Who worries most? Worry prevalence and patterns across the lifespan.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the age-related worry patterns in a population-based sample of self-reported worriers. METHODS: The National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being is a multistage stratified epidemiologic survey of mental health conducted in Australia in 2007. Participants were surveyed using...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gonçalves, D, Byrne, G
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2013
_version_ 1826299559393886208
author Gonçalves, D
Byrne, G
author_facet Gonçalves, D
Byrne, G
author_sort Gonçalves, D
collection OXFORD
description OBJECTIVE: To examine the age-related worry patterns in a population-based sample of self-reported worriers. METHODS: The National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being is a multistage stratified epidemiologic survey of mental health conducted in Australia in 2007. Participants were surveyed using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. All participants who reported a period of pervasive worry were included in this study (N = 3735, 16-85 years of age, 61% female). RESULTS: Compared with younger adults (16-29 years of age; N = 860), older adults (65-85 years of age; N = 639) reported fewer worries [odds ratio (OR) = 0.36, p < 0.01] and a lower likelihood of worrying about interpersonal relations (OR = 0.66, p < 0.01), health (OR = 0.65, p < 0.05), work (OR = 0.39, p < 0.01), and miscellaneous topics (OR = 0.57, p < 0.01), but a higher likelihood of worrying about the health and welfare of loved ones (OR = 2.46, p < 0.01) after adjusting for socio-demographic and clinical factors. Similar patterns were seen in older persons with and without a lifetime history of generalized anxiety disorder as diagnosed by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicated an overall decrease in worry count with advancing age, as well as a developmental distribution of worry content, and a quantitative but not qualitative distinction between normal and pathological worriers. Overall, these findings might contribute to the understanding of worry processes and the phenomenology of generalized anxiety disorder in older cohorts.
first_indexed 2024-03-07T05:03:46Z
format Journal article
id oxford-uuid:d937be2a-9ae8-4528-ac91-bf0d9e9a9e83
institution University of Oxford
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-07T05:03:46Z
publishDate 2013
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:d937be2a-9ae8-4528-ac91-bf0d9e9a9e832022-03-27T08:54:13ZWho worries most? Worry prevalence and patterns across the lifespan.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:d937be2a-9ae8-4528-ac91-bf0d9e9a9e83EnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2013Gonçalves, DByrne, G OBJECTIVE: To examine the age-related worry patterns in a population-based sample of self-reported worriers. METHODS: The National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being is a multistage stratified epidemiologic survey of mental health conducted in Australia in 2007. Participants were surveyed using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. All participants who reported a period of pervasive worry were included in this study (N = 3735, 16-85 years of age, 61% female). RESULTS: Compared with younger adults (16-29 years of age; N = 860), older adults (65-85 years of age; N = 639) reported fewer worries [odds ratio (OR) = 0.36, p < 0.01] and a lower likelihood of worrying about interpersonal relations (OR = 0.66, p < 0.01), health (OR = 0.65, p < 0.05), work (OR = 0.39, p < 0.01), and miscellaneous topics (OR = 0.57, p < 0.01), but a higher likelihood of worrying about the health and welfare of loved ones (OR = 2.46, p < 0.01) after adjusting for socio-demographic and clinical factors. Similar patterns were seen in older persons with and without a lifetime history of generalized anxiety disorder as diagnosed by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicated an overall decrease in worry count with advancing age, as well as a developmental distribution of worry content, and a quantitative but not qualitative distinction between normal and pathological worriers. Overall, these findings might contribute to the understanding of worry processes and the phenomenology of generalized anxiety disorder in older cohorts.
spellingShingle Gonçalves, D
Byrne, G
Who worries most? Worry prevalence and patterns across the lifespan.
title Who worries most? Worry prevalence and patterns across the lifespan.
title_full Who worries most? Worry prevalence and patterns across the lifespan.
title_fullStr Who worries most? Worry prevalence and patterns across the lifespan.
title_full_unstemmed Who worries most? Worry prevalence and patterns across the lifespan.
title_short Who worries most? Worry prevalence and patterns across the lifespan.
title_sort who worries most worry prevalence and patterns across the lifespan
work_keys_str_mv AT goncalvesd whoworriesmostworryprevalenceandpatternsacrossthelifespan
AT byrneg whoworriesmostworryprevalenceandpatternsacrossthelifespan