Change and psychopathology: epidemiologic considerations

The authors report data collected on 3674 subjects between 1970 and 1974 as part of an epidemiologic field survey of mental disorder in the southeastern United States, an area which was undergoing rapid sociocultural change. Rates of mental disorder, as measured by the Global Psychopathology Scale, are presented for various sociodemographic groups and are consistent with trends found in previous studies. Analysis of variance and multiple regression techniques are used to explore the relationships among awareness of social change, sociodemographic variables, and psychopathology. Low awareness of change is found to be consistently associated with low psychopathology scores across all socioeconomic groups. The authors postulate a "denial" or "filter" mechanism which may protect particularly vulnerable individuals from the psychic distress accompanying social change.