Martial Status Research Articles

Job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and flight attendants’ turnover intentions: A note

This study looks at the effects of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and individual factors on flight attendants’ turnover intentions. It makes use of samples of the attendants from a Taiwanese airline company. From the results of a logistic regression analysis, two aspects of organizational commitment (i.e. normative commitment and continuance commitment) as well as job-itself satisfaction were found significantly negative impact on flight attendants’ turnover intentions. In addition, wage and martial status were found to be significant predictors of turnover intentions.

The Enigma of Higher Income Immigrants With Lower Rates of Health Insurance Coverage in the United States

This research compares rates of health insurance coverage among middle-class non-elderly immigrants to native-born American adults using data from the March 1996-2000 Supplements to the Current Population Survey. Probit regressions reveal that immigrants were three times as likely to be uninsured at income levels exceeding $50,000, controlling for economic, demographic and immigrant-related characteristics. Work-related characteristics, income, martial status and nativity considerably influenced health insurance status for all adults, but work-related factors had the strongest effect on immigrants' rates of coverage. Why, ceteris paribus, immigrants have lower coverage rates is unclear. Many low-income and recent immigrants face barriers to access due to legal status or job sector. But lower rates of health insurance coverage which persist among long-time residents at higher income levels cannot be explained by such barriers, a finding highly relevant for policy makers. Encouraging uninsured immigrants to opt into health plans voluntarily will remain a challenge.

Prognostic factors in breast cancer.

Data relating to 1022 patients with early breast cancer who were entered into a clinical trial have been analysed to assess the importance of various factors in predicting prognosis. Clinical stage was the major determinant of prognosis, and in each stage patients with a breast tumour 2 cm or less in maximum diameter had a significantly better survival than patients with larger tumours. Patients aged between 40 and 49 years and premenopausal patients had relatively favourable prognosis. Site of the tumour within the breast, whether it was situated on the left or the right side, the patient's martial status and the number of pregnancies did not appear to have any influence.

Depressive mood and obesity in US adults: comparison and moderation by sex, age, and race

Sustained depressive mood is a gateway symptom for a major depressive disorder. This paper investigated whether the association between depressive mood and obesity differs as function of sex, age, and race in US adults after controlling for socio-economic variables of martial status, employment status, income level and education level. A total of 44,800 nationally representative respondents from the 2001 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey were studied. Respondents were classified as having experienced a depressive mood if they felt sad, blue, or depressed at least for 1 week in the previous month. The depressive mood was operationalized in terms of duration and sustenance, both defined based on number of days with depressive mood: 7+ and 14+ days. Age groups were classified as young (18-64 years) and old (65+ years). Obesity status was classified as: not overweight/obese (BMI<25); overweight (25<or=BMI<30); obese (BMI>or=30). Prevalence of prior-month depressive mood was 14.3 and 7.8% for 7+ and 14+ days, respectively. Controlling for race and socio-economic variables, both young overweight and obese women were significantly more likely to have experienced depressive mood than nonoverweight/nonobese women. Young overweight, but not obese, men were significantly more likely to have experienced depressive mood than nonoverweight/nonobese men. Young obese women were also significantly more likely to have a sustained depressive mood than nonoverweight/nonobese women. For old respondents, depressive mood and its sustenance were not associated with obesity in either sex. The relationship between the depressive mood and obesity is dependent upon gender, age, and race. Young obese women, Hispanics in particular, are much more prone to depressive mood than nonobese women. Future studies testing associations between depression and obesity should be sensitive to the influence of these demographic and socio-economic variables.

Reciprocal relationship between pain and depression in elderly Chinese primary care patients

Pain and depression are common in old age but the reciprocal relationship between pain and depression has not been established in a single study. Moreover, few studies have addressed this issue in a primary care setting. The purposes of this study were to examine the reciprocal relationship between pain and depression and to identify whether social support, functional disability or social functioning mediated the link between pain and depression among Hong Kong Chinese elderly primary care patients. Subjects were 318 patients assessed by a trained assessor with MDS-HC at baseline and these subjects were randomly selected from attendants of three randomly selected elderly health centers in Hong Kong. These patients were re-assessed one year after baseline evaluation. Multiple regression analyses revealed that pain at baseline significantly predicted depression at 12-month follow-up assessment when age, gender, martial status, education, and depression at baseline were adjusted for, but depression at baseline was not associated with pain at 12-months after baseline measure while controlling for age, gender, martial status, education, and pain at baseline. However, depression did predict the onset of pain. Moreover, social support, physical disability or social functioning did not mediate the impact of pain on depression. These data suggest that pain is an important predictor of depression in elderly primary care patients. Therefore, aged care service practitioners must take this risk factor into consideration in their preventive intervention and treatment for psychological well-being.

Uso de servicios preventivos de salud materno-infantil en un grupo de mujeres mexicanas

To identify factors that promote the use of health services in a group of women of reproductive age from a gender perspective. A retrospective and analytical study based on a questionnaire on maternal infant mortality of fifty women (users and non-users of preventative health services) in health centers in Mexico City was carried out. A conglomerate analysis of averages was executed. An analysis of variance was done to evaluate the fitness of the model. The statistical analysis was done using the SPSS statistical package version 12.0. Planning of the last pregnancy, including having had sexual relations with the intention of procreation, was the behavior that showed a significant difference (p=0.001) between users and non-users of preventative health services. Social-demographic characteristics (age, education level, martial status, woman's occupation) did not reveal any differences between the two groups. Reproductive planning could be an indicator of preventative behavior in the use of preventative health services.

Environmental Tobacco Smoke and the Risk of Coronary Heart Disease

Background: Passive or environmental smoking is one of the important health problems, to which many adults and children are exposed in involuntary status. Methods: In this hospital based case-control study, household exposure to tobacco smoke as an estimate of passive smokers was conducted in Hamadan, western Iran. The purpose was to find the relationship between environmental smoking and incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD). We interviewed 69 patients with CHD and 69 without it as control group. The confounded factors (hypertension, hypercholestrolemia, diabetic mellitus, type a personality, and familial history) were removed as exclusion criteria while suppliers of oral contraceptives, physical activity, martial status and age (±3) were matched. Results: The findings showed that 54% of patients and 48% of the controls were exposed to tobacco smoke. The odds ratio of incidence of CHD was 1.26 and confidence interval (CI) as 0. 65-2. 46. Conclusion: There was no significant relationship between passive smoking and CHD. More study on large sample is needed to assess environmental smoking effect on CHD.

Perception of burden by caregivers of patients with schizophrenia

Background:There is a dearth of studies assessing the burden of caregivers of patients with schizophrenia and illness-related variables such as age, sex, duration of illness, domicile, martial status, education, employment and previous hospitalization.Aim:The study was conducted to measure the perception of burden by caregivers of patients with schizophrenia and its correlation with nine factors on the Burden Assessment Schedule (BAS) related to spouse, physical and mental health, external support, caregiver's routines, support to patient, responsibility-taking, other relatives, patient's behaviour and caregiver's strategy.Methods:Using BAS, we assessed the burden in a sample of caregivers of 34 patients with schizophrenia taken from the OPD of the Institute of Mental Health and Hospital, Agra.Results:A low positive correlation was found between urban domicile and support of the patient; of domicile Agra and effect on other relations; and domicile Agra and effect on the caregiver's routine. There was a low positive correlation between age less than 30 years and the physical and mental health of the caregiver, and with taking responsibility. The t test for population correlation was significant up to 5% probability level (p<0.05) for correlation between urban domicile and support of the patient; between domicile Agra and effect on other relations; between domicile Agra and the effect on the caregiver's routine; between age less than 30 years and the physical and mental health of the caregiver; and between age less than 30 years and taking responsibility.Conclusion:Further studies in this field are required including one with a non-linear correlation analytic design.

Perceptions and attitudes of individuals exposed to traffic noise in working places

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of traffic noise on exposed owners and employees of businesses near to road edge. To achieve this objective, a field survey in Amman, Jordan was performed. The survey consisted of collecting data on equivalent noise levels and evaluating the perception of exposed individual at the evaluated locations. The results of the study indicated that about 81% of the interviewed people working around the major streets in Amman are annoyed by traffic noise, and their daily routine activities are interfered by this noise. Also, the results indicated that higher income and education level of the interviewed individuals directly related to their annoyance level and awareness about the health impact of traffic noise. Martial status and gender were also found to be significantly affecting annoyance by traffic noise. At the same equivalent noise level, single individuals reported to be more annoyed than married individuals. Single females were found to be more annoyed by traffic noise than single males. While for married individuals, female were found to be less annoyed than males.

Prevalence of multiple chronic disease risk factors: 2001 National Health Interview Survey

Background Four common factors—cigarette smoking, risky drinking of alcoholic beverages, physical inactivity, and overweight—contribute substantially to chronic disease prevalence. Methods We used data from the 2001 National Health Interview Survey to provide an up-to-date picture of multiple risk factor prevalence and clustering in the U.S. population. We conducted a multinomial logit analysis to examine the independent association between each covariate and the dependent ordinal risk factor variable with three levels (none or one risk factor, two risk factors, and three or four risk factors). Results Seventeen percent of the sample of 29,183 subjects had three or more risk factors. For the entire sample, the mean number of risk factors was 1.68 (95% confidence interval [CI]=1.66–1.70). Many demographic and health factors were significantly associated with the mean number of risk factors including gender, age, ethnic/racial categories, education, martial status, presence of chronic diseases, level of mental distress, country of birth, and presence and type of health insurance. Using the risk factor score as the ordinal dependent variable, adjusted odds for having a risk score of three or four versus zero or one were as follows: men aged <65, 2.49 (95% CI=2.29–2.72); education attainment of high school graduate or less, 3.24 (95% CI=2.86–3.67); and individuals with high levels of mental distress, 2.06 (95% CI=1.65–2.58). Conclusions Our analyses confirm earlier reports of the high prevalence of multiple, clustered behavioral risk factors and underline the challenge this presents for primary care and public health systems.

Clinical and demographic features of the online counselling client population

The purpose of this research was to determine the demographics and characteristics of clients seeking online counselling over an eight‐month period of clinical online practice. Two hundred and seventeen clients seeking Internet counselling completed a Counselling Application and a Life History Questionnaire. The characteristics of the relatively new client population include the following categories: gender, age groups, martial status, education, primary reason for seeking online therapy, secondary issues, frequency of email exchanges, and online vs. face‐to‐face counselling preferences. Implications for online counselling practice are discussed.

Werden die Schweizer schwerer?

In this study 4435 insurance applications to the Swiss Life insurance company ("Rentenanstalt") by individuals aged 20-39 years from the time period 1950-1990 were evaluated. Each application contained the self-reported body weight, height, and other informations such as martial status or city of residence. For each individual the body mass index (BMI) was computed and the prevalence of overweight and obesity for each year was calculated using standard definitions. This is the first study which tries to determine the prevalence rates of overweight and obesity in Switzerland over time. The absolute body weight (kg) increased continuously from 1950 to the year 2000. The most pronounced increase was seen in individuals (aged 20-29 years) above the 90th percentile of body weight and BMI, i.e. already overweight and/or obese individuals showed the largest increase in body weight. In men (aged 20-29 years) the prevalence of overweight increased between 1980 and 1990 by more than 10% to a prevalence rate of 25%. In women (aged 20-29 years) the prevalence of overweight increased continuously from 1960 onward and reached a rate of 10.5% in 1990. In the age group of the 30-39 years old individuals no change in the prevalence rates was observed. These data suggest that there is a trend for an increased prevalence of overweight in Switzerland. Since the study sample was not representative for the Swiss population the results have to be interpreted with caution only. Nevertheless the results are in agreement with the trends in other countries and it can be assumed that similar developments do occur also in Switzerland.

테니스동호회 참여 수준과 여가만족도의 관계

The objective of this study is to examine closely" The Effects of Participation Frequency in Tennis Community Clubs on Satisfaction Level of Leisure". On the purpose of this study, cluster and random sampling method which set up 343 members of tennis community clubs residing in the city of Daegu as research objects was applied to collect data. In addition to that, collected data was coded through using one of the statistical software packages, SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences), and then statistical analysis under research hypotheses was performed. Frequency analysis, x²-test, T-Test, one-way ANOVA(one-way analysis of variance), multiple regression analysis, etc belonged to applied statistical methods for this study. Research hypotheses was tested under these like procedures to produce final outcomes. Following conclusions based on the final outcomes of this study are reached. First, men participants have high tendencies that they performed 1 time per week for participation frequency, more than 2 hours for participation performance level, and continuously participated for the period covering 4 to 5 years or more than 5 years. With respect to women participants, they have high tendencies that they performed 2 to 3 times per week for participation frequency, less than 1 hour for participation performance level, and participated for the period covering 4 to 5 years. Although the participation frequency of men participants was low, when they participated in the tennis community clubs one time, they tended to participate at high participation performance level. Meanwhile, although the participation performance level of women participants was low, they tended to regularly participate in the tennis community clubs 2 to 3 times per week for more than 4 years. The participants graduated from high schools have high tendencies that they participated 1 time per week for participation frequency, and continuously participated for more than 5 years, whereas the participants graduated from universities have high tendencies that they participated 2 to 3 times per week for participation frequency, and generally participated for more than 5 years. From the analytical viewpoint of participants` martial status, married participants have high tendencies that they participated less than 1 hour for participation performance level, and generally participated 2 to 3 times per week, whereas unmarried participants generally participated 1 time per week. Also, from the analytical viewpoint of participants` ages, the participants over 30`s to 40`s or more have high tendencies that they participated 4 times for participation frequency, and generally participated for 4 to 5 years. Secondly, satisfaction level of leisure covering men participants are high in psychological, educational and relaxative aspects, meanwhile satisfaction level of leisure covering women participants are high in social aspects. With respect to the participants over 30`s to 40`s or more, participants graduated from universities, participants of low standard of living, married participants, athletes, non experienced participants, etc, they have highly social satisfaction levels of leisure. On the other hand, With respect to participants graduated from high schools, participants of middle standard of living, unmarried participants, etc, they have high satisfaction levels of leisure concerning psychological, educational, relaxative, and physical aspects. Thirdly, participation performance level gives affirmative effects on the educational satisfaction level of leisure, and participation frequency gives negative effects on the psychological and educational satisfaction level of leisure. Also, participation period gives greatest effects on the satisfaction level of leisure of the members of tennis community clubs, and gives affirmative effects on psychological and educational satisfaction level of leisure, meanwhile it gives negative effects on social, relaxative, a

ETHNIC, ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL DIFFERENCES IN REPRODUCTIVE PARAMETERS OF NEWBORNS AND MOTHERS FROM EAST SLOVAKIA

Introduction The gypsies minority, particularly females, and their health parameters are completely different from other population groups. Gypsies minorities create in the former socialist countries important political, social, integrating but also health status problems. Knowledge about health of gypsies is only from a few scientific studies, because general governmental statistics of morbidity, mortality, basic health do not allow to divide population on white and gypsies, so we need planned and structural research, we need data collection for epidemiological studies to create results about worsening health condition among gypsies, including reproductive parameters and females health status. Material and methods Data from 324 maternal and newborn obstetrics reports were retrospectively collected on regional Gynaecologic and obstetrical centre in Kosice. Maternal reports included 324 females of both white and gypsies ethnic. Maternal reports included data about birth weight, birth length, age of mother, complications during pregnancy, Apgar score for newborn vitality, smoking, marital status, gestational age, economic activity of mother and father. Results Statistical multi-logistic regression adjusted for sex of newborn, age of mother, smoking status, martial status shows great differences in the birth weight and birth length of children depending on ethnic and social status. The group of gypsies children have statistically significant lower birth weight then white. Also prevalence of low birth weight LBW and very low birth weight VLBW is higher among gypsies group, adjusted OR of LBW and VLBW varied between 1,88–2,55. Gestational age is among gypsies women lower, it means earlier pre-term delivery is more frequent. Prenatal gynaecological disorders are also significantly higher in the group of gypsies mothers. Summary The results of our retrospective cross sectional study are showing a great differences between white females and gypsies females reproductive parameters. The study is still ongoing as a part of the research grant VEGA1/9310/02.

A review of nursing research on blood pressure.

To provide this second 10-year review of nursing research on blood pressure (BP) and to focus attention on incorporating biopsychosocial factors affecting BP in nursing research. Blood pressure is a dynamic, multidimensional, cardiovascular indicator of a person's state rather than a one-dimensional static measurement. This 10-year literature review 1990-1999 included 54 nursing research articles with BP as an outcome measure. Four nursing research journals were reviewed to identify all nurse-authored articles investigating BP as an outcome variable in adult populations. Inclusion of individual characteristics, environmental factors, dynamic nature of blood pressure, and interpersonal aspects of blood pressure were assessed for each article. Age, gender, and health status were mentioned consistently in both decades. Reporting of socioeconomic, occupational, educational, activity, and martial status remained low. Descriptions of environments increased, and automated devices were the most common method for BP assessment. Less than half of the articles included a description of the person measuring the BP. Measurements of BP under multiple conditions increased, but measurement within conditions did not. Advances in technology and data analysis have increased knowledge of the dynamic nature of BP, but recognition of the complex nature of BP has not progressed rapidly over the last 2 decades.

Public opinion and siting solid waste landfills in Kuwait

Siting municipal solid waste landfills in Kuwait had not considered public concerns about the location of such facilities. Kuwait Municipality has disposed urban waste in abandoned sand quarries for the past 20 years in an unplanned fashion. Due to this improper siting criteria, environmental and health problems have risen from old landfills that are located in residential areas. In an effort to help responsible decision-makers in assessing public support for siting landfills a structured, yet simple, questionnaire was designed and distributed to a random sample of heads of households. Statistical techniques were employed to examine trends and relationships between the sample public responses concerning landfill siting criteria. The findings of the research indicated that a significant percentage of the responding sample did not know about the various landfill impacts and less than 50% were aware of the negative impacts of landfills on the public health and the environment. The visual appearance of the landfill scored the lowest impact in the opinion of the sample public while the most important aspect in siting a landfill appeared to be its economic consideration. The research findings also directed attention to the important role that the media could play in increasing public awareness. Results from the cross-classification analysis demonstrated the existence of differences in awareness levels according to age, nationality, martial status, education, and occupation of the responding sample. Statistically, these differences were significant at the 95% significance level, as supported by the test of the χ-square.

Chinese women at the crossroads: an empirical study on their role orientations and consumption values in Chinese society

Women’s current high levels of education and participation in the labor force have focused attention on their changing lifestyles and consumption patterns, which create a challenge to marketers who are desperate to explore this new market opportunity. This study investigates the significance of the emerging roles of Chinese women in Hong Kong to marketers and also helps to identify some common roles held by Hong Kong females, who are influenced by Chinese and western cultures. Through personal interviews, data were collected in the form of a structured questionnaire from a sample which consisted of 1,000 Chinese females randomly selected in Hong Kong – one of the most important cities in Southern China. This study successfully segmented Hong Kong’s females into three different groups based on six female role orientation dimensions: individualists, traditionalists, and pro‐docietalists. These three groups were found to be statistically significant in demographic characteristics, such as age, educational level, martial status, and number of children, as well as in consumption values associated with purchase decisions. Implications were drawn for marketing practitioners and directions for future research were provided.

Use of complementary and alternative therapies in HIV-infected patients.

The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies is widespread in many chronic illnesses, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of increasingly effective antiretroviral therapy on the use of CAM in an HIV-positive patient population. A written survey was given to 191 HIV-positive outpatients. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. One hundred twenty-eight patients (67%) used CAM at some time to control HIV and 76 (40%) of the patients were currently using CAM. The major forms of CAM used were exercise (43%), lifestyle changes (38%), dietary supplements (37%), counseling (27%), herbal medications (26%), megavitamins (24%), and prayer therapy (24%). One hundred forty-one patients (74%) used a protease inhibitor medication, 28 (15%) used a protease inhibitor sparing regime, and 22 (11%) had no current or prior antiretroviral use. Eighty-two (43%) patients indicated that their doctor knew they used CAM and 56 patients (29%) received their information about CAM from a doctor or other health care professional. Of 128 patients who used CAM, 90 (70%) felt CAM improved their quality of life. Income of $15,000 or more per year and discontinuation of medications by patients for any reason in the past were the best predicators of CAM use for patients in general and also those on protease inhibitor therapy. CD(4) count, educational status, year of HIV diagnosis, and martial status were not effective predictors of CAM use. Use of CAM remains widespread among patients with HIV infection even with the availability of effective, yet noncurative antiretroviral therapy and does not correlate with type of antiretroviral therapy used or clinical status.

Marital Status as Differentiating Factor in Canadian Women’s Coping with Partner Violence

Violence against women is a major problem in Grandin and Lupri (1997) compared rates of violence in Canada and the United States and found Canadians have a higher prevalence of partner violence than Americans. This is indicative that partner violence may be a proportionately larger problem in Canada than the United States. Of course the number of victimized women is greater in the United States, given its much larger population. However, Grandin and Lupns (1997) results point to the importance of studying the Canadian situation. Results from the largest national survey on violence against women ever conducted showed that 29 percent of Canadian women have experienced violence by a current or former husband (Johnson, 1996). These results suggest that research and policies are desperately needed to understand and prevent partner violence in Brownridge and Halli (2000) argue that one important empirical tack for arriving at an understanding of partner violence involves the investigation of common-law couples separately from married couples. These researchers argue that common-law and marital unions are qualitatively different relationships and, hence, the former requires separate analysis to fully understand the causes of partner violence against women. Little is known about violence in common-law relationships in There have been only six surveys in Canada that have differentiated prevalence rates in terms of marital/commonlaw status (Brinkerhoff and Lupri, 1988; Kennedy and Dutton, 1989; Smith, 1986; Sommer, 1994; Statistics Canada, 1993; Statistics Canada, 2000). Though their breadth varies, these surveys demonstrate a consistent pattern showing common-law couples to have a greater propensity to be violent. Canadian common-law relationships are two to four times more likely than their married counterparts to involve male partner violence. In the only systematic analysis of violence in Canadian common-law unions, Brownridge and Halli (1999a) found that unique sets of variables are linked to violence in different marital status categories. Surprisingly, this is also the case for two groups of marrieds. Violence among women who possess a history of cohabitation with someone other than their husband (PC married) seems to be linked to different variables than does violence experienced by those without a prior history of cohabitation (non-PC married). Brownridge and Halli's (1999a) reasoning, that the two groups of marrieds should be separated since PC marrieds are likely to be different as a result of their past cohabitation experience with another man, appears to be supported. In fact, when prevalence rates of violence are compared, the rate of violence reported by PC married women even exceeds that of women living common-law. These results suggest that PC marrieds are an important martial status category that should be studied in their own right. The increasing number of cohabitors lends further credence to their separate treatment from marrieds. Since the Canadian Census began to distinguish between common-law and marital unions, the rate of couples living in common-law unions in Canada has more than doubled. According to the 1996 Census, 14 percent of couples in Canada are living common-- law (Statistics Canada, 1997). The impact of this trend toward increasing common-law unions in Canada is illustrated by Dumas (1997:130) who writes, consider that if the relative growth rates were maintained for the two groups, by the year 2022 there would be as many common-- law couples as married couples. Thus, in half a century ... marriage would have relinquished its place as the conjugal norm in Canada. Given higher rates of violence in common-law relationships, there has been some concern expressed in the literature that the prevalence of violence will increase with the continuing trend toward cohabitation (e.g., Dobash and Dobash, 1995). Since the duration of common-law relationships tends to be short relative to marital relationships (Burch and Madan, 1986; Halli and Zimmer, 1991), ending either in break-up or marriage, one might expect the higher likelihood of violence in a given cohabiting women's life to be short lived. …

Long-term trends of symptoms and disability in schizophrenia and related disorders.

Relatively few studies describe the long-term course of schizophrenia in well-defined cohorts of patients assessed soon after the illness onset. The aim of this paper is to describe the overall trend of schizophrenia in a 16-year follow-up study of patients and to explore the predictive value of several variables measured at the time of inclusion in the study. The course of the disorder is described along both a 'clinical' and a 'social' dimension. The sample of 60 patients with a recent onset of a non-affective psychosis was first assessed in 1978-1980 as part of the study, coordinated by the WHO, on Reduction and Assessment of Psychiatric Disability. Data from the last follow-up are used to rate the overall trends of psychotic symptoms and of social disability. Based on a subdivision of the follow-up period into three sub-periods, the trend for the patients is rated for each of the two dimensions as improvement, deterioration, and no change or fluctuating. The associations of these trends with several predictor variables (age at onset, gender, martial status, education level, family history of mental illness, type of illness onset, personality assets) are explored by cross-tabulation (with calculation of the relative risk) and by a logistic regression model. The predominant pattern for psychotic symptoms is improvement (55% of the subjects), while the predominant pattern for social disability is deterioration (45% of the subjects). A trend of improvement of psychotic symptoms correlated significantly with a negative family history of severe psychiatric disorder and with an acute type of illness onset. Only the first variable entered the logistic regression model. A trend of improvement of social disability correlated significantly with gender, marital status, presence of personality assets, and type of illness onset. All of these predictors entered the logistic regression model, with the exception of marital status; age at onset also entered the logistic regression. Psychotic symptoms and social disability are relatively autonomous descriptors of the course of schizophrenia. A speculative hypothesis is that symptom course is more closely related to innate factors, while social disability is contingent upon the acquired level of personal and social competence at the time of illness onset. Future studies are needed to assess the effects of psychiatric interventions that could ameliorate the long-term prognosis of social disability in patients with schizophrenia.