Year: 2016
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Mental health is interconnected with somatic health and affects biological processes.Mental disorders are the leading cause of years lost with disability worldwide.The identification of early indicators of poor mental health may enable early intervention and health monitoring and promotion.One of the early indicators could be self-reported life satisfaction.This is a key indicator of subjective well-being, which is one of the main dimensions of mental health.The present studies aimed at increasing knowledge of life satisfaction by exploring its less studied areas, such as its role in recovery from and its predictive value for major depressive disorder.In a population-based sample, its relationship with childhood adversities and various psychological comorbidities, as well as certain biological correlates, was also investigated, both cross-sectionally and retrospectively.The data for these substudies (I-IV) were obtained from health questionnaires and structured diagnostic interviews in a natural 6-year follow-up study of depressive patients (N = 121) and in a 7-year follow-up of a general population sample (N = 333), both belonging to the Kuopio Depression Study.Among the population-based sample, a selected subsample of the participants was invited for clinical evaluation and laboratory analyses (e.g.inflammatory-based biomarkers).Life satisfaction was measured with four items: interest in life, happiness, loneliness, and general ease of living.Depressive symptoms and hopelessness were the strongest correlates of life dissatisfaction after 6 years among the depressive patients.Higher baseline interpersonal sensitivity as well as poor self-rated health and wealth, regardless of the assessment time point, were also associated with it.In the general population sample, a broad spectrum of poor mental health indicators was associated with concurrent life dissatisfaction, depression being the strongest one.Long-term life dissatisfaction predicted the onset of major depressive disorder in a 7-year follow-up, being associated with several adversities in terms of health, health behavior, and social factors.One possible pathway from life dissatisfaction to somatic morbidity was suggested via a decreased anti-inflammatory buffer capacity.
Author: Teemu Rissanen
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Kuopion Yliopistollinen Sairaala
OpenAlex ID: W3204170401