Journal Articles

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/7915

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Author: search.filters.author.Stephens CSubject: search.filters.subject.1701 Psychology

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    Economic hardship among older people in New Zealand: The effects of low living standards on social support loneliness and mental health
    (New Zealand Psychological Society, 2010) Stephens C; Alpass F; Towers A
    By 2026 people aged 65 and over are projected to make up approximately 20% of the population of New Zealand. A focus on the positive aspects of ageing includes consideration of the factors that promote good mental health in the population. In the present study of early old age (65-70 years) we highlight factors that are amenable to social and structural change in order to support positive ageing as people move into retirement. Analysis of cross-sectional survey data from 1761 people aged 65-70 was used to test the prediction that economic living standards are related to social support and loneliness (taking into account gender and ethnicity differences) and these factors in turn will affect mental health. Multiple regression analysis showed that lower living standards are both independently related to mental health and also contribute to diminished opportunities for social support. Social support and loneliness in turn, are related to mental health. Such observations suggest the importance of changes in social attitudes and social policy to build societies in which older people are valued and supported both economically and socially.
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    Using the common sense model of illness selfregulation to understand diabetes-related distress: The importance of being able to 'make sense' of diabetes
    (New Zealand Psychological Society, 2010) Paddison CAM; Alpass F; Stephens C
    This study examines the relationships between illness perceptions and illness-related distress among adults with type 2 diabetes. Research participants (N = 615) were randomly selected from a primary care database in New Zealand. Data were collected through a mailed questionnaire survey and review of medical records. The primary outcome was diabetes-related psychological distress measured using the Problem Areas in Diabetes (PAID) scale. Multiple regression analyses controlling for age, clinical characteristics, and mental health showed that illness perceptions accounted for 15% of differences in distress about diabetes (F change (4,462) = 35.37, p < .001). Poor mental health and illness severity alone do not explain differences in diabetes-related emotional adjustment. Results suggest that ‘making sense’ of diabetes may be central to successfully managing the emotional consequences of diabetes.
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    Ageing in a material world
    (The New Zealand Psychological Society, 2010) Breheny M; Stephens C
    The experience of ageing is shaped by social location. For those who experience economic hardship, the effects of a lifetime of disadvantage tend to accumulate in later life. The recent attention to positive and successful ageing has particular implications for disadvantaged and disabled older people. This project focuses on the qualitative experience of ageing in the context of the material constraints in people's lives. Forty eight people aged 55 to 70 years were interviewed. Critical realist discourse analysis of extracts is used here to show how the rhetorical and discursive accounts of ageing are grounded in the material circumstances of participants' lives and also shaped by societal demands to age well and positively. Access to material resources constrains older people from ageing in ways that they value, and the discursive construction of citizenship and morality has implications for who they can be.