Potentially Traumatic Events at Different Points in the Life Span and Mental Health: Findings From SHARE-Israel

This study addressed the association between adversity cumulated at different points in the life span and present mental health. Data of 1,130 participants aged 50+ were drawn from the Israeli component of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Measures included an inventory...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	American journal of orthopsychiatry 2012-04, Vol.82 (2), p.251-259
Main Authors:	Shrira, Amit, Shmotkin, Dov, Litwin, Howard
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Adult and adolescent clinical studies Age Factors Ageing Aging Biological and medical sciences Correlation analysis cumulative adversity Depression Depression - epidemiology Depression - psychology Female Health Health Surveys - statistics & numerical data Human Humans Israel Israel - epidemiology Israelis Life Change Events Life history Life Satisfaction Life Span Male Medical sciences Mental Disorders Mental Health Mental Health - statistics & numerical data Mental stress Middle Aged Mood disorders older adults Older people other‐oriented adversity Personal Satisfaction Psychological Distress Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry Psychopathology. Psychiatry Quality of Life Quality of Life - psychology Retirement self‐oriented adversity Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry Trauma traumatic events Well Being
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Summary:	This study addressed the association between adversity cumulated at different points in the life span and present mental health. Data of 1,130 participants aged 50+ were drawn from the Israeli component of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Measures included an inventory of potentially traumatic events, mental distress (depressive symptoms), and well-being (quality of life, life satisfaction). Adversity reported to have occurred early in life was positively related to mental health (i.e., to lower distress and higher well-being), whereas adversity reported to occur in late life was negatively related (i.e., to higher distress and lower well-being). Additional analyses showed that the positive association between early-life adversity and mental health was mainly restricted to adversity in which the primary harm was to another person (other-oriented adversity). In contrast, the negative association between late-life adversity and mental health was mainly restricted to adversity in which the primary harm was to the self (self-oriented adversity). This study suggests that the differential association between cumulative adversity and mental health is best captured when accounting for both time of occurrence and adversity type.
ISSN:	0002-9432 1939-0025