Changes in psychological distress in Australia over an 8-year period: Evidence for worsening in young men

Anthony F. Jorm; Peter Butterworth

doi:10.1111/j.1440-1614.2006.01740.x

Changes in psychological distress in Australia over an 8-year period: Evidence for worsening in young men

Anthony F. Jorm^*, Peter Butterworth

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Objective: To assess whether psychological distress has changed in the Australian population. Method: Data were obtained from national household surveys of 1964 Australian adults in 1995 and 3507 in 2003-2004. Psychological distress was measured using the 4-NS, which asks about symptoms of depression, anxiety, irritability and nervousness in the past month. The data were analysed by gender and by age group, from 20-24 years to 70-74 years. Results: Psychological distress was found to have increased in men aged 20-29 years. This change was observed even when the same cohorts were compared. No change was found in women or in other male age groups. Conclusions: These data show the need for routine population monitoring of mental health to determine subgroups requiring priority action.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	47-50
Number of pages	4
Journal	Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry
Volume	40
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1440-1614.2006.01740.x
Publication status	Published - Jan 2006

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Changes in psychological distress in Australia over an 8-year period: Evidence for worsening in young men

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