:
MRC Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry, University Department of Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Momingside Park, Edinburgh EH 10 5HF
*
∗Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A total of 576 women aged 18–65, drawn from an area in Edinburgh, were interviewed. Data on life events and long-term difficulties over a six-month period prior to interview were gathered and classified according to area of life, the Bedford system, the Edinburgh system, and the independence of the event or difficulty from the subject's own actions. The highest rates of Bedford system ‘provoking’ situations were found in the working class, among those not employed, among women with three or more children under 14, and in the separated, divorced, widowed or cohabitating group. Similar findings emerged for hopeless situations involving choice or loss. Dependent situations were four times more common in the youngest group than the oldest, and showed a high rate among those divorced, separated, widowed, or cohabiting. It is suggested that both dependent and independent life situations should be studied.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 148 , Issue 6 , June 1986 , pp. 686 - 696
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brown, G. W. (1974) Meaning, measurement and stress of life events. In Stressful Life Events: their Nature and Effects (Dohrenwend, B. S. & Dohrenwend, B. P., eds.). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Brown, G. W. & Davidson, S. (1978) Social class, psychiatric disorder of mother, and accidents to children. The Lancet, ii, 18, 378–380.Google Scholar
Brown, G. W. & Harris, T. (1978) Social Origins of Depression. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Brown, G. W. & Prudo, R. (1981) Psychiatric disorder in antral and an urban population: 1. Aetiology of depression. Psychological Medicine, 11, 581–599.Google Scholar
Brown, G. W. & Harris, T. (1982) Disease, distress and depression (a comment). Journal of Affective Disorders, 4, 1–8.Google Scholar
Campbell, E. A., Cope, S. J. & Teasdale, J. D. (1983) Social factors and affective disorder: an investigation of Brown and Harris's model. British Journal of Psychiatry, 143, 548–553.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooke, D. (1981) Life events, depression and vulnerability factors: a theoretical and empirical evaluation. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the British Psychological Society.Google Scholar
Costello, C. G. (1982) Social factors associated with depression: a retrospective community study. Psychological Medicine, 12, 329–339.Google Scholar
Dohrenwend, B. S. & Dohrenwend, B. P. (1978) Some issues in research on stressful life events. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 166, 7–15.Google Scholar
Finlay-Jones, R. A. & Brown, G. W. (1981) Types of stressful life event and the onset of anxiety and depressive disorders. Psychological Medicine, 11, 803–816.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ilfeld, F. W. (1977) Topical papers: some aspects of stress, depression and aggression. Current social stressors and symptoms of depression. American Journal of Psychiatry, 134, 161–166.Google Scholar
Ingham, J. G. & Miller, P. McC. (1984) Natural history of emotional distress in primary care patients. Paper read at the Royal College of Psychiatrists Spring Meeting.Google Scholar
Left, J., Kuipers, L., Berkowttz, R., Vaughn, C. & Sturgeon, D. (1983) Life events, relatives' expressed emotion and maintenance neuroleptics in schizophrenia relapse. Psychological Medicine, 13, 799–806.Google Scholar
Miller, P. McC. & Ingham, J. G. (1983) Dimensions of experience. Psychological Medicine, 13, 417–429.Google Scholar
Murphy, E. (1982) Social origins of depression in old age. British Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 135–142.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ndetel, D. M. & Vadher, A. (1981) The relation between contextual and reported threat due to life events: a controlled study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 540–544.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parry, G. & Shapiro, D. A. (1986) Social support and life events in working class women: stress buffering or independent effects? Archives of General Psychiatry, 143, 315–323.Google Scholar
Paykel, E. S., Myers, J., Dienelt, M. N., Klermann, G. L., Lindenthal, J. J., Pepper, M. P. & Conn, N. H. (1969) Life events and depression—a controlled study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 21, 753–760.Google Scholar
Paykel, E. S. (1983) Methodological aspects of life events research. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 27, 341–352.Google Scholar
Perris, H. (1984) Life events and depression. Part 1. Effect of age, sex and civil status. Journal of Affective Disorders, 7, 11–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Surtees, P. G. & Ingham, J. G. (1980) Life stress and depressive outcome: application of a dissipation model to life events. Social Psychiatry, 15, 21–31.Google Scholar
Surtees, P. G., Kiff, J. & Rennie, D. (1981) Adversity and mental health: an empirical investigation of their relationship. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 64, 177–192.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Surtees, P. G., Dean, C., Ingham, J. G., Kreitman, N., Miller, P. McC. & Sashidharan, S. P. (1983) Psychiatric disorder in women from an Edinburgh community: associations with demographic factors. British Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 238–246.Google Scholar
Tennant, C., Bebbington, P. & Hurry, J. (1981) The short-term outcome of neurotic disorders in the community: the relation of remission to clinical factors and to ‘neutralizing’ life events. British Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 213–220.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.