Potential Sources of Error in Epidemiological Studies of Mental Illness*

In the context of this paper, there is assumed to be a positive correlation between one's attitudes toward psychiatry and his likelihood of utilizing psychiatric facilities. Although this asssumption will not be tested in this paper, the authors will attempt to determine its utility in explaining their research results.

Hollingshead, A.B. , and Redlich, F.C. : Social Class and Mental Illness. New York : John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1958, pp. 171-193. Myers, J.K. , and Roberts, B.H. : Family and Class Dynamics in Mental Illness. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1959, pp. 201-221.

Lemkau, P.V. , and Crocetti, G.M. : "An Urban Population's Opinion and Knowledge About Mental Illness." American Journal of Psychiatry, 1962, 118, 692-700.

Srole, L. , Langner, T.S. , Michael, S.T. , Opler, M.K. , and Rennie, T.A.C. : Mental Health in the Metropolis: The Midtown Manhattan Study, Volume 1. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1962.

Nunnally, J.C. : Popular Conceptions of Mental Health, New York : Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1961.

Lemkau and Crocetti : op. cit., 1962.

Parker, S. , Kleiner, R.J. , and Taylor, H.G. : "Level of aspiration and mental disorder: A research proposal." Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 1960, 84, 878-886.

Parker, S. , and Kleiner, R.J. : Mental Illness in the Urban Negro Community. Glencoe, Illinois : The Free Press, 1966.

Nunnally: op. cit., 1961.

Parker and Kleiner : op. cit., 1966.

Parker, Kleiner , and Taylor : op. cit., 1960. Parker and Kleiner : op. cit., 1966.

Parker and Kleiner : op. cit., 1966.

"New admissions" included both first admissions and new cases which had previously been terminated officially by the treating agency. Readmissions whose cases were still active were excluded. The large majority of the ill sample were first admissions.

Only fifty-nine individuals in the community reported any history of "nervous or mental disorder."

An individual's mobility status was based on the difference between his own occupational level and that of either parent (whichever was higher). If his own level was above the parental level, he was called upwardly mobile; if the levels were the same, he was called nonmobile; and if his position was lower, he was called downwardly mobile.

These items were omitted with the ill sample, on the assumption that such questions would be particularly upsetting for newly admitted psychiatric patients.

Occupational Step 1: Unskilled workers. 2: Sales personnel, semi-skilled workers. 3: Skilled craftsman, proprietors of small businesses, industrial foremen, skilled clerical personnel, government workers. 4: Minor administrative personnel, major administrative personnel, technicians, semi-professioinals (including dancers, musicians, athletes), professionals (requiring less than a doctorate level of education), major professionals. These occupational steps are based on a study of the prestige of occupations coinducted by the authors on a subsample of the original population (see Parker and Kleiner : op. cit., 1966).

Hollingshead and Redlich : op. cit, 1958. Myers and Roberts : op. cit, 1959.

Hollingshead and Redlich : op. cit., 1958. Myers and Roberts : op. cit., 1959. Langner, T.S. , and Michael, S.T. : Life Stress and Mental Health: The Midtown Manhattan Study, Volume 2. Glencoe, Illinois : The Free Press, 1963.

Educational Step 1: No education to four years of education. 2: Five to eight years of education. 3: Nine to eleven years of education. 4: Twelve years of education (i.e., high school graduation). 5: Thirteen or more years of education (i.e., at least one year of college).

Illness rates are highest in this educational group.

Nunnally : op. cit., 1961.

Hollingshead and Redlich : op. cit., 1958. Myers and Roberts : op. cit., 1959.

Myers and Raberts : op. cit., 1959.

Nunnally: op. cit., 1961.

Individuals migrating to Philadelphia from other areas in Pennsylvania and from other northern states have been eliminated from these analyses. The sample of cases analyzed by migratory status is thus reduced from 1489 to 1396.

Derivation of three occupational mobility categories is explained in footnote 13 on this paper.

For example, see Srole et al.: op. cit, 1962.