General Population Health Survey Research Articles

Psychological Distress among the Cree of James Bay

The object of this study was to identify potential risk and protective factors associated with psychological distress among the Cree of James Bay, through a secondary analysis of data on 1136 Cree (aged 15–85) from a random general population health survey in 1991. In multiple linear distress in the past week included: younger age, female gender, early loss of a parent or close relative, more life events in the year before the survey, a serious illness or drinking problem in the past year, ever having used cannabis, having more than elementary education, having fewer than five close friends/relatives and residing in an isolated or inland region. Having a good relationship with others in the community and spending more time in the bush were both associated with less distress. The relative importance of these factors varied across age/gender cohorts. We conclude that gender and generational differences should be considered when planning mental health promotion strategies for this population. In addition to more conventional approaches to reduce alcohol abuse, improve coping with loss and increase social support, targeted programs should be developed addressing the impact of education and role strain for women.

A Comparison of Cause-Specific Mortality among Participants and Nonparticipants in a Work-Site Medical Surveillance Program

Nonparticipants in general population health surveys have been found to be less healthy than participants, but data on nonparticipants in work-site health surveys have been more scarce. We compared cause-specific mortality among 11,156 male employees of The Dow Chemical Company who participated in at least one work-site health examination between 1967 and 1978 with 6915 employees who did not participate. The nonparticipants experienced higher mortality rates for nearly every cause of death examined but particularly from smoking and alcohol-abuse related diseases. This was especially true during the first 5 years of follow-up, suggesting that some employees do not participate because they are already ill. These findings have important implications for the use of examination data for both primary and secondary disease prevention purposes, and these are discussed.

Some normative, reliability, and factor analytic data for the revised UCLA Loneliness Scale.

Normative statistics are provided for the UCLA Loneliness Scale based on the results of a sample of 978 adult subjects collected during a general population health survey. Factor analysis of the data revealed that the scale had a two factor structure; positively worded items loaded on one factor and negatively worded items on the other. Results from the factor analysis were used to construct two equivalent 10-item short forms of the scale. Previous findings that the scale is highly reliable were confirmed.