Andrée Demers

The prevalence of elevated psychological distress among Canadian undergraduates: findings from the 1998 Canadian Campus Survey.

Abstract For a study of elevated psychological distress, the authors used data based on a national probability sample of 7,800 Canadian undergraduate students from 16 universities. They used the 12-item General Health Questionnaire to assess mental health. Thirty percent of the students in the sample reported elevated psychological distress, which varied significantly according to sex, region, year of study, and recreational and academic orientation. Rates of elevated distress were significantly higher among the students than among the general population in Canada.

Multilevel analysis of situational drinking among Canadian undergraduates

Using a multi-level approach, we examined the contribution of drinking setting characteristics and of individual characteristics on the alcohol intake per drinking occasion. The data are drawn from the Canadian Campus Survey, a national mail survey conducted in 1998 with a random sample of 8,864 students in 18 universities. For each student, up to five drinking occasions were investigated, resulting in 26,348 drinking occasions among 6,850 drinkers. At the individual level this study focused on the university life experience. At the situational level, information about alcohol intake was recorded relative to why, when, where and with whom drinking occurred. Our results show that drinking setting is as important as the individual characteristics in explaining the alcohol intake per occasion. Policies aimed at reducing students alcohol intake may be more beneficial if they address both situational and individual factors.

Social structures, agent personality and workers' mental health:A longitudinal analysis of the specific role of occupation and of workplace constraints-resources on psychological distress in the Canadian workforce

This study examines the role of occupations and work conditions in psychological distress with a model of social action in which psychological distress results from stress created by the constraintsresources of structures of daily life, macrosocial structures, and agent personality. Using longitudinal data from 6611 workers nested in 471 occupations, multilevel regression analyses confirm the model. Occupations account for 1.6 percent of the variation. Social support and job insecurity contribute to distress, but greater decision authority increases distress. Skill utilization follows a J curve. Family structure, social network outside the workplace, and the personality of the agent do not moderate the influence of the workplace, with the sole exception of strained marital relations. The findings support the hypothesis that occupations and certain workplace constraintsresources contribute independently to psychological distress. Researchers in workplace mental health must expand their theoretical perspectives to avoid erroneous conclusions about the specific role of the workplace.

The mediating role of work-to-family conflict in the relationship between shiftwork and depression

Abstract With significant segments of the working population involved in shiftwork, there is the possibility of serious health outcomes. There are two possible pathways to ill health. In the biological pathway the bodys circadian rhythms are affected, leading to physiological disturbances and the inability to cope. By contrast, the aim of this study is to elucidate a social pathway by which shiftwork may lead to mental ill health. It examines the mediating influence of work-to-family conflict in the association between shiftwork and depression. Gender differences are also investigated. The sample included 2,931 Canadian respondents with a spouse and at least one child living at home. Close to 28% of respondents were involved in some form of shiftwork. Structural equation modelling supported partial mediation through work-to-family conflict. Further analyses found that mediation was supported in sub-samples of male and female respondents. The results, however, suggest that the experience of shiftwork is quite similar for men and women as no significant differences were found between mediating models. Overall, the findings support the social explanation of the effect of shiftwork on mental health, but they do not rule out other social or biological pathways.

Where, With Whom, and How Much Alcohol Is Consumed on Drinking Events Involving Aggression? Event-Level Associations in a Canadian National Survey of University Students

BACKGROUND Epidemiological research using event-level data can provide a better understanding of the association between alcohol consumption, characteristics of drinking contexts, and the likelihood of aggressive behavior. The present research assessed whether alcohol intake and characteristics of the drinking context were associated with the likelihood of aggression within individuals across 3 drinking events based on a national sample of university students, taking into account individual characteristics and university level variables. Additionally, we determined whether individual characteristics, particularly drinking pattern, were associated with alcohol-related aggression controlling for drinking event characteristics, and whether relations of aggression to alcohol and drinking contexts differed by gender. METHODS Secondary analyses of the 2004 Canadian Campus Survey (CCS), a national survey of 6,282 university students (41% response rate) at 40 Canadian universities, were conducted. Respondents were asked about their three most recent drinking events, including whether they were in an argument or fight with someone, number of drinks consumed, and characteristics of the drinking context as well as their usual drinking frequency and heavy episodic drinking. We used multi-level analyses to account for the nested structure of the data (i.e., drinking events nested within individuals who were nested within universities). RESULTS The number of drinks consumed was positively associated with aggression. Drinking contexts found to be positively associated with aggression included being at a party, at a fraternity/sorority and/or residence, at three or more drinking places (versus 1 or 2), and having a partner present whereas having a meal reduced the likelihood of aggression. A significant interaction was found between gender and being at a party, with a significant effect found for women but not for men. CONCLUSIONS These results support experimental evidence indicating a direct role of alcohol in aggression and point to characteristics of the drinking context that might be targeted in future prevention initiatives.

When at risk? Drinking contexts and heavy drinking in the Montreal adult population

The purpose of this study is to identify the characteristics of contexts associated with heavier alcohol intake. Data come from a telephone survey carried out in April 1993 with a random sample of the metropolitan Montreal adult population (Quebec, Canada). Drinking contexts were investigated with regard to the situational setting (circumstances, time and location) and the relational setting (drinking partners’ relationship and sociodemographic similarity) characterizing the drinking occasion. Having five or more drinks per occasion, linked by many studies to alcohol-related problems, was deemed to be heavy drinking. The results of the logistic regressions performed reveal that for men under 25 years old, drinking with other men is the only contextual characteristic associated positively with heavy drinking, while for men age 25 and over, situational characteristics as well as relational characteristics are associated positively with heavy drinking. For women, heavy drinking is only weakly associated with contextual characteristics.

The importance of drinking frequency in evaluating individuals' drinking patterns: implications for the development of national drinking guidelines

AIMS This paper examines the relationship between frequency of drinking, usual daily consumption and frequency of binge drinking, taking into consideration possible age and gender differences. PARTICIPANTS AND DESIGN Subjects were 10 466 current drinkers (5743 women and 4723 men) aged between 18 and 76 years, who participated in the GENACIS Canada (GENder Alcohol and Culture: an International Study) study. SETTING Canada. MEASUREMENTS The independent variable was the annual drinking frequency. The dependent variables were the usual daily quantity consumed, annual, monthly and weekly frequency of binge drinking (five drinks or more on one occasion). FINDINGS Logistic regressions show (i) that those who drink less than once a week are less likely than weekly drinkers to take more than two drinks when they do drink; (ii) that the usual daily quantity consumed by weekly drinkers is not related to their frequency of drinking; but that (iii) the risk and frequency of binge drinking increase with the frequency of drinking. CONCLUSIONS Given that risk and frequency of binge drinking among Canadians increases with their frequency of drinking, any public recommendation to drink moderately should be made with great caution.

Positional Role Changes and Drinking Patterns: Results of a Longitudinal Study

This study of heavily drinking males in the general population assesses the effect of positional role changes on drinking behaviors. The data are derived from a longitudinal study over a three-year period (1992–1995) of a representative sample of 617 male heavy drinkers from the Quebec (Canada) adult population. Three types of positional roles have been examined: employment, marital, and parental status. This study examined two dimensions of the drinking pattern: the annual frequency of drinking and the annual frequency of five drinks or more on a single occasion. Standard multiple regression analyses were conducted independently for each dimension of the drinking patterns. Results indicated that baseline annual frequency and baseline annual frequency of five drinks or more per occasion were the main predictors of both drinking patterns under study. Furthermore, positional role changes contributed to explain the Δ1992–1995 annual frequency of drinking, but marginally. Men who reported a childs birth between 1992 and 1995 reduced their annual frequency of drinking, while men who reported being unemployed in 1992 and in 1995 increased their annual frequency of drinking. Further research should take into account the qualitative aspects of positional roles.

Situational and respondent-level motives for drinking and alcohol-related aggression: A multilevel analysis of drinking events in a sample of Canadian University students☆

Situational drinking motives (i.e., motives specific to the drinking situation) as well as respondent-level drinking motives (i.e., usual drinking motives across drinking situations) were examined in terms of their relations with aggression experienced by university students. Secondary, multi-level analyses were conducted on the Canadian Campus Survey (CCS), a national survey of 40 Canadian universities conducted between March 1 and April 30, 2004 (N=6,282). For their three most recent drinking events, students reported their motive for drinking (i.e., situational motive) and whether they had an argument/fight. Respondent-level drinking motives were computed by averaging motives across drinking events. Drinking to cope at the situational-level increased the likelihood of aggression. Respondent-level enhancement motives also increased the risk of aggression. Aesthetic motives were important at both situational and respondent levels decreasing the risk for alcohol-related aggression. Gender did not moderate these relations. These results suggest that prevention programming might benefit from a focus on altering drinking motives, or their underlying causes, in order to reduce alcohol-related aggression among young adults.

Gendered depression: Vulnerability or exposure to work and family stressors?

OBJECTIVE Research has shown that employed women are more prone to depression than men, but the pathways linking gender to depression remain poorly understood. The aim of this study was to examine how work and family conditions operated as potentially gendered antecedents of depression. It evaluated more specifically how differences in depressive symptoms in women and men could be explained by their differential vulnerability and exposure to work and family conditions, as well as by the mediating role of work-to-family conflict (WFC) and family-to-work conflict (FWC). METHODS Data were collected in 2009-2012 from a sample of 1935 employees (48.9% women) nested in 63 workplaces in the province of Quebec (Canada). Data were analyzed with multilevel path analysis models to test for the differential exposure hypothesis, and stratified by gender to test for the differential vulnerability hypothesis. RESULTS Results supported both hypothesizes, but only WFC played a mediating role between work-family stressors and depression. Regarding the vulnerability hypothesis, WFC was more strongly associated with women depressive symptoms, and the magnitude of the association between family income and WFC was stronger for women. Overall, the differential exposure hypothesis seemed to reach a greater empirical support. After accounting for work and family stressors as well as WFC, differences in depressive symptoms in women and men were no longer significantly, as WFC, working hours, irregular work schedule and skill utilization acted as mediators. WFC associated with higher depressive symptoms and skill utilization with lower depressive symptoms. WFC related to higher working hours and irregular work schedule. Compared to men, women reported higher WFC, but lower working hours, less irregular work schedule and lower skill utilization at work. CONCLUSION Womens higher rate of depression is intrinsically linked to their different social experiences as shaped by a gendered social structure and gendered organizations.