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ECA Data Analysis Essay

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“With the development of specified diagnostic criteria, as exemplified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM- III; American Psychiatric Association, 1980), and the creation of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS), it became possible to examine the incidence and prevalence of specific psychiatric disorders in the community. The Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study (ECA) has utilized the DIS in a multisite longitudinal study from which data are now being analyzed. ECA data summed across all five research sites provides evidence yet again that the highest rates of disorder occur in the lowest social classes. The six-month prevalence of any DSM-III disorder is 2.86 times higher in the lowest socioeconomic status (SES) category than in the highest SES group, controlling for age and sex (Holzer et al., 1986). The estimated relative risk for the lowest SES group in comparison to the highest SES group is 1.79 for major depres- sion, 3.59 for alcohol abuse or …show more content…

Research has documented consistently that low income and low socioeconomic status are associated with high rates of mental disorder. With the prevalence of poverty itself now on the rise in our country, particularly among women, children and those from minority groups, increased attention must be paid to the mental health risks that accompany poverty. Community studies of the 1970s relied on symptom checklists and converged in finding higher levels of mental health problems among low-income and low-socioeconomic status individuals than among more privileged groups.”(Belle, pg. 385) When conducting a cross study (Neugebauer, Dohrenwend, Dohrenwend,1980), Economies with lower social classes were found to have an estimate of two and a half times higher issues of mental health than higher social classes, without being provided well needed

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