Differential Associations (differential + association)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Pregnancy Intention and Preterm Birth: Differential Associations Among a Diverse Population of Women

PERSPECTIVES ON SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH, Issue 2 2008
Aimee Afable-Munsuz
CONTEXT:,Studies published to date provide mixed evidence on the relationship between unintended pregnancy and preterm birth, and none take into consideration that the meaning of unintended pregnancy may vary across racial and ethnic groups. METHODS:,Data from the 1999,2003 rounds of the Maternal and Infant Health Assessment, a population-based, representative survey of postpartum women in California, were used to assess the relationship between pregnancy intention and preterm birth. For racial and ethnic groups in which an association was found, sequential logistic regression was conducted to further examine the relationship while controlling for socioeconomic characteristics. RESULTS:,In unadjusted results, pregnancy intention was associated with preterm birth among both whites and immigrant Latinas, but not among blacks or U.S.-born Latinas. Among whites, compared with women who reported that their pregnancy was intended, those who were unsure about their pregnancy had elevated odds of preterm birth (odds ratio, 1.4), as did those who reported their pregnancy was unwanted (1.7) or mistimed (1.4). Among immigrant Latinas, those who reported being unsure about their pregnancy were at higher risk of preterm birth than were those who reported an intended pregnancy (1.6). After adjustment for socioeconomic factors, the association remained significant for immigrant Latinas who were unsure about their pregnancy (1.5), but none of the associations remained significant for whites. CONCLUSIONS:,Women's interpretations of questions about pregnancy intention and their social experiences regarding pregnancy intention may vary by race or ethnicity. Studies on the association between pregnancy intention and preterm birth may need to be group-specific. [source]


Social interaction distance and stratification

THE BRITISH JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY, Issue 2 2003
Wendy Bottero
ABSTRACT There have been calls from several sources recently for a renewal of class analysis that would encompass social and cultural, as well as economic elements. This paper explores a tradition in stratification that is founded on this idea: relational or social distance approaches to mapping hierarchy and inequality which theorize stratification as a social space. The idea of ,social space' is not treated as a metaphor of hierarchy nor is the nature of the structure determined a priori. Rather, the space is identified by mapping social interactions. Exploring the nature of social space involves mapping the network of social interaction , patterns of friendship, partnership and cultural similarity , which gives rise to relations of social closeness and distance. Differential association has long been seen as the basis of hierarchy, but the usual approach is first to define a structure composed of a set of groups and then to investigate social interaction between them. Social distance approaches reverse this, using patterns of interaction to determine the nature of the structure. Differential association can be seen as a way of defining proximity within a social space, from the distances between social groups, or between social groups and social objects (such as lifestyle items). The paper demonstrates how the very different starting point of social distance approaches also leads to strikingly different theoretical conclusions about the nature of stratification and inequality. [source]


Differential associations of Head and Body Symptoms with depression and physical comorbidity in patients with cognitive impairment

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY, Issue 3 2004
Roberta Riello
Abstract Objective To test the hypothesis that physical symptoms referred to the head might be specifically associated with depression in patients with cognitive impairment. Methods Subjects were taken from those enrolled in ,The Mild Project' a prospective study on the natural history of mild dementia (Mini Mental State Examination,,,18) and with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, and mild cognitive impairment. A total of 129 subjects were included in the study. Physical symptoms were assessed with a checklist investigating nine different body organs or apparati. Physical symptoms were grouped into those referred to the head (Head Symptoms: ear and hearing; eyes and sight; and head and face) and all the others (Body Symptoms). Depressive symptoms were assessed with the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and physical comorbidity with Greenfield's Index of Disease Severity (IDS). Results The number of patients reporting one or more Head Symptoms linearly increased with increasing depression severity (Mantel-Haenszel test,=,6.497, df,=,1, p,=,0.011), while the number of patients reporting one or more Body Symptoms linearly increased with increasing physical comorbidity (Mantel-Haenszel test,=,4.726, df,=,1, p,=,0.030). These associations were confirmed in multivariate logistic regression models with adjustment for potential confounders (age, gender, education, cognitive performance, daily function, and diagnosis). Conclusions Head Symptoms are specifically associated with depression while Body Symptoms with physical comorbidity, in patients with cognitive impairment. Recognizing these associations in individual patients may help clinicians decide whether to initiate or continue antidepressant therapy or whether to carry out physical instrumental investigations. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Polymorphisms of the human platelet alloantigens HPA-1, HPA-2, HPA-3, and HPA-4 in ischemic stroke

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HEMATOLOGY, Issue 7 2008
Sarra Saidi
Polymorphism in human platelet antigen (HPA)-1 and HPA-3 (GPIIb/IIIa), HPA-2 (GPIb/IX), HPA-4 (GPIIIa), and HPA-5 (GPIa/IIa) was investigated in 329 stroke patients and 444 matched control subjects. HPA genotyping was done by PCR-SSP method. Lower HPA-1a (P < 0.001) and higher HPA-1b (P < 0.001) allele frequencies were seen in patients than control subjects, and homozygosity for HPA-1b (P < 0.001) alleles was more prevalent in stroke cases than in controls. The allele and genotype distributions of the other HPA polymorphic variants were similar between cases and controls. Select HPA combined genotypes comprising the 2121 (Pc = 0.008) and 2221 (Pc = 0.018) genotypes, which were positively associated, and the 1111 (Pc < 0.001), which was negatively associated with stroke, thereby conferred a disease susceptibility and protective nature to these genotype combinations. Multivariate analysis confirmed the negative association of the 1111 (P < 0.001) and the positive association of the 2121 (P = 0.017) combined genotypes with stroke, after adjustment for a number of covariates. This is the first evidence demonstrating differential association of the common 4 HPA gene variants and specific HPA genotype combinations with stroke. Am. J. Hematol. 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


New ovine PrP gene haplotypes as a result of single nucleotide polymorphisms in the PrP gene promoter

JOURNAL OF ANIMAL BREEDING AND GENETICS, Issue 2 2005
G.T. O'Neill
Summary Incidence of scrapie in sheep is strongly associated with PrP gene amino acid codon variants at positions 136, 154 and 171. However, there are breed differences in disease linkage and anomalous disease patterns which cannot obviously be explained by the ,3 codon' genotype. Mouse studies indicate that PrP protein levels can influence scrapie disease progression and this prompted us to study the sheep PrP gene promoter region in a search for novel polymorphisms which may influence gene expression and hence disease susceptibility. The incidence of three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) at positions C/A-5354, T/C-5382 and C/G-5622 within the PrP gene promoter region was determined from Neuropathogenesis Unit (NPU) and New Zealand (NZ) Cheviot and UK and NZ Suffolk sheep. The SNP variants A-5354 and G-5622 created consensus sequences for STAT and SP1 transcription factors, respectively, and C-5382 was within Motif 1, one of four conserved motifs found within the promoter region of mammalian PrP genes. The occurrence of C/A-5354 and T/C-5384 SNP exhibited differential associations with the PrP open reading frame (ORF) variants linked to scrapie susceptibility. A significant imbalance in the incidence of the C-5354/AXQ haplotype was found in the NPU Cheviot flock. C-5382 was not found in Suffolk sheep of either UK or NZ origin. The G-5622 SNP was found at a lower incidence in Suffolk sheep compared with Cheviots. The range of transcription factor binding motif profiles in the PrP gene promoter may act to modulate PrP gene activity and warrants further large-scale study. [source]


Young mothers' involvement in a prenatal and postpartum support program,

JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2010
Xiaoli Wen
The involvement of 124 young mothers in a doula support program was measured in two dimensions,quantity of program contact and quality of mother,doula helping relationship. The study examined each dimension's differential associations with maternal outcomes, as well as the moderating effects of mother characteristics on these associations. Quantity of program contact was related to the quality of helping relationship, especially when rated by doulas. Both quantity and quality of involvement predicted the maternal outcomes, although not always in the expected direction. For mothers with limited vocabulary skills and better connections with the baby's father, program contact was more likely to promote positive birth experiences. A negative association between program contact and parenting behaviors was observed among mothers who were less mature or had less positive social relationships. The study suggests the multidimensionality of program involvement and the complexity of interactions between program and participant factors in producing program outcomes. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


Mental Disorders, Comorbidity, and Postrunaway Arrests Among Homeless and Runaway Adolescents

JOURNAL OF RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE, Issue 3 2006
Xiaojin Chen
This study examined the associations between lifetime mental disorder, comorbidity, and self-reported postrunaway arrests among 428 (187 males, 241 females) homeless and runaway youth. The analysis examined the pattern of arrests across five lifetime mental disorders (alcohol abuse, drug abuse, conduct disorder, major depressive episode, and posttraumatic stress disorder). The adolescents, ranging from 16 to 19 years old, were interviewed directly on the streets and in shelters in four Midwestern states using computer-assisted personal interviewing. Extensive self-reports of early life history, behaviors since running away from home, and diagnostic interviewing (UM-CIDI and DISC-R) were used to estimate possible disorders. There was a high level of postrunaway arrests reported by the youth; more than half were arrested at least once after the initial runaway, with the average of 4.4 times. Consistent with the hypotheses, there were differential associations between individual mental disorders and involvement with the criminal justice system. Only externalizing disorders such as substance abuse and conduct disorder were related to arrest. Street youth with multiple externalizing and internalizing disorders were more likely to be arrested than nondisordered youths. [source]


Deployment stressors, gender, and mental health outcomes among Gulf War I veterans

JOURNAL OF TRAUMATIC STRESS, Issue 2 2005
Dawne S. Vogt
An Erratum has been published for this article in Journal of Traumatic Stress 18(3) 2005, 271,284 []. Findings indicate that war-zone exposure has negative implications for the postdeployment adjustment of veterans; however, most studies have relied on limited conceptualizations of war-zone exposure and focused on male samples. In this study, an array of deployment stressors that were content valid for both female and male Gulf War I military personnel was examined to elucidate gender differences in war-zone exposure and identify gender-based differential associations between stressors and mental health outcomes. While women and men were exposed to both mission-related and interpersonal stressors and both stressor categories were associated with mental health outcomes, women reported more interpersonal stressors and these stressors generally had a stronger impact on women's than on men's mental health. Exceptions are described, and implications are discussed. [source]