Life Events, Social Supports, and Psychiatric Symptoms: A Re-Analysis of the New Haven Data

The data provide some serendipitous evidence that life events are more likely to cause mental disorder if the individual has not experienced similar stresses before and there is also evidence that members of the household provide support in times of crisis that help prevent mental disorder.

Abstract

Lon-aitudinal data on life events and Dsvchiatric symptoms, presented in this journal by Myers et al. in 1975, are reanalyzed using the panel regression technique. This analysis shows that life events are fairly independent of each other over a two-year time period. The effect of recall distortion on the life events-mental disorder relationship is negligible. The data provide some serendipitous evidence that life events are more likely to cause mental disorder if the individual has not experienced similar stresses before. There is also evidence that members of the household provide support in times of crisis that help prevent mental disorder.