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Woodward KP, Testa A, Jackson DB. Racial disparities in death of someone close during pregnancy: Findings from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS), 2017-2021. Ann Epidemiol 2024; 97:16-22. [PMID: 39029544 DOI: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2024.07.045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2023] [Revised: 07/08/2024] [Accepted: 07/16/2024] [Indexed: 07/21/2024]
Abstract
PURPOSE The COVID-19 pandemic increased the mortality rate in the U.S. and exposed many to the unexpected death of someone close. No prior research has assessed whether the COVID-19 pandemic was followed by an increase in bereavement during pregnancy, and whether patterns varied by race and ethnicity. METHODS Using data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System from 2017-2021 across 23 U.S. sites (N = 107,226), we assessed trends in the odds of experiencing the death of someone close before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS Findings revealed an increased percentage of women who reported having someone close to them die in the year prior to childbirth after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020 or later) (aPR=1.121, 95 % CI (1.079 - 1.165). Analysis by mother's race and ethnicity showed death of someone close increased significantly after the COVID-19 pandemic for Hispanic (aPR = 1.192, 95 % CI = 1.062, 1.337), non-Hispanic Black (aPR = 1.115, 95 % CI = 1.015 - 1.225), and American Indian-Alaskan Native pregnant women (aPR = 1.391, 1.023 - 1.891) compared to White, Non-Hispanic pregnant women. CONCLUSIONS Increased bereavement among pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic warrants routine grief screening and response training in prenatal care.
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Affiliation(s)
- Krista P Woodward
- Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
| | - Alexander Testa
- Department of Management, Policy and Community Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Dylan B Jackson
- Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
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Pollio EW, Zhang H, Gajewski A, Abu-Hamad S, McDonald K, Pollio DE, North CS. Immediate and evolving emotions among directly exposed survivors 7 years after the Oklahoma City bombing. NPJ MENTAL HEALTH RESEARCH 2024; 3:38. [PMID: 39143389 PMCID: PMC11324654 DOI: 10.1038/s44184-024-00081-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2024] [Accepted: 08/06/2024] [Indexed: 08/16/2024]
Abstract
The Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 was one of the most devastating incidents of terrorism in America at that time. Existing research has not examined changes in emotional responses outside of psychopathology to disaster over time. The sample for this study consisted of adult participants randomly selected from a state registry of survivors who were directly exposed to the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City. The Disaster Supplement to the Diagnostic Interview Schedule was used to collect participants' demographic information and qualitative details of their disaster experience, perceptions, and feelings. A total of 315 items resulted from the coding of responses pertaining to emotions (125 immediately after the disaster event, 140 in the following week, and 50 at approximately seven years postdisaster). The most common emotions in the immediate postdisaster period were shock, fear, and anxiety. In the following week, the most common were sorrow and anger. At seven years, sorrow was the most frequently expressed of all emotions. Understanding the progression of these feelings across time enhances the ability to anticipate responses at different postdisaster timeframes and to intervene in a timely manner.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Alex Gajewski
- University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Samir Abu-Hamad
- University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Katy McDonald
- University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
- The Altshuler Center for Education & Research at Metrocare Services, Dallas, TX, USA
| | | | - Carol S North
- University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
- The Altshuler Center for Education & Research at Metrocare Services, Dallas, TX, USA
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Sleeper C, Cartwright K, van der Goes DN. The relationship between mental health and public attention to the Brett Kavanaugh hearings and confirmation. Soc Sci Med 2023; 335:116131. [PMID: 37777305 DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2022] [Revised: 07/04/2023] [Accepted: 07/27/2023] [Indexed: 10/02/2023]
Abstract
RATIONALE Researchers have rarely considered how public attention surrounding political events influences mental health. Specifically, in a politically polarized nation like the United States, it is possible that these events have a public mental health effect. OBJECTIVE This study examines the mental health effects associated with the 2018 U.S. Senate hearing and confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh using public survey data. METHODS We use the interview date included in CDC data from the 2014-2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to identify the effects of increased public attention on the Kavanaugh hearings and confirmation on the mental health of individuals who identify as female. We employ a triple difference model to control for possible confounding effects and target causality. RESULTS We find meaningful increases in both the number of "not good" mental health days reported and the probability of reporting any "not good" mental health days. On average, females reported 0.24 more poor mental health days during the one-month period surrounding the Kavanaugh confirmation and hearings than women did in the same 1-month period in 2014. This change represents a nearly 10% increase in mental health burden. The results are robust to the inclusion of a range of covariates as well as alternate specifications. In addition, we derive estimates of the societal costs associated with the increased mental health burden linked to Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation. CONCLUSION This study demonstrates that the Kavanaugh confirmation and hearings were associated with a notable rise in mental health challenges, especially among women. These results extend beyond personal experience and illustrate the societal costs linked to the resulting increased mental health burden. Further research on similar events is warranted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colin Sleeper
- University of New Mexico, Department of Economics, 1915 Roma Ave NE, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA.
| | - Kate Cartwright
- University of New Mexico, School of Public Administration, MSC05, 3100, Social Sciences Bldg #78, 3rd Floor, USA.
| | - David N van der Goes
- University of New Mexico, Department of Economics, 1915 Roma Ave NE, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA.
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Lin J, Shaw P, Curtis B, Ungar L, Koehly L. Dynamics of Sadness by Race, Ethnicity, and Income Following George Floyd's Death. SSM - MENTAL HEALTH 2022; 2:100134. [PMID: 35813870 PMCID: PMC9262328 DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmmh.2022.100134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2022] [Revised: 06/21/2022] [Accepted: 06/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Jielu Lin
- National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Philip Shaw
- National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Brenda Curtis
- National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Lyle Ungar
- Department of Computer and Information Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Laura Koehly
- National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
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Mirza D, Stancanelli E, Verdier T. Household expenditure in the wake of terrorism: Evidence from high frequency in-home-scanner data. ECONOMICS AND HUMAN BIOLOGY 2022; 46:101150. [PMID: 35623303 DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2022.101150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2021] [Revised: 03/18/2022] [Accepted: 05/09/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
This paper adds to the scant literature on the impact of terrorism on consumer behaviour, focusing on household spending on goods that are sensitive to brain-stress neurocircuitry. These include sweet- and fat-rich foods but also home necessities and female-personal-hygiene products, the only female-targeted good in our data. We examine unique continuous in-home-scanner expenditure data for a representative sample of about 15,000 French households, observed in the days before and after the terrorist attack at the Bataclan concert-hall. We find that the attack increased expenditure on sugar-rich food by over 5% but not that on salty food or soda drinks. Spending on home maintenance products went up by almost 9%. We detect an increase of 23.5% in expenditure on women's personal hygiene products. We conclude that these effects are short-lived and driven by the responses of households with children, youths, and those residing within a few-hours ride of the place of the attack.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Mirza
- LEO, University of Tours, France; CEPII, France.
| | - Elena Stancanelli
- Paris School of Economics and CNRS, 48 Boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris, France.
| | - Thierry Verdier
- Paris School of Economics, ENPC-Paris Tech, PUC-Rio, France.
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Blasco S, Moreno-Galbis E, Tanguy J. Getting used to terrorist threats? Evidence from French terrorist attacks between 2015 and 2016. HEALTH ECONOMICS 2022; 31:508-540. [PMID: 34970818 DOI: 10.1002/hec.4465] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2021] [Revised: 10/26/2021] [Accepted: 11/17/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
This paper evaluates the effect on mental health of consecutive terrorist attacks in France in 2015 and 2016. We compile information about the three main terrorist attacks that struck France over this period and assess whether the potential effect on mental health (i.e., depression) of a terrorist attack is smoothed once people consider terrorist attacks as "the new normality." We exploit data from the French Constances epidemiological survey and combine an event study strategy with a difference-in-difference approach to compare before-after changes in mental health the year of the attack with the same changes the year before. We show that the negative effect of a terrorist attack on mental health decreases over time from one attack to another, and disappears completely for the last attack. Socio-demographic composition of the sample, geographical or socio-demographic proximity to the victims or media exposure do not arise as factors responsible for this changing effect of terrorist attacks on mental health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sylvie Blasco
- Le Mans University, GAINS-TEPP, IRA, IZA, Le Mans, France
| | - Eva Moreno-Galbis
- Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, EHESS, Centrale Marseille, AMSE, Marseille, France
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Highly public anti-Black violence is associated with poor mental health days for Black Americans. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2019624118. [PMID: 33875593 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2019624118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Highly public anti-Black violence in the United States may cause widely experienced distress for Black Americans. This study identifies 49 publicized incidents of racial violence and quantifies national interest based on Google searches; incidents include police killings of Black individuals, decisions not to indict or convict the officer involved, and hate crime murders. Weekly time series of population mental health are produced for 2012 through 2017 using two sources: 1) Google Trends as national search volume for psychological distress terms and 2) the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) as average poor mental health days in the past 30 d among Black respondents (mean weekly sample size of 696). Autoregressive moving average (ARMA) models accounted for autocorrelation, monthly unemployment, season and year effects, 52-wk lags, news-related searches for suicide (for Google Trends), and depression prevalence and percent female (for BRFSS). National search interest varied more than 100-fold between racial violence incidents. Black BRFSS respondents reported 0.26 more poor mental health days during weeks with two or more racial incidents relative to none, and 0.13 more days with each log10 increase in national interest. Estimates were robust to sensitivity tests, including controlling for monthly number of Black homicide victims and weekly search interest in riots. As expected, racial incidents did not predict average poor mental health days among White BRFSS respondents. Results with national psychological distress from Google Trends were mixed but generally unsupportive of hypotheses. Reducing anti-Black violence may benefit Black Americans' mental health nationally.
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Brodeur A, Clark AE, Fleche S, Powdthavee N. COVID-19, lockdowns and well-being: Evidence from Google Trends. JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS 2021; 193:104346. [PMID: 33281237 PMCID: PMC7703221 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2020.104346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 216] [Impact Index Per Article: 72.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2020] [Revised: 09/30/2020] [Accepted: 11/20/2020] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic and government intervention such as lockdowns may severely affect people's mental health. While lockdowns can help to contain the spread of the virus, they may result in substantial damage to population well-being. We use Google Trends data to test whether COVID-19 and the associated lockdowns implemented in Europe and America led to changes in well-being related topic search-terms. Using difference-in-differences and a regression discontinuity design, we find a substantial increase in the search intensity for boredom in Europe and the US. We also found a significant increase in searches for loneliness, worry and sadness, while searches for stress, suicide and divorce on the contrary fell. Our results suggest that people's mental health may have been severely affected by the pandemic and lockdown.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Sarah Fleche
- Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, EHESS, Centrale Marseille, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, Marseille, France
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Masukume G, O’Neill SM, Khashan AS, Kenny LC, Grech V. The Terrorist Attacks and the Human Live Birth Sex Ratio: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. ACTA MEDICA (HRADEC KRÁLOVÉ) 2017; 60:59-65. [DOI: 10.14712/18059694.2017.94] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Aim: The live birth sex ratio is defined as male/total births (M/F). Terrorist attacks have been associated with a transient decline in M/F 3–5 months later with an excess of male losses in ongoing pregnancies. The early 21st century is replete with religious/politically instigated attacks. This study estimated the pooled effect size between exposure to attacks and M/F. Registration number CRD42016041220. Methods: PubMed and Scopus were searched for ecological studies that evaluated the relationship between terrorist attacks from 1/1/2000 to 16/6/2016 and M/F. An overall pooled odds ratio (OR) for the main outcome was generated using the generic inverse variance method. Results: Five studies were included: 2011 Norway attacks; 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting; 2001 September 11 attacks; 2004 Madrid and 2005 London bombings. OR at 0.97 95% CI (0.94–1.00) (I2 = 63%) showed a small statistically significant 3% decline in the odds (p = 0.03) of having a male live birth 3–5 months later. For lone wolf attacks there was a 10% reduction, OR 0.90 95% CI (0.86–0.95) (p = 0.0001). Conclusion: Terrorist (especially lone wolf) attacks were significantly associated with reduced odds of having a live male birth. Pregnancy loss remains an important Public Health challenge. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses considering other calamities are warranted.
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