Mid-Adolescent Predictors of Adult Drinking Levels in Early Adulthood and Gender Differences: Longitudinal Analyses Based on the South Australian School Leavers Study

There is considerable public health interest in understanding what factors during adolescence predict longer-term drinking patterns in adulthood. The aim of this study was to examine gender differences in the age 15 social and psychological predictors of less healthy drinking patterns in early adulthood. The study investigates the relative importance of internalising problems, other risky health behaviours, and peer relationships after controlling for family background characteristics. A sample of 812 young people who provided complete alcohol consumption data from the age of 15 to 20 years (5 measurement points) were drawn from South Australian secondary schools and given a detailed survey concerning their psychological and social wellbeing. Respondents were classified into two groups based upon a percentile division: those who drank at levels consistently below NHMRC guidelines and those who consistently drank at higher levels. The results showed that poorer age 15 scores on measures of psychological wellbeing including scores on the GHQ-12, self-esteem, and life-satisfaction as well as engagement in health-related behaviours such as smoking or drug-taking were associated with higher drinking levels in early adulthood. The pattern of results was generally similar for both genders. Higher drinking levels were most strongly associated with smoking and marijuana use and poorer psychological wellbeing during adolescence

A Population Study of 5 to 15 Year Olds: Full Time Maternal Employment not Associated with High BMI. The Importance of Screen-Based Activity, Reading for Pleasure and Sleep Duration in Children’s BMI

To describe the relationship between maternal full time employment and health-related and demographic variables associated with children aged 5–15 years, and the factors associated with child overweight/obesity. Data from a chronic disease and risk factor surveillance system were limited to children aged 5–15 years whose mothers responded on their behalf (n = 641). Univariate/multivariate analyses described the differences between mothers who did and did not work full time. The same data were analysed comparing children who are overweight/obese against those with a normal BMI. The children of mothers who worked full time are more likely to be older, live in a household with a higher household income, be an only child or have one sibling or other child in the household, have a sole mother family structure and not spend any time reading for pleasure. No relationship was found between maternal employment and BMI. Compared with children of normal weight, those who were overweight/obese were more likely to spend no time studying, spend more than 2 h per day in screen-based activity and sleep less than 10 h per night. Child BMI status was not related to maternal employment. Although this analysis included eight diet related variables none proved to be significant in the final models.This study has shown that mothers’ working status is not related to children’s BMI. The relationship between overweight/obesity of children and high levels of screen-based activity, low levels of studying, and short sleep duration suggests a need for better knowledge and understanding of sedentary behaviours of children

Half full or half empty: the measurement of mental health and mental illness in emerging Australian adults

Narrow approaches to the conceptualisation and measurement of ‘mental health’ are regularly but inconsistently adopted in research and practice. For example, an exclusive focus on the identification of mental illness or mental wellbeing runs the risk of failing to detect individuals with low or high levels of the other, and does nothing to represent an individual’s level of complete mental health (i.e., taking both mental wellbeing and illness into account). The current study compared three approaches to the measurement of mental health regularly applied in the literature - an exclusive mental wellbeing / an exclusive mental illness / and a complete mental health approach – to determine if they produce similar outcomes. South Australian emerging adults were recruited (N=117; M=24.4 years, SD=0.75) and categorised into four mental health groups according to the Complete State Model (CSM; Keyes & Lopez, 2002) of mental health: flourishing (complete mental health), languishing or struggling (incomplete mental health or illness), or floundering (complete mental illness) and categories were compared. Results showed that the ‘mental health’ of the sample differed depending on the measurement approach used, and lend support to a complete mental health approach to better inform, develop, and target health promotion strategies

Half full or half empty: the measurement of mental health and mental illness in emerging Australian adults

Narrow approaches to the conceptualisation and measurement of ‘mental health’ are regularly but inconsistently adopted in research and practice. For example, an exclusive focus on the identification of mental illness or mental wellbeing runs the risk of failing to detect individuals with low or high levels of the other, and does nothing to represent an individual’s level of complete mental health (i.e., taking both mental wellbeing and illness into account). The current study compared three approaches to the measurement of mental health regularly applied in the literature - an exclusive mental wellbeing / an exclusive mental illness / and a complete mental health approach – to determine if they produce similar outcomes. South Australian emerging adults were recruited (N=117; M=24.4 years, SD=0.75) and categorised into four mental health groups according to the Complete State Model (CSM; Keyes & Lopez, 2002) of mental health: flourishing (complete mental health), languishing or struggling (incomplete mental health or illness), or floundering (complete mental illness) and categories were compared. Results showed that the ‘mental health’ of the sample differed depending on the measurement approach used, and lend support to a complete mental health approach to better inform, develop, and target health promotion strategies

Relationship of social factors including trust, control over life decisions, problems with transport and safety, to psychological distress in the community

PURPOSE: Psychological distress encompasses anxiety and depression with the previous studies showing that psychological distress is unequally distributed across population groups. This paper explores the mechanisms and processes which may affect the distribution of psychological distress, including a range of individual and community level socioeconomic determinants. METHODS: Representative cross-sectional data was collected for respondents aged 16+ from July 2008 to June 2009, as a part of the South Australian Monitoring and Surveillance System (SAMSS) using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI). Univariate and multivariate analyses (n = 5,763) were conducted to investigate the variables that were associated with psychological distress. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of psychological distress was 8.9%. In the multivariate model, females, those aged 16–49, respondents single with children, unable to work or unemployed, with a poorer family financial situation, earning $20,000 or less, feeling safe in their home some or none of the time, feeling as though they have less then total control over life decisions and sometimes experiencing problems with transport, were significantly more likely to experience psychological distress. CONCLUSIONS: This paper has demonstrated the relationship between low-income, financial pressure, less than optimal safety and control, and high-psychological distress. It is important that the groups highlighted as vulnerable be targeted in policy, planning, and health promotion and prevention campaigns

Psychological correlates of the level of alcohol consumption in young adults. by Helen R. Winefield, et.al

Alcohol is regarded with ambivalence in Australian society. Parents of young children were more concerned after the Drug Offensive about excessive alcohol consumption than about other adolescent problems such as unemployment or cigarettes. Provided by MICAH, Canberra