Sociodemographic Characteristics, Financial Worries and Serious Psychological Distress in U.S. Adults
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weissman2020 - p. 606
Serious psychological distress (spd) is a measure of poor mental health and social functioning that has been linked with chronic health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and diabetes (Weissman et al. 2015)
weissman2020 - p. 606
However, little research has examined self-reported subjective financial worries, which include paying for retirement and medical costs, and may represent information that is independent of objective indicators of economic distress (e.g., unemployment). Objective indicators of economic distress may not directly correspond with subjective financial concerns.
weissman2020 - p. 607
Objective indicators such as the impact of unemployment on mental health have been well studied. However, to date little is known about subjective feelings of economic distress, and in particular the relationship of subjectively reported economic distress with spd and by variations with sociodemographic characteristics.
weissman2020 - p. 607
Respondents were asked in six separate questions if they were worried about (1) paying their bills, (2) paying for serious medical costs, (3) expected medical costs, (4) retirement, (5) children’s college tuition, and (6) maintaining a standard of living. Response options were: very worried, moderately worried, or not too worried. We coded “very worried” and “moderately worried” as positive responses, scored as “1” and “not too worried” as a negative responses, scored as “0”.
weissman2020 - p. 607
Serious psychological distress is measured using the Kessler K6, a validated scale that identifies persons with a high likelihood of having a diagnosable mental health problem severe enough to cause moderate to serious impairment in social or occupational functioning requiring treatment (Kessler et al. 2003, 2004). The K6 asked respondents to indicate the frequency of six symptoms, below: During the PAST 30 DAYS, how often did you feel, as follows: (1) So sad that nothing could cheer you up; (2) Nervous; (3) Restless or fidgety; (4) Hopeless; (5) Everything was an effort; and (6) Worthless. The following options were given for frequency: ALL of the time; MOST of the time; SOME of the time; A LITTLE of the time; and NONE of the time. In keeping with this methodology, we reversed the coding so that ‘‘none of the time’’ was scored as 0 and ‘‘all of the time’’ was scored as 4, with a total possible score ranging from 0 to 24.
weissman2020 - p. 608
We included a measure for the number of chronic health conditions in bivariate analysis and multivariate logistic regressions because of its known relationship with spd.
weissman2020 - p. 608
Categorical variables were evaluated using Rao Scott Chi square statistics for weighted surveys at alpha (α) = 0.05 level (two-sided).
weissman2020 - p. 611
6.7 (5.3, 8.4)*** 2.2 (1.7,2.8)*** 3.0 (2.4,3.7)*** 2.9 (2.3,3.8)*** 3.3 (2.4,4.5)*** 4.8 (3.6, 6.3)***
weissman2020 - p. 611
1.4 (1.2,1.5)*** 1.3 (1.2,1.5)*** 1.2 (1.1,1.3)*** 1.2 (1.1,1.4)*** 1.2 (1.0,1.5)*** 1.2 (1.1,1.3)***
weissman2020 - p. 611
2.1 (1.8,2.4)*** 1.6 (1.4,1.8)*** 1.9 (1.7,2.2)*** 1.4 (1.2,1.5)*** 1.5 (1.2,1.8)*** 1.5 (1.3, 1.7)***
weissman2020 - p. 611
1.5 (1.3,1.7)***
weissman2020 - p. 611
1.1 (1.0, 1.3)*
weissman2020 - p. 611
.79 (.72, .87)* .90 (.84,.97)***
weissman2020 - p. 611
.59 (.52,.66)***
weissman2020 - p. 611
1.5 (1.3,1.8)*** 1.2 (1.0,1.4)* 1.5 (1.3,1.8)***
weissman2020 - p. 611
1.2 (1.0,1.4)*
weissman2020 - p. 611
1.1 (1.0,1.3)**
weissman2020 - p. 611
1.1 (1.0,1.2)*
weissman2020 - p. 611
.50 (.45,.57)*** .66 (.62, .76)*** .54 (.48,.60)*** .69 (.63,.76)*** .77 (.68,.87)** .70 (.63,.77)***
weissman2020 - p. 611
1.3 (1.2,1.4)***
weissman2020 - p. 611
1.2 (1.1,1.3)**
weissman2020 - p. 611
2.1 (1.9,2.4)*** 1.3 (1.2, 1.5)*** 1.4 (1.3,1.7)*** 1.5 (1.3,1.7)**
weissman2020 - p. 611
1.7 (1.5, 1.9)***
weissman2020 - p. 611
1.3 (1.1,1.6)**
weissman2020 - p. 611
1.1 (1.0,1.3)*
weissman2020 - p. 611
1.3 (1.1,1.6)**
weissman2020 - p. 611
1.3 (1.1,1.5)**
weissman2020 - p. 611
1.1 (1.0,1.3)*