Testing the Impact of Variations in Administration on the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10).

Self-report measures are useful in psychological research and practice, but scores may be impacted by administration methods. This study investigated whether changing the recall period (from 30 to 7 days) and response option order (from ascending to descending) alters the score distribution of the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). Participants were presented with the K10 with either different recall periods or different response option orders.

Neural correlates of the revised reinforcement sensitivity theory: A cross-sectional structural neuroimaging study in middle-aged adults.

The revised reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) proposes that neurobiological systems control behavior: the fight-flight-freeze (FFFS) for avoidance of threat; behavioral approach/activation (BAS) for approach to rewards; and behavioral inhibition (BIS) for conflict resolution when avoidance and approach are possible. Neuroimaging studies have confirmed some theoretical associations between brain structures and the BAS and BIS; however, little representative population data are available for the FFFS. We investigated the neural correlates of the revised RST in a sample of 404 middle-aged adults (M = 47.

Comparing estimates of psychological distress using 7-day and 30-day recall periods: Does it make a difference?

Self-report measures are widely used in mental health research and may use different recall periods depending on the purpose of the assessment. A range of studies aiming to monitor changes in mental health over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic opted to shorten recall periods to increase sensitivity to change over time compared to standard, longer recall periods. However, many of these studies lack pre-pandemic data using the same recall period and may rely on pre-existing data using standard recall periods as a reference point for assessing the impact of the pandemic on mental health.

Psychometric validation of the Emerging Adult Stress Inventory (EASI).

Emerging adulthood is characterized by a prolonged transition from adolescence into adult roles and responsibilities. During this time, changes across multiple life domains can elicit stress, and while the impact of this has received substantial attention, measurement across different domains has been inconsistent. The ability to assess both the global stress experience and specific stressor domains (such as in family, peer and romantic relationships, study, work, finances, competing priorities and the future) would be valuable in understanding and addressing the impact of stress on well-being during this period.

The Short Barriers Questionnaire (SBQ): Validity, factor structure and correlates in an out-of-treatment sample of people dependent on methamphetamine.

Introduction And Aims: We validate a brief questionnaire to assess barriers to help-seeking for illicit substance use, and explore the factor structure and correlates of scale scores, among people dependent on methamphetamine.

Design And Methods: We administered a modified version of 27 items from the Barriers Questionnaire to 145 adults who had used methamphetamine in the past month and who screened positive for methamphetamine dependence on the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. We used an exploratory factor analysis to identify the scale's dimensions.

Role of apolipoprotein E epsilon 4 (*ε4) as an independent risk factor for incident depression over a 12-year period in cognitively intact adults across the lifespan.

Background: The apolipoprotein E ε4 allele (APOE*ε4) is indicated as a risk for Alzheimer's disease and other age-related diseases. The risk attributable to APOE*ε4 for depression is less clear and may be because of confounding of the relationship between dementia and depression.

Aims: We examined the risk of APOE* ε4 for incident depression and depressive symptomology over a 12-year period across the adult lifespan.

Age, sex and period estimates of Australia's mental health over the last 17 years.

Objective: Describing the long-term mental health of Australians is limited as many reports rely on cross-sectional studies which fail to account for within-person changes and age-related developmental processes which may bias estimates which ignore these phenomena. We examined the 17-year trajectories of mental health in 27,519 Australian adults.

Methods: Household panel data of 27,519 participants aged 18 years and over from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey provided at least one observation of mental health over a 17-year period from 2001.

The long-term mental health of Australia's tertiary students.

Purpose: The objective of the current study was to quantify the extent to which Australia's tertiary students have reported poorer mental health in comparison with the general community between 2001 and 2017.

Methods: Data were derived from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey, a longitudinal household-based panel study. There were 29,124 participants who provided at least one observation over the study period.

BMI trajectories and risk factors among 2-11-year-old children by their immigrant status: evidence from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children.

Objective: This study aimed to identify body mass index (BMI) trajectories and their predictors in Australian children by their maternal immigrant status.

Methods: Data on 4142 children aged 2-3 years were drawn from the birth cohort of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. BMI was calculated according to the International Obesity Task Force cut-off points.

Heterogeneity in the Health and Functional Capacity of Adults Aged 85+ as Risk for Mortality.

Objectives: To examine whether older adults aged 85+, with different health and functional capacities, cluster in different ways and to demonstrate whether individuals within particular clusters report differential mortality risk.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: The Dynamic Analyses to Optimize Aging (DYNOPTA) project is a harmonization project of nine Australian longitudinal surveys of health and well-being in adults aged 50+ between 1991 and 2006.

Re-examining the reciprocal effects model of self-concept, self-efficacy, and academic achievement in a comparison of the Cross-Lagged Panel and Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel frameworks.

Background: The cross-lagged panel (regression) model (CLPM) is the usual framework of choice to test the longitudinal reciprocal effects between self-concept and achievement. Criticisms of the CLPM are that causal paths are over-estimated as they fail to discriminate between- and within-person variation. The random-intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) is one alternative that extends the CLPM by partialling out between-person variance.

Living well with chronic disease for those older adults living in the community.

Background: Definitions of successful aging that incorporate dimensions of physical capacity and medical conditions are limited owing to the normative nature of experiencing medical conditions with age. We examine the capacity for older adults living in the community to live well with or without chronic disease as they age.

Method: Participants (n = 1,001) were from the Melbourne Longitudinal Studies on Healthy Ageing (MELSHA) study who were aged 65+ years at baseline, were living in the community and followed for 16 years.

An examination of the long-term impact of job strain on mental health and wellbeing over a 12-year period.

Objectives: Job strain has been implicated in a range of employee health outcomes including psychiatric health. Much of the literature is drawn from studies that utilise cross-sectional designs, whilst the long-term follow-up of participants is limited. We examine the short and long-term risks of job strain for depression and wellbeing over a 12-year period.

The profile of psychiatric symptoms exacerbated by methamphetamine use.

Background: Methamphetamine use can produce symptoms almost indistinguishable from schizophrenia. Distinguishing between the two conditions has been hampered by the lack of a validated symptom profile for methamphetamine-induced psychiatric symptoms. We use data from a longitudinal cohort study to examine the profile of psychiatric symptoms that are acutely exacerbated by methamphetamine use.

Examination of the association between mental health, morbidity, and mortality in late life: findings from longitudinal community surveys.

Background: Physical health has been demonstrated to mediate the mental health and mortality risk association. The current study examines an alternative hypothesis that mental health mediates the effect of physical health on mortality risk.

Methods: Participants (N = 14,019; women = 91%), including eventual decedents (n = 3,752), were aged 70 years and older, and drawn from the Dynamic Analyses to Optimise Ageing (DYNOPTA) project.

Trajectories of terminal decline in the well-being of older women: the DYNOPTA project.

Terminal decline in well-being is well established. However, the examination of covarying physical health and functioning on mortality-related well-being decline is limited. This study tested the effect of physical health changes on mortality-related well-being decline and examined the extent to which mortality-related trajectories of different well-being dimensions are similar.

An examination of the effects of intra and inter-individual changes in wellbeing and mental health on self-rated health in a population study of middle and older-aged adults.

Purpose: Self-rated health is frequently used as an indicator of health and quality of life in epidemiological studies. While the association between self-rated health and negative mental health is well established, associations with indictors of positive wellbeing are less clear. Data from the Dynamic Analyses to Optimise Ageing (DYNOPTA) project were used to compare the effects of vitality and mental health on self-rated health.

Measuring anxiety about aging across the adult lifespan.

Background: The development of instruments to measure aging attitudes is an essential part of research into the role of individual differences in the aging process, giving clarification to the relationship between attitudes and behavior across the lifespan. Here we test the structural validity of Lasher and Faulkender's (1993) Anxiety about Aging Scale (AAS), and explore measurement invariance across age and gender.

Methods: A sample of 783 adults (42% females) age ranging from 20 to 97 years (M = 57.

Alcohol, hospital admissions, and falls in older adults: a longitudinal evaluation.

Background: There are limited data on the impacts of alcohol use in older adults. We aimed to evaluate self-reported hospital admissions and falls against current Australian alcohol consumption guidelines.

Methods: We conducted a longitudinal analysis of data from five Australian cohort studies.

Prevalence of physical activity behaviour in older people: findings from the Dynamic Analyses to Optimise Ageing (DYNOPTA) project and Australian national survey data.

Aim: Many older people lead sedentary lives. National Health Survey physical activity prevalence data provide limited coverage of the 'old old' (≥75 years).

Method: The Dynamic Analyses to Optimise Ageing (DYNOPTA) project's dataset provided physical activity data for 13,420 participants.

Age, physical functioning, and affect in midlife and older adulthood.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine age differences in high- and low-arousal positive and negative affect, and associations of physical functioning with affect over the latter half of the life course.

Method: Participants consisted of 39,958 midlife and older adults contributing to DYNOPTA; a large-scale collaborative project concerned with pooling data from Australian studies of aging. Items assessing the experience of discrete emotions were selected to represent different combinations of high- and low-arousal affect, and positive and negative valence affect.

Stability and change in level of probable depression and depressive symptoms in a sample of middle and older-aged adults.

Background: Findings from studies investigating depression in adults in late life are mixed due to a lack of large longitudinal studies with the power necessary to yield reliable estimates of stability or change. We examined the long-term stability of probable depression and depressive symptomology over a 13-year period in the Dynamic Analyses to Optimize Ageing (DYNOPTA) project.

Methods: Community-living participants (N = 35,200) were aged 45-103 at baseline, predominantly female (79%), partnered (73%), and educated to secondary school only (61%) and followed for up to 13 years.

Alcohol and smoking consumption behaviours in older Australian adults: prevalence, period and socio-demographic differentials in the DYNOPTA sample.

Purpose: Alcohol consumption and tobacco use are key risk factors for chronic disease and health burden across the adult lifespan. We estimate the prevalence of alcohol consumption and smoking by age and time period in adults from mid to old age.

Methods: Participants (n = 50,652) were drawn from the Dynamic Analyses to Optimise Ageing (DYNOPTA) project and were compared with Australian National Health Survey data.