The physical, mental, and social health status of older Chinese: a cross-national study

This article reports data on 16 indicators of the physical, mental, and social health status of older Chinese living in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Los Angeles. Both the frequency distributions of these indicators and their factor structures are different among the three cities. These differences may have implications for the planning of public health services. Either they are the result of differences in the way in which people in each of these cities think about illness or they are the result of differential experiences with disease. Although these data cannot resolve this issue, both the frequency distributions and the severity ratings for nine chronic diseases also differed markedly among the three cities.     

Mental health in young Australians: a longitudinal study

This article discusses patterns in mental health of young Australians from age 19 through 25 and explores changes in mental health over these years. Data are derived from five waves of the Australian Life Patterns longitudinal study. The outcome variable in focus was self-reported mental health. Analyses were conducted in two steps using linear mixed models with both fixed and random effects. The analysis shows a negative linear trend in mental health status. The mental health of women was worse than that of men though a negative trend was found in both men and women. Though high socio-economic status (SES) individuals reported best mental health compared to their mid and low-SES peers, a negative trend was identified for them as well as for mid-SES participants. There is weak support for a negative trend among those of low-SES backgrounds. The study adds to evidence that there is a negative trend in mental health in young Australians but that this trend is not uniform across all young people. In light of this we argue the need for further research that analyses patterns of poor mental health in relation to social systems and institutions.     

Between family and friends: a longitudinal study of friendship choice

The increasing role for chosen friends is a key element in current debates on individualization and the transformation of intimacy. This paper describes the changes in friendship choices over time and demonstrates how life events subsequently impact on those choices. We primarily distinguish between kin and non-kin nominations of friends and how these may be related to the social and economic turbulence inherent in late modernity. Analyses of data from ten years of the British Household Panel Survey showed that kin nominations still form a significant proportion of all friends but increasingly so with age and over time as people age. Life events, such as divorce or death of a partner, have large effects on the likelihood of changes in friendship choices as did gender, age, marital status and social class. We frame these results in a discussion of the saliency and nature of friendship at stages of the life course and conclude that the case for a general secular shift to choosing non-kin friendships rather than kin-based friendship is not demonstrated.     

The influence of sex,temperament, risk-taking and mental health on the emergence of gambling: a longitudinal study of young people

There are a host of complex and interlinked psychological, social and biological factors involved in the development of problem gambling (PG). While existing research, which is predominantly cross-sectional, shows that emerging adulthood is a critical period for PG, the early risk factors for PG are currently unknown. Here, we recruited a sample of 156 early adolescents with no history of PG (mean age 12.6 years) and longitudinally followed them up into late adolescence (mean age 18.9 years) to investigate the role of sex, risk-taking behaviour and changes in temperament and psychiatric symptoms in the evolution of risky gambling behaviour. There were sex-independent effects of temperament and risk-taking behaviour, with greater developmental increases in temperamental frustration (i.e. negative affectivity), greater developmental decreases in temperamental attention (i.e. effortful control) and greater involvement in risky behaviours, such as alcohol use, predicting greater likelihood of being in the risky gambling group. In addition, there were sex-dependent effects whereby higher levels of baseline aggression in females and lower levels of the same in males were more predictive of risky gambling. These findings highlight how sex-dependent and independent factors across the early- to mid-adolescent period influence the occurrence of gambling later in life.     

Food insufficiency and physical and mental health in a longitudinal survey of welfare recipients

Food insufficiency is a significant problem in the United States, and poor African American women with children are at especially high risk. An inadequate household food supply can potentially affect the well-being of household members, but it is difficult to distinguish the effects of food insufficiency from risk factors for poor health that are also common among the food insufficient, such as poverty. We examined food insufficiency and physical and mental health among African American and white women (n = 676) who were welfare recipients in 1997. Controlling for common risk factors, women who reported food insufficiency in both 1997 and 1998 were more likely to report fair or poor health at the later date. Food insufficiency in 1998 was significantly associated with meeting the diagnostic screening criteria for recent major depression. Food insufficiency at both times and in 1998 only was related to women's sense of mastery. These findings add to growing evidence that household food insufficiency is associated with poor physical and mental health.     

Learning pattern of social work students: a longitudinal study

Research on learning patterns of social work students is scare. This longitudinal study addresses this issue by employing mixed methods of quantitative and qualitative study design to understand the learning pattern of students throughout their undergraduate social work studies. Six rounds of quantitative data collected by structured questionnaires and four rounds of qualitative data collected by focus group interviews have been conducted at an interval of every 6 months to track the learning pattern and to evaluate the continuous impacts of social work education on students. Results indicate that although students’ evaluation on the curriculum was positive and with significant difference in mean scores, paired sample t-tests found no significant difference between time 1 and 6 of all outcome variables. With regard to students’ change in attitude, acquisition of knowledge and skills, results indicate a ‘U-shape’ trend and a fluctuating learning pattern with a rebound in different outcome variables toward the end of the three-year study. Qualitative data echoes the findings and reveals that students go through the confused freshman stage, to disillusioned in practicum and finally with enriching experience upon graduation. The paper discusses meanings and implications of student learning pattern to social work education.     

Manaagement practices and employee attitudes: a longitudinal study spanning fifty years

This paper reports findings from a third consecutive study to re‐visit a steelworks that provided a classic elaboration of the industrial enterprise as a social system. The social system of the works in the 1950s (Scott et al., 1956) was used to explain the positive orientation of steelworkers to change. A later study of the plant in 1991 uncovered a remarkably similar positive orientation to change in the plant indicating a number of continuities (Blyton et al., 1996). Despite massive changes affecting the plant between the 1950s and the early 1990s, the social system of the works‐occupational structures and identities and management‐union relations‐were seen as having a continuing bearing on steelworkers’ attitudes to work in general, and their positive orientation to work change in particular. A third study of employee attitudes in the same plant in 1999 revealed important changes had occurred during the 1990s.     

Integrating mailed personalized feedback and alcohol screening events: a feasibility study

This study characterized a sample of college students attending National Alcohol Screening Day (NASD), and tested the feasibility of using NASD as a platform for initiating the delivery of mailed personalized feedback forms. Participants (N = 153, 65% female) attended NASD and completed the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT [1]). A subset of at-risk drinkers completed additional questionnaires about their alcohol use and received personalized feedback through the mail. Thirty-four percent of the participants scored above the recommended clinical cutoff on the AUDIT. Men reported higher levels of alcohol consumption and alcohol-related negative consequences. The subset of at-risk drinkers reported frequent occasions of binge drinking and relatively high blood alcohol concentrations (BAC). NASD is an effective way of identifying college students with clinically significant levels of alcohol use, and provides an efficient mechanism for initiating the delivery of personalized feedback. More research on the combined effects of NASD and personalized feedback is warranted.     

Avoidance,antipathy, and aggression: A three-wave longitudinal network study on negative networks,status, and heteromisos

Our aim is to explain negative networks in Dutch high schools, using three-wave stochastic actor oriented models (SAOMs). We differentiate between avoidance, antipathy, and aggression based on how costly and visible these behaviours are. Our results show that pupils’ ethnicity does not explain negative ties. Moreover, we do not find that negative ties form archetypical social hierarchies, formed by networks that are asymmetrical and transitive. Instead, we find positive effects of reciprocity on avoidance, antipathy, and aggression, and we find no effects of transitivity. Rather than allowing themselves to be dominated by their classmates, pupils fight back and reciprocate negative behaviour. We further show that some pupils behave negatively to a lot of their classmates, and that some pupils are treated negatively by many classmates. These results require us to reconsider what status hierarchies look like. Finally, we explore the extent to which the avoidance, antipathy, and aggression networks co-evolve.     

Workplace health interventions in small enterprises: a Swedish longitudinal study

This article has a two-fold approach. First, it investigates relationships between work organizational factors, and health and performance outcomes. Second, it compares two change strategy approaches in workplace health interventions by studying changes of these factors and outcomes. The sample consisted of ten Swedish small enterprises including 102 individuals, who answered a before and after questionnaire about organizational factors and outcomes. The leaders were interviewed and answered a questionnaire about performed workplace health interventions. Statistical methods used were reliability tests, correlation analyses and t-tests. Results indicate rather strong links between indicators of respectful leadership, creative work and team spirit, and the outcome indicators self-assessed health and judged workplace adaptability in association with customer satisfaction. The results concerning changes of determinants and outcomes (after workplace health interventions) showed significant differences between enterprises using a broad change strategy and those using an expert/problem-based strategy with the former having more favourable results. The leader interview results also point at obstacles concerning workplace change processes as lack of resources, insufficient competence and influence of external factors. The study results suggest that work organizational factors and integrated models for workplace health intervention are of importance for health and performance outcomes in small enterprises.     

Major life events: their personal meaning, resolution, and mental health significance

Researchers have employed varying strategies in an effort to better understand variation in responses to stress. This article argues that crisis theory makes a useful contribution to these efforts, particularly when studying variable response to major life events that are of high threat potential. Regression analyses of depressive symptomatology, mastery, and self-esteem in a community sample of adults (n = 1,542) provide preliminary support for the central tenets of crisis theory that specify the conditions under which experienced events are minimally and maximally hazardous. The results also offer mixed support for the proposition that successfully resolved crises can even yield emotional and coping benefits. Longitudinal models and further development of survey-based measures for distinguishing the occurrence of a crisis and assessing the adequacy of its resolution are needed to more thoroughly test crisis theory.     

Marital status,sex, and suicide: new longitudinal findings and Durkheim’s marital status propositions*

Abstract

The purpose of the paper was to use new longitudinal data to investigate the impact of marital status on suicide, and test Durkheim’s marital status propositions. Previous research found marital status was associated with suicide, but some studies neglected sex, most of the research was cross-sectional, and divorce and separated statuses were often combined. Data were obtained from the latest release of the U.S. National Longitudinal Mortality Study (NLMS), consisting of the largest U.S. sample of suicide victims, 2,013 out of 1.5 million persons. Proportional hazards and logistic regression models were fitted to the NLMS data based on follow-up from 1990 to 2011. Results showed that when combined, the divorced and separated were over 88% more likely to suicide than the married (ARR = 1.886, CI = 1.649, 2.156). When split, the divorced had suicide risk that was over 97% higher than that of the married (ARR = 1.973, CI = 1.711, 2.274). Separated individuals experienced suicide risk that was nearly 52% greater than that of the married (ARR = 1.515, CI = 1.130, 2.037). The Mountain and southern census divisions had higher suicide risks than New England. Discussion focused mainly on Durkheim’s theory of suicide.     

Beyond anonymity: temporality and the production of knowledge in a qualitative longitudinal study

Anonymisation processes are an embedded, if contested, element of ethical research practice. Current debates, highlighting various challenges to anonymity, suggest the importance of situated ethics and negotiated solutions. However, the strategies adopted are necessarily mediated by the researcher’s epistemological positions. Longitudinal studies with their extended timeframes and intensive research relationships tend to amplify ethical dilemmas and highlight the contingency and fluidity of ethical processes. Here we explore how temporality intersects with epistemology in a qualitative longitudinal (QL) study of organisations located in a contemporary policy context. We reflect on the confidentiality and anonymity dilemmas that develop and change over time, the strategies adopted and the implications of these for the type of knowledge produced. We suggest that QL studies entail flexibility within epistemological frameworks. These issues have particular resonance and consequences for researchers in light of contemporary pressures around public scrutiny of academic performance and wider debates around public sociology.     

Predicting long-term absenteeism from work in construction industry: a longitudinal study

In this study we examine whether the Work Ability Index (WAI) has additional value in predicting long-term absenteeism in construction industry. Results of the study show that the WAI has additional value in predicting absenteeism, but that the amount of explained variance is low. This is partly due to the definition of absenteeism in The Netherlands, where this study took place.