Premium
Life events and minor psychiatric morbidity in a community survey
Author(s) -
Ko S. M.,
Kua E. H.,
Ng T. P.,
Fones C. S. L.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
stress and health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.009
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1532-2998
pISSN - 1532-3005
DOI - 10.1002/1532-2998(200101)17:1<41::aid-smi869>3.0.co;2-g
Subject(s) - psychiatry , minor (academic) , psychology , clinical psychology , medicine , law , political science
The aim of the study was to ascertain the relationships between life events and minor psychiatric morbidity and their associations between different socio‐economic groups living in the community. Using stratified random sampling, 3023 persons (1502 females and 1521 males) aged 13–64 years living in high‐rise apartments on the island of Singapore were surveyed. Mean age was 31 years, SD = 10.2 years, with the majority (39.9 per cent) being 30 years and below. More than half were married (54.0 per cent), and 2.9 per cent were divorced/separated or widowed; the rest (43.1 per cent) were single. A number of questionnaires, including the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ‐28) and the Life Events Scale (LES), were administered. Using the validated GHQ threshold levels, the estimated prevalence of minor psychiatric morbidity in this sample was 15.7 per cent. More females ( N = 277) than males ( N = 198) were found to experience minor psychiatric morbidity, with a male : female ratio of about 1.5 : 1.0 ( p < 0.0001). A larger proportion of those in the younger age groups of 13–20 years (20 per cent) and 21–31 years (17.2 per cent) were high scorers, with a generally decreasing trend with increasing age; the oldest age group, 51–64 years, had the lowest rate (9.8 per cent) of GHQ high‐scorers. Those who were divorced/separated or widowed had the highest rate (25.8 per cent) of psychiatric morbidity, while those who were married had the lowest rate (12.8 per cent), with single people having an intermediate rate (21.0 per cent). Taking an arbitrary division of the Life Events Scale scores between low (0–24), intermediate (25–49) and high (50 and above), 12.2 per cent of the total sample registered in the intermediate range and 6.6 per cent in the high range, with no statistical difference between the genders. The age groups 21–30 and 31–40 had the highest proportions of persons with intermediate and high LES scores (24.0 per cent and 21.6 per cent, respectively), while the oldest age group, 51–64, had the lowest (10.5 per cent); these were statistically significant compared to the whole population (18.9 per cent). Those divorced/separated had the highest LES scores, while single people had the lowest, with the married in between. Possible reasons for these differences, both psychological and social, are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.