A life-course and time perspective on the construct validity of psychological distress in women and men. Measurement invariance of the K6 across gender

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Psychological distress is a widespread indicator of mental health and mental illness in research and clinical settings. A recurrent finding from epidemiological studies and population surveys is that women report a higher mean level and a higher prevalence of psychological distress than men. These differences may reflect, to some extent, cultural norms associated with the expression of distress in women and men. Assuming that these norms differ across age groups and that they evolve over time, one would expect gender differences in psychological distress to vary over the life-course and over time. The objective of this study was to investigate the construct validity of a psychological distress scale, the K6, across gender in different age groups and over a twelve-year period.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This study is based on data from the Canadian National Population Health Survey (C-NPHS). Psychological distress was assessed with the K6, a scale developed by Kessler and his colleagues. Data were examined through multi-group confirmatory factor analyses. Increasing levels of measurement and structural invariance across gender were assessed cross-sectionally with data from cycle 1 (n = 13019) of the C-NPHS and longitudinally with cycles 1 (1994-1995), 4 (2000-2001) and 7 (2006-2007).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Higher levels of measurement and structural invariance across gender were reached only after the constraint of equivalence was relaxed for various parameters of a few items of the K6. Some items had a different pattern of gender non invariance across age groups and over the course of the study. Gender differences in the expression of psychological distress may vary over the lifespan and over a 12-year period without markedly affecting the construct validity of the K6.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study confirms the cross-gender construct validity of psychological distress as assessed with the K6 despite differences in the expression of some symptoms in women and in men over the life-course and over time. Findings suggest that the higher mean level of psychological distress observed in women reflects a true difference in distress and is unlikely to be gender-biased. Gender differences in psychological distress are an important public health and clinical issue and further researches are needed to decipher the factors underlying these differences.</p

The Mesoproterozoic Hallandian event - a region-scale orogenic event in the Fennoscandian Shield

The Sveconorwegian Province occupies the southwestern part of the Fennoscandian Shield. The easternmost tectonic unit of the Province is the 1710-1660 Ma parautochthonous Eastern Segment, which bears the imprint of at least two metamorphic events; the 1460-1380 Ma Hallandian and the 1150-970 Ma Sveconorwegian. However, the nature and extent of the Hallandian event have been difficult to access due to the Sveconorwegian, effectively masking earlier metamorphic assemblages, structures and relations between rock units. This thesis aims to characterize the Hallandian event by investigating pre-Sveconorwegian deformation and metamorphism in an area of the Eastern Segment that largely escaped later Sveconorwegian reworking. These results are then considered in a regional perspective and related to ~1.45 Ga magmatism and metamorphism observed elsewhere in Fennoscandia. Considering the compiled data from this time period, it now appears that the Hallandian event indeed was a true orogenic event that affected a large portion of the Fennoscandian Shield. In the study area, located within the Protogine Zone in the eastern part of the Eastern Segment near Jönköping, Sveconorwegian reworking is restricted to discrete, N-S trending shear-zones. Between these shear-zones, structures, mineral assemblages and geochronological information from pre-Sveconorwegian events are preserved. The first paper provides field, mineral and chemical characteristics, as well as a baddeleyite U-Pb crystallization age of 1455±6 Ma for the Jönköping Anorthositic Suite which is abundant across the study area as small intrusive bodies. In these plagioclase-porphyritic and equigranular anorthositic rocks, deformation is restricted to thin, E-W-trending shear-zones. In the second paper we investigate the deformed country-rocks and date metamorphism and the development of the E-W to SE-NW trending gneissic fabric at 1450-1400 Ma, using U-Pb secondary ion mass spectrometric (ion probe) analysis of complex zircons. The folding event is bracketed between 1440 and 1380 Ma, corresponding to the ages of leucosome formation and the emplacement of a cross-cutting aplitic dyke. In the third paper, the gabbroic Moslätt dolerites are dated at 1269±12 Ma using the U-Pb system in baddeleyite. These have well-preserved magmatic parageneses in contrast to nearby metamorphosed mafic dykes of the 1450-1420 Ma Axamo Dyke Swarm. This precludes the Sveconorwegian event from having caused amphibolite facies metamorphism in the area. In the fourth paper, the first estimate of Hallandian pressure and temperature conditions is obtained from mineral assemblages in one of the E-W-trending shear-zones. Pressure-temperature estimates and hornblende microtextures collectively suggest deformation under conditions of 7-8 kbar and 500-550°C. In the fifth paper we constrain the age of the gneissic fabric in the granitoid country-rock at around 1422 Ma by dating a member of the syn-kinematic felsic Axamo dykes, using the U-Pb ion probe technique. It is suggested that the mafic and plagioclase-porphyritic members of the Axamo Dyke Swarm were emplaced coeval with the Jönköping Anorthositic Suite. This thesis is the first contribution which recognizes the Hallandian as a regional scale orogenic event, acknowledging all the major features of that age in the Fennoscandian Shield. These features include ~1460 Ma rifting, deposition of clastic sediments and extrusion of continental basalts in central Fennoscandia, 1460-1440 Ma emplacement of I- to A-type granitoids in southern Fennoscandia, 1450-1420 Ma deformation and metamorphism in southern Sweden and on Bornholm, and 1410-1380 Ma post-kinematic pegmatite dykes and intrusions of granite, monzonite and charnockite in the Eastern Segment. The spatial and temporal trends of these features suggest a tectonic model in which the rifting and mafic magmatism to the north are the far-field effects of north-eastward subduction of an oceanic plate, with the subduction zone located to the southwest of present-day Fennoscandia. Collision with an unknown (micro-) continent led to crustal shortening as Fennoscandia overrode this unknown continent. Post-collisional collapse triggered decompressional melting of heated continental crust, resulting in the emplacement of post-kinematic dykes and plutons

Traditional Masculinity Ideology and Diagnostic Aversion Predict Symptom Expression in a Community Sample of Distressed Men

Adherence to traditional masculinity ideology (TMI) is associated with a host of negative outcomes, including higher rates of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. However, relatively less is known about the mechanisms and contexts through which TMI affects the expression of psychological distress. In the current study, men’s aversion to being diagnosed with a mental health disorder was tested as a mediator and moderator to help clarify the relationship between TMI and symptom expression. A community sample of 72 U.S. men experiencing elevated psychological distress completed self-report questionnaires during a single session. Results demonstrated that diagnostic aversion mediated the positive association between TMI and internalizing symptoms. In addition, diagnostic aversion moderated the positive association between TMI and externalizing symptoms, such that this association was stronger among men who demonstrated higher levels of diagnostic aversion. Aversion to mental health diagnosis may be important in understanding how men who adhere to TMI manifest distress across diagnostic categories