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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| A community study on emotional distress among Arab and Jewish Israelis over the age of 60 | | Author(s) | Annarosa Anat Shemesh, Robert Kohn, Tzvia Blumstein |
| Journal title | International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol 21, no 1, January 2006 |
| Pages | pp 64-76 |
| Source | http://www.interscience.wiley.com |
| Keywords | Arab ; Jewish ; Stress ; Anxiety ; Living in the community ; Social surveys ; Israel. |
| Annotation | This paper reports the contrasting distribution of the mean emotional distress (ED) scores and rates of suspected clinical cases and their related risk factors among Arab and Jewish Israeli community residents aged 60+. Several national Israeli agencies conducted a survey on 5,065 older individuals to investigate their health status, including ED. The interview included socio-demographic and behavioural health issues, as well as a modified 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) as a measure of ED. Total ED scores and prevalence of rates for suspected psychopathology were calculated. ED scores were highest among Muslim Arabs (4.9), followed by Christian Arabs (4.2), Jews (3.1) and Druzes (2.8) Their estimated prevalence rates were 43.4%, 37%, 21% and 11% respectively. The gradient of these results remained unchanged in the multivariate analysis for ED scores adjusting for confounding variables. In contrast, logistic regression analysis controlling for confounding variables did not find a differential risk for suspected psychopathology between Arabs and Jews. Conceivably, the higher demoralisation scores among older Arabs are associated with their minority status affiliation, as well as with their rapid social changes that have taken place in their midst. A cultural response style may be entertained as a possible explanation. However, these factors do not impact the risk for suspected psychopathology where no differential risk was noted after adjustments for confounders. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-060313216 A |
| Classmark | TKR: TKS: QNH: ENP: K4: 3F: 7H6 |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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