Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T15:58:56.043Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Interpreting Data in Aetiological Studies of Affective Disorder: Some Pitfalls and Ambiguities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Tirrill O. Harris  and
George W. Brown
Tirrill O. Harris*
Affiliation:
Medical Sociology Unit, Department of Social Policy and Social Science, Bedford College and Royal Holloway College, (University of London), 11 Bedford Square, London WC1
George W. Brown
Affiliation:
Department of Social Policy and Social Science, Bedford College and Royal Holloway College, (University of London), 11 Bedford Square, London WC1
*
∗Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Although recent research in social psychiatry has produced an encouraging congruence of findings and conclusions, puzzling inconsistencies continue to be reported. One explanation which is often overlooked is that subtle differences in the way seemingly identical variables are grouped can produce sizeable, and sometimes dramatic, differences in the patterning of the same data. Re-examination of existing results can therefore often better clarify confusing inconsistencies than collection of new data. This is illustrated by examples from recent studies of affective disorder where the grouping of variables is discussed in three broad areas: parental loss in childhood, precipitating stress, and social support. Until the aetiology of affective disorder is more fully understood, it will often be clearer if data are analysed more than once, so that several combinations of variables are systematically examined.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 147 , Issue 1 , July 1985 , pp. 5 - 15
Copyright
Copyright © 1985 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

Adam, K. C., Bouckoms, A. & Streiner, D. (1982) Parental loss and family stability in attempted suicide. Archives of General Psychiatry, 39, 1081–1085.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bebbington, P., Tennant, C. & Hurry, J. (1981) Adversity and the nature of psychiatric disorder in the community. Journal of Affective Disorders, 3, 345–366.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bebbington, P. Sturt, E., Tennant, C. & Hurry, J. (1984) Misfortune and resilience: A community study of women. Psychological Medicine, 14, 347–363.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bifulco, A., Brown, G. W. & Harris, T. (1984) The impact of childhood loss of mother and lack of parental care on adult psychiatric disorder: The Islington study. Submitted to Archives of General Psychiatry.Google Scholar
Brown, G. W. (1981) Contextual measures of life events. In Stressful Life Events and Their Contexts, (eds. Dohrenend, B. S. & Dohrenwend, B. P.) New York: Neale Watson Academic Publications.Google Scholar
Brown, G. W. & Harris, T. (1978) Social Origins of Depression: A Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women. London. Tavistock. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Bifulco, A., Brown, G. W. & Copeland, J. (1977) Depression and loss. British Journal of Psychiatry, 130, 1–18.Google Scholar
Bifulco, A., Brown, G. W. (1978) Social origins of depression: A reply. Psychological Medicine, 8, 577–588.Google Scholar
Bifulco, A., Brown, G. W. & Bifulco, A. (1984) Long-term effect of early loss of parent. In Depression in Childhood: Developmental Perspectives. (eds Rutter, M., Izzard, C. & Read, P.) New York: Guildford Press. (In press).Google Scholar
Bifulco, A. Ni Bhrolchain, N. & Harris, T. (1975) Social class and psychiatric disturbance among women in an urban population. Sociology, 9, 225–254.Google Scholar
Bifulco, A. & Prudo, R. (1981) Psychiatric disorder in a rural and an urban population: 1. Aetiology of depression. Psychological Medicine, 11, 581–599.Google Scholar
Prudo, R. & Bifulco, A. (1984) Social support, life events and depression. In Social Support: Theory, Research and Applications. (ed. Sarason, I.) (In preparation).Google Scholar
Bifulco, A. & Harris, T. (1985) Establishment causal links: The Bedford College studies of depression. In Life Events and Psychiatric Disorders, (ed. Katschnig, H.) University Press. (In press).Google Scholar
Campbell, E., Cope, S. & Teasdale, J. (1983) Social factors and affective disorder: An investigation of Brown and Harris's model. British Journal of Psychiatry, 143, 548–553.Google Scholar
Cope, S. (1982) Social and psychiatric disturbance in working-class women with young children in Oxford city. MS.Google Scholar
Costello, C. G. (1982) Social factors associated with depression: a retrospective community study. Psychological Medicine, 12, 329–339.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dean, C., Surtees, P. G. & Sashidharan, S. P. (1983) Comparison of research diagnostic systems in an Edinburgh community sample. British Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 247–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finlay-Jones, R. A., Duncan-Jones, P., Brown, G. W., Harris, T. O., Murphy, E. & Prudo, R. (1980) Depression and anxiety in the community: Replicating the diagnosis of a case. Psychological Medicine, 10, 445–454.Google Scholar
Gottlieb, B. H. (1978) The development and application of a classification scheme of informal helping behaviours. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 10, 105–115.Google Scholar
Granville-Grossman, K. L. (1968) The early environment of affective disorder. In Recent Developments in Affective Disorders (eds. Coppen, A. & Walk, A.). Ashford, Kent: Headley Brothers.Google Scholar
Henderson, S. (1984) Interpreting the evidence on social support. Social Psychiatry, 19, 49–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Henderson, S. Byrne, D. G. & Duncan-Jones, P. (1981) Neurosis and the Social Environment. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Hirschi, T. & Selvin, H. C. (1967) Delinquency Research. An Appraisal of Analytic Methods. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
House, J. S. (1981) Work Stress and Social Support. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Hyman, H. (1955) Survey Design and Analysis. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Kendell, R. E. (1968) The Classification of Depressive Illnesses. Institute of Psychiatry, Maudsley Monograph 18. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lloyd, C. (1980) Life events and depressive disorder reviewed. 1. Events as predisposing factors. Archives of General Psychiatry, 37, 529–535.Google Scholar
O'Connor, P. & Brown, G. W. (1984) Supportive Relationships: Fact or Fancy? Journal of Social & Personal Relationships, 1, 159–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parker, G. (1983) Parental ‘affectionless control’ as an antecedent to adult depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 40, 956–960.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parry, G. & Shapiro, D. (1985) Social support and life events in working class women: stress buffering or independent effects? Archives of General Psychiatry. In press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paykel, E. S. (1971) Classification of depressed patients: a cluster analysis derived grouping. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 118, 275–288.Google Scholar
Paykel, E. S. (1983) Methodological aspects of life events research. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 27, 341–352.Google Scholar
Paykel, E. S. Emms, E. M., Fletcher, J. & Rassaby, E. S. (1980) Life events and social support in puerperal depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 339–346.Google Scholar
Pfohl, B., Stangl, D. & Tsuang, M. T. (1983) The association between early parental loss and diagnosis in the Iowa 500. Archives of General Psychiatry, 40, 965–967.Google Scholar
Roy, A. (1980) Parental loss in childhood and onset of manic-depressive illness. British Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 86–88.Google Scholar
Roy, A. (1981) Role of past loss in depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 38, 301–302.Google Scholar
Surtees, P. G. (1980) Social support, residual adversity and depressive outcome. Social Psychiatry, 15, 71–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Surtees, P. G. Dean, C., Ingham, J. G., Kreitman, N. B., 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.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Surtees, P. G. (1984) Kith, kin and psychiatric health: a Scottish survey. Social Psychiatry, 19, 63–67.Google Scholar
Sashidharan, S. P. & Rennie, D. (1983) Adversity and the onset of psychiatric disorder in women. Social Psychiatry, 18, 37–44.Google Scholar
Tennant, C. & Bebbington, P. (1978) The social causation of depression: a critique of the work of Brown and his colleagues. Psychological Medicine, 8, 565–575.Google Scholar
Tennant, C. Bebbington, P. & Hurry, J. (1980a) Parental death in childhood and risk of adult depressive disorders: a review. Psychological Medicine, 10, 289–299.Google Scholar
Tennant, C. Bebbington, P. Hurry, J. & Bebbington, P. (1980b) Parent-child separations during childhood: their relation to adult psychiatric morbidity and to referral: preliminary findings. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavia, 285, 329–331.Google Scholar
Tennant, C. Bebbington, P. Smith, A., Bebbington, P. & Hurry, J. (1981a) Parental loss in childhood. Archives of General Psychiatry, 38, 309–314.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tennant, C. Bebbington, P. Bebbington, P. & Hurry, J. (1981b) The role of life events in depressive illness: is there a substantial causal relation? Psychological Medicine, 11, 379–389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tennant, C. Bebbington, P. Hurry, J. & Bebbington, P. (1982) The relation of childhood separation experiences to adult depressive and anxiety states. British Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 475–482.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wing, J. K., Bebbington, P. & Robins, L. (1981) What is a Case: The problem of definition in psychiatric community surveys. London: Grant McIntyre.Google Scholar
Wolkind, S. & Coleman, E. Z. (1983) Adult psychiatric disorder and childhood experiences. The validity of retrospective data. British Journal of Psychiatry, 143, 188–191.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.