Individual Life Events Research Articles

A film of the moment: Bad Timing

When Bad Timing was finished in 1980 its distributor, Rank, distanced itself, calling it “a sick film made by sick people for sick people.” It was given an X rating in the USA. Roger Ebert awarded it just one and a half stars. A positive review from the likes of Playboy magazine, who predictably hailed the film's “eroticism,” was understandably not enough to lift director Nick Roeg's spirits in the face of reactions like this one, recounted in a 2000 Guardian interview: “At the first test screening in America, I was going to meet a friend, a quite well-known actor. Afterwards, he got into his car, drove it at me, and swerved off. He wouldn't speak to me for 3 years.” Bad Timing has gone on to accrue a kind of queasy cult status since 1980. If (as I confess was the case for me) all you know about it is that it stars Art Garfunkel and features a scene of near necrophilia, you need to watch it. It will repay your time, and, as our politics struggles to find the correct approach to historical sexual assault allegations and issues of consent on university campuses, it now feels eerily prescient. Playboy and Rank were wrong, albeit in very different ways. Bad Timing deals in eroticism but it isn't remotely erotic. It deals in sickness, but isn't itself sick. The psychology of suicidal behaviourThe causes of suicidal behaviour are not fully understood; however, this behaviour clearly results from the complex interaction of many factors. Although many risk factors have been identified, they mostly do not account for why people try to end their lives. In this Review, we describe key recent developments in theoretical, clinical, and empirical psychological science about the emergence of suicidal thoughts and behaviours, and emphasise the central importance of psychological factors. Personality and individual differences, cognitive factors, social aspects, and negative life events are key contributors to suicidal behaviour. Full-Text PDF

Stress-full life events and multiple sclerosis: A population-based incident case-control study

AimWhile sizeable evidence regarding the association between stressful-life events and multiple sclerosis (MS) disease activity (clinical and/or radiological) was previously documented, their relation to MS risk is controversial. We aimed to investigate the possible association of stressful-life events and multiple sclerosis risk after adjustment for relevant confounders in an Iranian population. MethodThis was a population-based incident case-control study that recruited 547 MS cases and 1057 healthy controls between August 2013 and February 2015, Tehran. The patients were identified using the Iranian MS Society based on 2010 McDonald criteria. We used standard random digit dialing protocol for control selection. Logistic regression model was applied to estimate the odds ratios (95% CI) adjusted for physical activity, age, gender, tobacco smoking, waterpipe smoking and passive smoking. ResultsWhile total life events number was not associated with risk of MS, homeless periods OR 3.85 (1.65–8.90), p = 0.002 as well as divorce OR 2.11 (1.24–3.58), p = 0.005 increased the risk of MS. However, marriage OR 0.59 (0.41–0.86), p = 0.006, death of ones' dear OR 0.60 (0.44–0.82), p = 0.002 and joblessness OR 0.61 (0.41–0.91) reduced the risk of MS. ConclusionWe could not detect a statistically significant role for the total stressful life event during the last 3 years and MS diagnosis. However, there is some evidence confirming the possible role of some individual life events, i.e. divorce and periods of homelessness as potential risk factors for MS and conversely, having married as a protective factor in MS onset.

The (ir)relevance of unemployment for labour market policy attitudes and welfare state attitudes

AbstractTypically, associations between being unemployed and policy attitudes are explained with reference to economic self‐interest considerations of the unemployed. Preferences for labour market policies (LMP) and egalitarian preferences are the prime example and the focus of this study. Its aim is to challenge this causal self‐interest argument: self‐interest consistent associations of unemployment with policy preferences are neither necessarily driven by self‐interest nor necessarily causal. To that end, this article first confronts the self‐interest argument with a broader perspective on attitudes. Given that predispositions (e.g., value orientations) are stable and influence more specific policy attitudes, it is at least questionable whether people change their policy attitudes simply because they get laid off. Second, the article derives a non‐causal argument behind associations between unemployment and policy attitudes, arguing that these might be spurious associations driven by individuals’ socioeconomic background. After all, the entire socioeconomic background of a person is simultaneously related to both the risk of getting unemployed (‘selection into unemployment’) and distinct political socialisation experiences from early childhood onwards. Third, this article uses methods inspired by a counterfactual account on causality to test the non‐causal claims. Analyses are carried out using the fourth wave of the European Social Survey and applying entropy balancing to control for selection bias. In only two of the 31 analysed countries do unemployment effects on egalitarian orientations remain significant after controlling for selection bias. The same holds for effects on active LMP attitudes with the exception of six countries. Attitudes towards passive LMP are to some degree an exception since effects remain in a third of the countries. Robustness checks and Bayes factor replications showing evidence for the absence of unemployment effects support the general impression from these initial analyses. After discussing this article's results and limitations, its broader implications are considered. On the one hand, the article offers a new perspective on the conceptualisation and measurement of unemployment risk. On the other hand, its theoretical argument, as well as its treatment of the resulting selection bias, can be broadly applied. Thus, this article can contribute to many other research questions regarding the (ir)relevance of individual life events for political attitudes and political behaviour.

Self-administered event history calendars: a possibility for surveys?

ABSTRACTEvent history calendar (EHC) methods have received increasing attention from the life-course surveys that have been used in recent years. According to the literature, the EHC provides high-quality data in retrospective surveys because it replicates the autobiographical memory retrieval processes. EHC interviewing is processed through the visual display of individual life events, phases and transitions on a chronological calendar grid, which allows respondents to effectively link events as well as to identify and correct possible dating errors. Moreover, interactive interviewing facilitates the retrieval mechanism. In this study, we test whether the absence of an interviewer and/or interactive interviewing are associated with a reduction in data quality. This aspect is particularly relevant for surveys, as the absence of the interviewer would allow the implementation of EHC methods in self-administered questionnaires. In Study 1, an experimental design compared the results of self-administered paper-and-pencil EHCs in the presence and absence of an interviewer. In Study 2, a quasi-experimental approach compared the results of an interactive EHC interview with those of a self-administered paper-and-pencil EHC. Neither of these studies showed systematic differences between self-administered and interviewer-administered EHCs. The self-administered mode performs better when the instructions and layout design of the questionnaire are clear and detailed. Our findings suggest that the visual properties of the EHC could be a sufficient condition for collecting good retrospective data in the self-administered mode once the initial burden of the task is overcome.

Major life events and risk of alcohol use disorders: a prospective cohort study.

To estimate associations of individual major life events as well as accumulated major life events in childhood, adult private life and adult work life with risk of alcohol use disorders (AUD). Prospective cohort study with baseline examination in 1991-93 and linkage to national registers to identify AUD at follow-up. Copenhagen, Denmark. Individuals (aged 21-93years) who participated in the Copenhagen City Heart Study in 1991-93 (n=8758). The primary outcome was first registration with AUD during follow-up (n=249). AUD was identified in the Danish National Patient Register, in the Danish Psychiatric Central Register and in an outpatient treatment register. Major life events were assessed by a questionnaire in the Copenhagen City Heart study. Data were analysed by Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for age, sex, educational level, household income, cohabitation status and psychiatric comorbidity. Serious family conflicts in childhood [hazard ratio (HR)=1.35; 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.00, 1.83] and serious economic problems in adult life (HR=2.22; 95% CI=1.64, 3.01) were associated significantly with increased risk of AUD. Prospective analyses did not show consistent effects of accumulation of major life events in childhood or adult life, but an additional analysis based on all AUD registrations suggested an association between accumulated childhood events and risk of AUD. Serious economic problems in adult life are associated strongly with risk of alcohol use disorders, and there may be an influence of accumulated childhood events on risk of alcohol use disorders.

Predicting attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder severity from psychosocial stress and stress-response genes: a random forest regression approach

Identifying genetic variants contributing to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is complicated by the involvement of numerous common genetic variants with small effects, interacting with each other as well as with environmental factors, such as stress exposure. Random forest regression is well suited to explore this complexity, as it allows for the analysis of many predictors simultaneously, taking into account any higher-order interactions among them. Using random forest regression, we predicted ADHD severity, measured by Conners’ Parent Rating Scales, from 686 adolescents and young adults (of which 281 were diagnosed with ADHD). The analysis included 17 374 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across 29 genes previously linked to hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis activity, together with information on exposure to 24 individual long-term difficulties or stressful life events. The model explained 12.5% of variance in ADHD severity. The most important SNP, which also showed the strongest interaction with stress exposure, was located in a region regulating the expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT). Other high-ranking SNPs were found in or near NPSR1, ESR1, GABRA6, PER3, NR3C2 and DRD4. Chronic stressors were more influential than single, severe, life events. Top hits were partly shared with conduct problems. We conclude that random forest regression may be used to investigate how multiple genetic and environmental factors jointly contribute to ADHD. It is able to implicate novel SNPs of interest, interacting with stress exposure, and may explain inconsistent findings in ADHD genetics. This exploratory approach may be best combined with more hypothesis-driven research; top predictors and their interactions with one another should be replicated in independent samples.

The Great Recession, Life Events, and Mental Health of Older Adults.

Historical events and personal experiences have the potential to alter the way people age. Using a life-course model, we examined how the Economic Recession of 2008 and experienced life events affected the mental health of 3,393 older adults in New Jersey. Data collected between 2006 and 2012 revealed a significant increase in mean depressive symptoms. Multinomial logistic regression analyses indicated that people with incident depression were more likely to have lost a job, become a caregiver, experienced a major illness, or have a family member with a major illness than people with no depression. Compared with the incident depression group, those with remitted depression were less likely to report having lost a job or experienced a major illness. Modeling the effects of individual life events and the economic recession on depression enriches understanding about the association between macro socioeconomic events, life events, and the mental health of older adults.

Psychosocial Stress and Risk of Myocardial Infarction: A Case-Control Study in Belgrade (Serbia).

The purpose of this study was to investigate which psychosocial risk factors show the strongest association with occurrence of myocardial infarction (MI) in the population of Belgrade in peacetime, after the big political changes in Serbia. A case-control study was conducted involving 154 consecutive newly diagnosed patients with MI, and 308 controls matched by gender, age, and place of residence. According to conditional logistic regression analysis, after adjustment for conventional coronary risk factors, the odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for work-related stressful events, financial stress, deaths and diseases, and general stress were 3.78 (1.83-7.81), 3.80 (1.96-7.38), 1.69 (1.03-2.78), and 3.54 (2.01-6.22), respectively. Among individual stressful life events, the following were independently related to MI: death of a close family member, 2.21 (1.01-4.84); death of a close friend, 42.20 (3.70-481.29); major financial problems, 8.94 (1.83-43.63); minor financial problems, 4.74 (2.02-11.14); changes in working hours, 4.99 (1.64-15.22); and changes in working conditions, 30.94 (5.43-176.31). During this political transition period , stress at work, financial stress, and stress in general as they impacted the population of Belgrade, Serbia were strongly associated with occurence of MI.

The effect and expense of redemption reintegration services versus usual reintegration care for young African Canadians discharged from incarceration.

African Canadians comprise 2.5% of the population, but represent 9.5% of federal inmates - an increase of 80% since 2003-2004. Recidivism among federal inmates is high (about 40%). This paper outlines the findings, at 9months after enrolment during 2011-2012, of a randomised controlled trial testing the effectiveness and cost of Redemption Reintegration Services (RRS), a culturally specific, multi-level intervention for young African Canadian former inmates. Retention at 9months was 95% of those randomised (n=115 per group) to RRS (n=114) or usual reintegration services (n=105) offered by the municipality. The primary outcomes were recidivism and service costs. Mediating and moderating measures were Personality Strengths, Developmental Assets, Meaning in Life, the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth, the Youth Behaviour Checklist and Neighbourhood Vitality. Compared with the usual care group, the RRS group showed significant improvements in: self-reported Personality Strengths, Developmental Assets, the presence and search for Meaning in Life, social and individual risk factors, behaviour, and life events such as obtaining stable housing and enrolling in school. At 9months, RRS participants generated significantly lower per person per annum expenditures for law enforcement services, housing services and total direct costs. Among RRS participants, 3.5% reported being re-charged for offences in the previous 9months compared with 45.7% of the usual care group. The 2010-2011 average annual cost per person for incarceration was $114,364. The 48 individuals in the usual care group and 4 in RRS would generate costs of $5,489,472 and $457,456, respectively - a $5million difference. We conclude that, at 9months, RRS is more effective and less expensive than usual reintegration services for young African Canadians.

School Counselors and Gifted Kids: Respecting Both Cognitive and Affective

Exceptional intellectual ability may not come to mind as a possible contributor when school counselors learn about a student's problematic behavior. Likewise, high-ability students probably do not come to mind first when schools are anticipating counseling needs. Nevertheless, scholars who have focused on giftedness have referred to various concerns that might come to the attention of school counselors, including gifted students' inattention, timidity, difficulty with transitions to new contexts, discomfort with a high level of classroom activity and large numbers of people in one place, smells and noise and visual stimuli, crying and general intensity of feeling, and a high energy level (Tucker & Hafenstein, 1997); questioning authority, debilitating self-consciousness, and preoccupation with others' expectations of them (Mendaglio, 2007); and sensitivity to criticism and extreme self-criticism (Silverman, 1993). Sometimes the aforementioned behaviors are inappropriately viewed as pathology (Webb et al., 2005) when they may actually reflect characteristics and concepts associated with giftedness, such as heightened sensitivity to environmental stimuli (Mendaglio, 2007); intensity (Daniels & Piechowski, 2009); or intellectual, sensual, emotional, psychomotor, or imaginational over-excitability (Piechowski, 1999). All of these can potentially exacerbate challenges related to personal, family, and school transitions, including those related to developmental tasks (National Association for Gifted Children [NAGC], 2013a). In addition, given the inherently asynchronous development of gifted youth, their cognitive development is likely to far outpace social and emotional development (Alsop, 2003). However, their cognitive attempts to control chaotic situations and their own intense emotions may be ineffective, leaving them to feel out of control emotionally (Jackson & Peterson, 2003). Definitions How gifted is defined continues to generate controversy among gifted-education scholars (e.g., McBee, McCoach, Peters, & Matthews, 2012), including, for example, about whether achievement is essential. In this article, the term gifted refers to exceptionally high intellectual capability regardless of commensurate academic performance. Therefore, both high achievers and underachievers with high ability are considered gifted. The NAGC (2013b) definition of giftedness includes direct reference to more than just academic performance: outstanding levels of aptitude (defined as an exceptional ability to reason and learn) or competence (documented performance or achievement in top 10% or rarer) in one or more domains (p. 1). The inclusion of aptitude suggests that potential, based on measured ability, should be recognized and addressed by appropriate services. According to Peters, Matthews, McBee, and McCoach (2014), the traditional criterion of an IQ of 130 or above, or 2.5% of a normal distribution, may reflect long-standing diagnostic practices. However, states and school districts in the United States differ in the proportion of students involved in educational services for gifted students, and only 32 states mandate either services or identification or both (NAGC & Council of State Directors of Programs for the Gifted, 2011). Peters et al. noted that definitional terms are open to interpretation and argued that arbitrarily established percentages of targeted students should not drive programming. Services should instead reflect student needs (e.g., domain-specific needs) that are not being addressed in classrooms in a specific school context. If informal school district, educator, or school counselor definitions of gifted are limited to high academic achievement, a good fit in school, and visible parental support, adult school personnel may believe that high ability precludes individual and family difficulties and negative life events (Peterson, Duncan, & Canady, 2009). …

0027 Life Events and Psychological Distress among Police Officers Six Years Post Hurricane Katrina

ObjectivesTo investigate if organisational support modifies associations between life events and psychological symptomatology among police officers post Hurricane Katrina.MethodComplete data on depression [Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (CES-D)], PTSD...

Can religion insure against aggregate shocks to happiness? The case of transition countries

This paper examines the effects of reforms and religion on happiness in transition economies. Earlier literature suggests that religiosity insures happiness against various individual stressful life events. This phenomenon is well-explored in developed countries but rarely studied in post-communist countries, where religion was officially suppressed for a long period. These countries have undergone considerable economic transformations over the past two decades. Using cross-sectional Life in Transition Survey data and historical data on religions, I examine if religion insures against economic reforms. The endogeneity of religion is taken into account. The findings suggest that economic reforms may have both positive and negative effects on happiness. Religiosity indeed insures happiness and perceptions of economic and political situations against economic reforms.

The use of symptom dimensions to investigate the longitudinal effects of life events on depressive and anxiety symptomatology

BackgroundFindings on the association between life events and depression have been quite inconsistent. This could be due to the heterogeneity of traditionally used depression outcomes. The aim of this study was to investigate whether specific symptom dimensions can be used as an alternative to detect more specific life event effects. MethodsParticipants with/without psychiatric diagnoses were included (n=2252). Dimensions of the tripartite model (General Distress [GD], Anhedonic Depression [AD] and Anxious Arousal [AA]) were assessed at baseline, 1-year and 2-year follow-up. Life events occurring between measurements were assessed retrospectively. Longitudinal associations between life events and dimensional scores were analysed with Linear Mixed Models. ResultsOccurrence of negative life events was associated with increasing GD and AA, and less with AD. Positive life events were associated with decreasing GD and AD, but not with AA. The association between negative life events and AD was larger in the absence of previous psychiatric problems, lending support to a dimension-specific ‘kindling’ effect. Also, the negative association between negative life events and GD was stronger in those with high neuroticism. Multivariable analyses with individual life events showed that a few strong independent effects remained for each dimension. LimitationsLife event reports were retrospective; only three outcome dimensions were used. ConclusionsThese results show that the effects of life events and modifying factors depend, to an extent, on the symptom domain that is considered as outcome, illustrating the need to account for symptom heterogeneity in etiological life event research.

Personal life stories: Common deviations from the cultural life script

Autobiographical memories are typically thought of as people's memories for personal life events. Yet, life stories do not exist in isolation; they are shaped by the shared social norms and prescriptions of one's culture as to the order and timing of important transitional events: a cultural life script. An individual's knowledge of their culture's standard life script does not arise from compiled individual life events, but is learned detached from particular personal experiences. When probed, many people's most important personal life events do not match the cultural life script exactly. We note that even some commonly experienced life story events do not match the life script and that their qualitative differences have not been systematically investigated. Why are some common life story events in the cultural life script whereas others are not? To begin exploring these differences, we examined what distinguishes two main types of commonly nominated events within people's personal life stories: events that do overlap with what they conceive of as their culture's life script and events that do not. We offer a secondary data analysis of the Rubin, Berntsen, and Hutson's (2009) life story data, exploring American life story data using the proposed categories of events, the various ratings the authors previously collected, and unused demographic information of interest. Given that this is simply a first step in characterizing the nature of common important life story events, we also provide some speculation for future avenues of investigation and the broader relevance of this work.

Estrogen and the prefrontal cortex: Towards a new understanding of estrogen's effects on executive functions in the menopause transition

Midlife decline in cognition, specifically in areas of executive functioning, is a frequent concern for which menopausal women seek clinical intervention. The dependence of executive processes on prefrontal cortex function suggests estrogen effects on this brain region may be key in identifying the sources of this decline. Recent evidence from rodent, nonhuman primate, and human subject studies indicates the importance of considering interactions of estrogen with neurotransmitter systems, stress, genotype, and individual life events when determining the cognitive effects of menopause and estrogen therapy.

Major life events and development of major depression in Parkinson's disease patients

Non-motor symptoms including depression are important features of Parkinson's disease (PD). We aim to address the relationship between major life events and depression amongst PD patients free of depressive symptoms at baseline. New-onset PD patients from California were recruited in 2001-2007 and followed up for 3-4 years. The participants (n=221) were examined by neurologists and responded to comprehensive interviews that included major life events, social support, and coping measures from validated scales. Major depression was assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM-IV depression module (SCID). More than half of all patients had experienced major life events since diagnosed with PD, and 22 patients developed a major depression. The number of life events was associated with risk of depression in an exposure-dependent manner, with each additional event being associated with a 56% higher risk of depression (95% CI: 1.23-1.98). Most individual life events were associated with a two- to eight-fold higher risk of depression. Patients with low social support or coping capacities seemed to be particularly susceptible to developing depression after experiencing major life events. Life events play an important role for onset of depression in patients with PD; an effect that seems to be modulated by social support and coping capacities and these factors may therefore be important to assess in order to identify patients with PD at high risk of depression and provide effective interventions.

Values, Life Events, and Health: A Study in a Finnish Rural Community

ABSTRACTThe relationships between individual values (Schwartz, 1992), life events, and psychological symptoms were analyzed in a general population sample from a Finnish rural community. The design was a cross‐sectional survey. Data were gathered in 1993 (n = 174) and 2007 (n = 226). We investigated whether personal values would predict the number of life events. Results showed that openness to change values was positively and conservation values, negatively related to life events (those over which the individual had certain degree of control, e.g. getting a new job) in 1993. As expected, an increase in the importance of conservation values from 1993 to 2007 weakened the association between values and life events so that in 2007, only stimulation values were related to events. Although no consistent direct relations were found between single values and symptoms, we found that the higher the value congruence between individual and group values, the fewer the reported symptoms, for both time points. This research provided evidence suggesting that life events are also related to one's personal value priorities. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Self-reported psychological stress and the risk of breast cancer: A case-control study

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between severe life events and breast cancer risk. This study was based on a case–control examination of 858 Polish invasive breast cancer cases and 1085 controls matched for age and place of residence. Data on life events, sociodemographic characteristic, reproductive factors, family history of breast cancer, current weight and height, and lifestyle habits were collected between January 2003 and May 2007 using a self-administered questionnaire. Odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were estimated as the measure of the relationship between life event stress and breast cancer risk using unconditional logistic regression analyses. After adjustment for potential breast cancer risk factors, women with four to six individual major life events had 5.33 times higher risk for breast cancer, compared with those in the lowest quartile. Similarly, women with a lifetime life change score greater than 210 had about 5 times higher risk compared to women with corresponding scores in the range 0–70. Several life events (death of a close family member, personal injury or illness, imprisonment/trouble with the law, retirement) were significantly associated with breast cancer risk. These findings suggest that major life events can play an important role in the etiology of breast cancer.

Cultural capital, Life Course Perspectives and Western Front battlefield tours

This paper argues that battlefield tours have strong religious overtones covering remembrance and sacrifice that features non-spiritual philosophies built on emotional and cultural capital. This paper canvasses views of tourism, icons, memorials and cemeteries as contributors to cultural capital. There is a view that religion and pilgrimages follow the Life Course Perspectives of religious influences on individual life stories, events and interactions. The proposition suggests that religion meets commemoration. Insights from a group of 28 visitors to the Western Front in 2008 contribute to, and support the tenets of this paper. The Western Front is a single icon built on the cultural elements of emotion, earthiness and respect rather than destination sophistication. Tourists felt the region had not succumbed to excessive or unwarranted infrastructure development that would spoil the experience. Tour party participants considered the tour to be a pilgrimage enabling the achievement of long-held personal goals, and created their own memories and heritage to compliment their family history. Ultimately, in the beliefs of Australian tourists to the Western Front, religion does meet commemoration and connects with Life Course Perspectives influences and values.

Can Religion Insure Against Aggregate Shocks to Happiness? The Case of Transition Countries

This paper focuses on the effects of reforms and religion on happiness in transition economies. Previous literature suggests that religiousness insures happiness against individual stressful life events, such as unemployment, disability, or marital separation. I estimate an econometric model to study if religion also insures against aggregate shocks to happiness, such as reforms and various changes in political, economic, and social life. The model accounts for the endogeneity of religion and analyzes the effects of religion on life satisfaction, and perceptions of the current economic and political situation in transition countries.