Low birth-weight and mental-health problems

Low birth weight has been associated with a range of health problems in later life including mental-health problems in childhood. A study of 823 children in Detroit looked into the effects of low birth weight on children's mental health and compared 413 children from a socially-disadvantaged community to 410 children from a middle-class suburban one. In both groups children with low birth weights were more likely to have externalising (bad behaviour) and internalising (unhappiness and anxiety) problems. Low-birth-weight children from the socially-disadvantaged community were also more likely to have problems with attention which is important as attention problems at the start of schooling are linked to lower academic achievement later.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/09/03/low-birth-weight-kids-at-risk-for-mental-problems/2870.html

Neighbourhood and mental health

The possiblity that the quality of neighbourhood as well as the characteristics of individuals can affect people's mental health is of increasing interest to researchers. Factors that are though to be influential include social capital - defined as 'the features of social organisation that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit' - and the quality of the residential environment. However, a study of 1,058 individuals between 16 and 75 in Neath, South Wales found that - once all other factors had been taken into account - people's postcodes accounted for only 2% of the variation in levels of mental illness. This compared to 37% for people's household suggesting that domestic circumstances might be more significant than residential ones after all.

Thomas, Hollie ... [et al] - Mental health and quality of residential environment British Journal of Psychiatry December 2007, 191, 500-505

Intercountry adoption and mental illness

Intercountry adoption is increasingly common and currently involves more than 40,000 children a year in over 100 countries. Large numbers of children adopted from foreign countries are now reaching adulthood, the age of onset for most serious mental disorders, yet little is known about the effects of inter-country adoption on children's mental health. A study of children in Denmark who were adopted from abroad has found that they had a 2.9 times greater risk of developing schizophrenia than native Danes. The increased risk was independent of age at, or the region of, adoption, mental illness among foster parents, the age of foster parents or whether the foster parents lived in the city or the countryside. The foster mother's own children also had an increased (1.92 times) risk of developing schizophrenia. The researchers were not sure why this might be so but speculated that it could be due to hereditary factors in the children, traumatic experiences suffered by children prior to adoption or the disruption caused by the adoption and resettlement process itself.

Cantor-Graae, Elizabeth and Pedersen, Carsten Becker - Risk for schizophrenia in intercountry adoptees : a Danish population-based cohort study Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry November 2007, 48(11), 1053-1060

PTSD and mental health problems

People suffering from mental health problems are much more likely to have experienced traumatic stress during their lives. More than 40% of adults receiving psychiatric care have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) compared to only 7% of the rest of the population. PTSD can increase the severity of severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and cause an increased likelihood of problems with agitation, impulse control, social isolation and substance misuse. A study of 35 women receiving community mental health services for severe and chronic mental illness in the U.S. found that 98% of them had suffered exposure to multiple traumatic stressors and more than half had suffered from PTSD at some point during their lives with 44% of the sample suffering from PTSD at the time of the study. Current PTSD prevalence was highest when traumatic loss, sexual abuse, physical abuse, traumatic assault or community violence were reported. A history of childhood sexual abuse, or PTSD, or both was associated with use of multiple substances and complex psychosocial problems.

Ford, Julian D. and Fournier, Debra - Psychological trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder among women in community mental health aftercare following psychiatric intensive care Journal of Psychiatric Intensive Care June 2007 3(1), 27-34