Katherine A. McGonagle

Sex and depression in the National Comorbidity Survey I: Lifetime prevalence, chronicity and recurrence ☆

Basic epidemiologic prevalence data are presented on sex differences in DSM-III-R major depressive episodes (MDE). The data come from the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS), the first survey in the U.S. to administer a structured psychiatric interview to a nationally representative sample of the general population. Consistent with previous research, women are approximately 1.7 times as likely as men to report a lifetime history of MDE. Age of onset analysis shows that this sex difference begins in early adolescence and persists through the mid-50s. Women also have a much higher rate of 12-month depression than men. However, women with a history of depression do not differ from men with a history of depression in either the probability of being chronically depressed in the past year or in the probability of having an acute recurrence in the past year. This means that the higher prevalence of 12-month depression among women than men is largely due to women having a higher risk of first onset. The implications of these results for future research are discussed in a closing section of the paper.

Chronic stress, acute stress, and depressive symptoms

Although life events continue to be the major focus of stress research, recent studies suggest that chronic stress should be a more central focus. An evaluation of this issue is presented using data from a large community survey of married men (n = 819) and women (n = 936). Results show that chronic stresses are more strongly related to depressive symptoms than acute stresses in all but one life domain. The interaction patterns exhibited by chronic and acute stresses are predominantly associated with lower levels of depression than those predicted by a main effects model. This pattern suggests that chronic stresses may reduce the emotional effects of acute stresses. Although the processes through which this effect occurs are not clear, it is suggested that anticipation and reappraisal reduce the stressfulness of an event by making its meaning more benign. Implications for future research on chronic and acute stress effects are discussed.

Assessing Daily Stress Processes in Social Surveys by Combining Stressor Exposure and Salivary Cortisol

This article presents a research method for assessing stress and mental health in ongoing population-based social surveys that combines self-reports of naturally occurring daily stressors with a primary marker of stress physiology, salivary cortisol. We first discuss the relevance of stress processes to mental health and introduce a model for examining daily stress processes, which highlights multiple components of daily stressor exposure. A primary aim of this approach is to capture variability across stressful situations, between persons of different groups, or within persons over a period of time. Next, we describe how the assessment of diurnal salivary cortisol is a promising approach to examining naturally occurring stress physiology in large social surveys. We then present findings from the National Study of Daily Experiences (a substudy of the Midlife in the United States Study) that document the feasibility and reliability of the collection of daily stressors and salivary cortisol and provide examples of research findings linking stressor exposure to cortisol. The final portion of the article describes ways that this approach can leverage the strengths of various features of longitudinal social surveys to extend research on stress and mental health.

Response Rates in National Panel Surveys

It has been well documented that response rates to cross-sectional surveys have declined over the past few decades. It is less clear whether response rates to longitudinal surveys have experienced similar changes over time. This article examines trends in response rates in several major, national longitudinal surveys in the United States and abroad. The authors find that for most of these surveys, the wave-to-wave response rate has not declined. This article also describes the various approaches that these surveys use to minimize attrition.

The Frequency and Determinants of Marital Disagreements in a Community Sample

Although information about marital disagreements is included in most scales of marital quality, disagreements have generally not been studied as outcomes of importance in their own right. This is unfortunate in light of recent research documenting that marital disagreements have a powerful effect on mental health over and above the effects of marital quality. In this report, we describe a prospective analysis of the frequency and determinants of marital disagreements aimed at taking a first step toward treating disagreements as important in their own right. The analysis is based on a two-wave community survey of married couples that obtained basic descriptive information about both the frequency of marital disagreements and a variety of social and personal characteristics that might be their determinants. Results show that nearly all respondents report having marital disagreements at least some of the time, with the vast majority reporting average frequencies between one and two disagreements per month. Prospective analyses of daily diaries obtained from a random subsample of the survey respondents confirmed the accuracy of these retrospective frequency estimates. Multiple regression analyses revealed that personality and social support are the most powerful predictors of disagreement frequency. We close with a discussion of the implications of these results for future research on marital disagreements.

Grandparental and Parental Obesity Influences on Childhood Overweight: Implications for Primary Care Practice

Background: Community-based studies have suggested a multigenerational pattern of obesity affecting childrens risk of overweight, but no national data have substantiated such a pattern. Our objective was to examine the prevalence of overweight [body mass index (BMI) ≥95th percentile for age and sex] among children aged 5 to 19 in a national sample, stratified by the obesity status of their parents and grandparents. Methods: We used a secondary analysis of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, Child Development Supplement, a multigenerational, genealogical, prospective cohort study of the US population. Self-report height and weight data from adults and measured height and weight data for children were used to calculate BMI. The prevalence of child overweight was calculated for different possible combinations of parental and grandparental BMI status, including missing status. Results: The sample included 2591 children aged 5 to 19 years, for whom parental BMI data were available for 94% and grandparental BMI data were available for 61%. Prevalence of childhood overweight (18.6%) in the sample was comparable with contemporaneous measured national data from other sources. Among children with normal-weight parents and normal-weight grandparents, 7.9% were overweight. In contrast, among children with overweight parents (BMI 25–29.9) and normal-weight grandparents, 17.9% were overweight, and among children with obese parents (BMI ≥30) and normal-weight grandparents, 31.9% were overweight (P < .0001). Importantly, when parents were normal weight, if grandparents were obese, then the prevalence of child overweight was 17.4% (P < .0001). The prevalence of child overweight was similarly elevated (16.4%) when parents were normal weight and grandparental BMI was missing. Conclusions: This is the first national study to find an association of child weight status with grandparental obesity, distinct from parental obesity. Primary care physicians may find it helpful to consider grandparents’ weight status in judging risk of childhood overweight for their patients, especially when parents’ weight is normal.

The Effects of Marital Disagreement Style, Frequency, and Outcome on Marital Disruption

Studies of the relationship between marital conflict behaviors and marital functioning have focused almost exclusively on conflict resolution styles to the neglect of other components of marital conflict. The present study takes a first step toward addressing this limitation by examining the comparative and interactive effects of marital disagreement style, frequency and outcome on the occurrence of marital disruption (separation or divorce) over a 3-year period. The study is based on a general population sample of 691 married couples. Results of exploratory factor analysis show that self-reports of frequency, style and outcome of marital disagreements share a common underlying structure best described as negativity. Logistic regression analysis documents that while each of the components of negativity is a significant predictor of marital disruption, frequency and negativity are more powerful than either style or outcome. Multivariate analyses reveal that disruption is most powerfully predicted by self-reported negativity among the recently married and by self-reported disagreement frequency among the longer married. The report closes with a discussion of the implications of these results for future research on marital functioning.

Examining the Association Between Childhood Asthma and Parent and Grandparent Asthma Status: Implications for Practice:

Examination of intergenerational asthma beyond maternal asthma has been limited. The association between childhood asthma and intergenerational asthma status among a national cohort of children was examined. The genealogical sample (2552 children) participating in the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics was studied. Multivariate regression was used to determine intergenerational asthma. Children with a parent with asthma were almost twice as likely (odds ratio [OR] = 1.96) to have asthma compared with those without a parent with asthma. Children with a parent and grandparent with asthma were more than 4 times more likely to have asthma compared with those without a parent and grandparent with asthma (OR = 4.27). Children with a grandparent with asthma were more likely to have asthma (OR = 1.52). A family history of asthma was a significant predictor of physician diagnosed asthma in children regardless of race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Findings support the collection of family history, including grandparent asthma status.

Cohort Profile: The Panel Study of Income Dynamics' Child Development Supplement and Transition into Adulthood Study

The Child Development Supplement (CDS) was started in 1997 to collect information on children and caregivers in families in the USA that participated in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), an ongoing national longitudinal household survey that began in 1968. CDS was launched with the goal of creating a comprehensive, nationally representative, prospective database of young children and their families for studying the dynamic process of childrens health and development. The same children and their caregivers were interviewed in up to three waves approximately every 5 years (1997, 2002-03, and 2007-08), with a child-based response rate of 90% in the most recent wave. Upon reaching age 18 years and finishing or leaving high school, the children in the CDS cohort shifted to a six-wave follow-up study launched in 2005 called the PSID Transition into Adulthood (TA) study. The TA data have been collected biennially through 2013, with a final wave planned for 2015. Once these young adults form their own economically independent households, they join the PSID. The main categories of data emphasize the major developmental tasks of childhood and young adulthood, including influences on successful development in the domains of family, schools and neighbourhoods. The majority of data and documentation are freely and publicly available through the PSID Online Data Center.

The Effects of a Between-Wave incentive experiment on contact update and production outcomes in a panel study

Abstract Since 1969, families participating in the U.S. Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) have been sent a mailing asking them to update or verify their contact information in order to keep track of their whereabouts between waves. Having updated contact information prior to data collection is associated with fewer call attempts, less tracking, and lower attrition. Based on these advantages, two experiments were designed to increase response rates to the between wave contact mailing. The first experiment implemented a new protocol that increased the overall response rate by 7-10 percentage points compared to the protocol in place for decades on the PSID. This article provides results from the second experiment which examines the basic utility of the between-wave mailing, investigates how incentives affect article cooperation to the update request and field effort, and attempts to identify an optimal incentive amount. Recommendations for the use of contact update strategies in panel studies are made.