Search results for "Life Change Events"
showing 10 items of 51 documents
Psychological defense styles, childhood adversities and psychopathology in adulthood.
2003
OBJECTIVE: The present study explores the link between reported sexual and/or physical abuse and psychological defense styles, as well as the association of both with psychological distress in adulthood. In two patient samples that differ in psychological distress and somatization, we examine whether the adversities reported and immature defense styles are associated with psychopathological symptoms. METHOD: We examined 266 consecutive inpatients in the psychosomatic department and 109 consecutive inpatients who had been treated for low-back pain in the orthopedic department of a German university hospital. Psychological defense styles were assessed by a two-factor solution of the German mo…
Chernobyl exposure as stressor during pregnancy and behaviour in adolescent offspring.
2007
Objective: Research in animals has shown that exposure to stressors during pregnancy is associated with offspring behavioural disorders. We aimed to study the effect of in utero exposure to the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, and maternal anxiety presumably associated with that exposure, on behaviour disorder observed at age 14. Method: Exposed (n = 232) and non-exposed Finnish twins (n = 572) were compared. A semi-structured interview was used to assess lifetime symptoms of depression, generalized anxiety disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder symptoms. Results: Adolescents who were exposed from the second trimester in pregnancy o…
Harsh times: do stressors lead to labor market losses?
2018
This paper examines the links between stressful life events and labor market outcomes. We use twin data for Finnish men and women combined with register-based individual information on earnings, employment and social income transfers. The twin data allow us to account for shared environmental and genetic confounders. We measure the exposure to stressful life events in 1990. The labor market outcomes are measured during a 20-year follow-up over the period 1990–2009. Three findings stand out. First, stressors lead to worse labor market outcomes. Second, both men and women are distressed by labor market shocks, but they respond differently to marital problems and health shocks within the famil…
Life-lines of Finnish people aged 83-87.
2004
This article presents the characteristics of the life-lines drawn by older Finnish men and women. The study was part of the Evergreen Project, Finland. Seventy-eight persons aged 83–87 participated in an interview, in which they were asked to draw a life-line. The life-line was drawn on a standardized sheet as a continuous line which showed the intensity of positive and negative affects during the course of life. An interview concerning the major life events on the life-line and the most positive and negative life periods was administered after the life-line was drawn. The shape of the life-line was analyzed by calculating the level, trend, and variance, as well as the maximum and minimum …
Do negative life events promote gerotranscendence in the second half of life?
2014
Objectives: Gerotranscendence has been defined as a developmental shift in meta-perspective from a materialistic and pragmatic view to a more cosmic and transcendent view. Although gerotranscendence has been argued to increase with age and life experiences, the results have been mixed and based on cross-sectional studies. We use a longitudinal setting to investigate the role of negative life events, age, and gender on change in one dimension of gerotranscendence, cosmic transcendence. Method: 1569 individuals (ages 58-89) answered a questionnaire on cosmic transcendence in two cycles of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam in 1995-1996 (time 1) and 1998-1999 (time 2). Controlling for educ…
Emotional and cognitive adjustment in abused children
1994
Research on the impact of maltreatment on children has increased in the last years, as there is a need to design appropriate treatment strategies. Social, cognitive, and emotional areas may be affected in these children. This research is aimed to study the psychological functioning of child victims, particularly in their emotional and cognitive adjustment. Nineteen children (10.3 years old) with case histories of at least 2 years of physical and emotional parental abuse and a group of 26 nonmaltreated children (9.4 years old) matched in socio-economic characteristics and coming from the same community area were compared in depressive symptomatology and attributional style by using the stand…
The unfortunate generation: stroke survivors in Riga, Latvia
2003
Abstract The poor health status of citizens in post-Soviet states has been reported but few studies have investigated the illness experiences of people in those countries. This paper reports findings from an interview study conducted with stroke patients in Riga, Latvia, who were part of a cohort recruited over 1 year for a European study comparing the provision of care, outcomes and resource use. The interview study aimed to elicit stroke patients’ own perceptions of the impact of stroke 1 year after the event. Adopting a phenomenological perspective we illustrate how the particular social setting shapes stroke as an illness, its influences on access to health care and on consideration of …
Intergenerational continuity in parents’ and adolescents’ externalizing problems: The role of life events and their interaction with GABRA2.
2015
We examine whether parental externalizing behavior has an indirect effect on adolescent externalizing behavior via elevations in life events, and whether this indirect effect is further qualified by an interaction between life events and adolescents’ GABRA2 genotype (rs279871). We use data from 2 samples: the Child Development Project (CDP; n = 324) and FinnTwin12 (n = 802). In CDP, repeated measures of life events, mother-reported adolescent externalizing, and teacher-reported adolescent externalizing were used. In FinnTwin12, life events and externalizing were assessed at age 14. Parental externalizing was indexed by measures of antisocial behavior and alcohol problems or alcohol dependen…
Life-review therapy with computer supplements for depression in the elderly: A randomized controlled trial
2012
Life-review therapy has been recognized as an effective therapeutic approach for depression in older adults. Additionally, the use of new media is becoming increasingly common in psychological interventions. The aim of this study was to investigate a life-review therapy in a face-to-face setting with additional computer use. This study explored whether a six-week life-review therapy with computer supplements from the e-mental health Butler system constitutes an effective approach to treat depression in older adults aged 65 and over. A total of 36 participants with elevated levels of depressive symptoms were randomized to a treatment group or a waiting-list control group and completed the po…
Meaning in Life in Three Samples of Elderly Persons with High Cognitive Functioning
2001
The study examined the relationships between meaning in life and cognitive functioning in three elderly samples. The participants in Sample I were 78 persons aged 82–87, in Sample II 182 persons aged 83–92, and in Sample III 299 persons aged 65—69. The samples took part in interviews and cognitive tests in 1996–1997. Several interview questions together with the Sense of Coherence questionnaire were used to study the degree and content of meaning in life. Cognitive functioning was measured by Digit Span, Digit Symbol, and Word Fluency in Sample I and Mini-D in Samples II and III. Each sample was divided into the group of persons with high cognitive functioning (including those whose result…