Determinants of fast-food consumption. An application of the Theory of Planned Behaviour.

This study applied and extended the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB; Ajzen, 1988) in an examination of the variables influencing fast-food consumption in an Australian sample. Four hundred and four participants responded to items measuring TPB constructs and retrospective and prospective measures of fast-food consumption. Additional independent variables included: Consideration of Future Consequences (Strathman, Gleicher, Boninger, & Edwards, 1994), Fear of Negative Evaluation (Leary, 1983), and Self-Identification as a Healthy Eater Scale (Armitage & Conner, 1999a). Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to examine predictors of consumption. SEM indicated that the TPB successfully predicted fast-food consumption. Factor analyses assisted in the definition of constructs that underlay attitudes towards fast foods. These constructs were included in an 'extended' TPB model which then provided a richer source of information regarding the nature of the variables influencing fast-food consumption. Findings suggest that fast-food consumption is influenced by specific referent groups as well as a general demand for meals that are tasty, satisfying, and convenient. These factors reflect immediate needs and appear to override concerns about longer-term health risks associated with fast food. Results are discussed in the context of possible applications.

Changes in depression-related mental health literacy in young men from rural and urban South Australia.

OBJECTIVE: To examine rural and urban differences in depression-related mental health literacy, experience of depression and help-seeking. DESIGN: Cross-sectional population-based survey stratified by rural and urban area. SETTING: A random and representative sample of South Australian rural and urban young men aged between 15 and 30 years. OUTCOME MEASURES: Mental health literacy as determined by recognition and exposure to classical symptoms of depression; perceived helpfulness of various interventions and treatment-seeking behaviour. RESULTS: Recognition of depression increased significantly in rural and urban young men between 1998 and 2008. More rural young men than urban men identified symptoms of depression in 1998 (odds ratio (OR): 1.53, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.01-2.40, P < 0.05), but that was not evident in 2008 (OR: 1.32, 95% CI, 0.80-2.25, P = 0.30). Both groups were more likely to have a close friend experience symptoms of depression and to use antidepressant medications in 2008 compared with 1998. Rural young men experienced a significant increase in recognition of personal depressive symptoms (OR: 3.73, 95% CI, 1.72-8.40) and levels of confidence in psychiatrists and psychologists (OR: 2.40, 95% CI, 1.34-4.31) in 2008 compared with 1998. Both rural and urban young men were significantly less likely to rate dealing with problems on their own as helpful in 2008 as in 1998. CONCLUSIONS: There has been an increase in both rural and urban young male mental health literacy between 1998 and 2008, especially in rural young men. Whether this will translate into a reduction of depression and associated suicide, with a reversal of the rural/urban suicide differential, remains to be seen.

Quantification and examination of depression-related mental health literacy.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to create an algorithm to measure depression-related mental health literacy. METHOD: Participants were those recruited for the 1998 and 2004 South Australian Health Omnibus Surveys. Two unprompted questions were selected from a mental health literacy questionnaire and responses were quantified through allocation of scores agreed by a focus group of mental health professionals. RESULTS: An application of the algorithm resulted in findings consistent with those of other research, providing face validity for the method developed. The application allowed for examination of overall levels of depression-related mental health literacy, with improvement found between 1998 and 2004. Similarly, differences in overall literacy according to demographics were also uncovered. CONCLUSIONS: Tracking mental health literacy within populations is important as it has been shown to be related to individual help-seeking as well as provision of support for those with a mental disorder. The method devised in this study allows for comparisons of literacy levels to be made across populations and time. It also offers increased capacity for statistical application.

Relationships between body mass index, mental health, and suicidal ideation: population perspective using two methods.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between body mass index (BMI), mental health, and suicidal ideation in a general population. METHOD: Two random and representative samples were drawn from the South Australian population. The interview techniques differed, as did the measures of depression and suicidality. One involved 3034 people in face-to-face interviews, and the other involved 30 214 persons providing information via a computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) system. BMI was classified according to World Health Organization criteria. In face-to-face interviews, major depression was defined by the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders (PRIME-MD) and suicidal ideation by direct enquiry. In the CATI data, psychological distress was assessed on the Kessler 10 instrument and suicidal ideation by four items on the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Data analysis controlled for demographic and physical health variables. RESULTS: In the face-to-face interviews, the combined obese and morbidly obese men were significantly less likely to have major depression or suicidal ideation than those of a healthy weight. For the telephone interview-derived data, the only significant finding was for overweight women to report less psychological distress than those of a healthy weight. CONCLUSIONS: It is no longer tenable to assume that increased BMI is necessarily associated with major depression, psychological distress, or suicidal ideation. Indeed, it appears protective for some people.

Tracking depression-related mental health literacy across South Australia: a decade of change.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to measure and compare levels of depression-related mental health literacy in South Australia across three points in time: 1998, 2004, and 2008. METHOD: Participants were those recruited for the 1998, 2004, and 2008 South Australian Health Omnibus Surveys. Comparisons were made across overall levels of depression-related mental health literacy as well as between responses to independent questionnaire items. RESULTS: A significant improvement was found in the overall measure of depression-related mental health literacy between 1998 and 2004 and this was consolidated in 2008. Some discrete changes in literacy were found between 2004 and 2008, with improvements recorded across some demographic groups and in participants' ability to accurately classify symptoms. Participants in 2008, however, were significantly less likely to endorse providers or treatments as 'helpful' than in 2004. CONCLUSIONS: Although knowledge and understanding of depression have improved significantly and stabilized since 1998, patient confidence in both mental health therapists and treatment options fell between 2004 and 2008, although it is still greater than in 1998.

Beliefs about fast food in Australia: a qualitative analysis.

The consumption of energy-dense fast foods has been implicated as a causal factor in the development of obesity. The development of strategies to modify food choice behaviour requires an understanding of the behaviour and the driving factors. This study examined the rationale behind decisions to either choose or avoid fast foods. Drawing partly on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, (1988)), a qualitative design was employed to examine the beliefs and perceptions associated with fast-food consumption within an Australian sample. Findings provided an indication that positive affective reactions to fast food, convenience, and self-serving cognitions may override cognitive analyses of the longer-term health risks associated with frequent fast-food consumption.

Suicide research before Durkheim.

The casual reader could be forgiven for assuming that there had been little systematic research on suicide before the work of the French sociologist, Emile Durkheim, published in 1897. This historical review demonstrates that there had been extensive studies in the preceding centuries, addressing not only the importance of social factors, but also those factors which are now subsumed in the medical model. In fact, some earlier reviews can now be seen as more balanced and comprehensive than that of Durkheim. In the twentieth century. the predominant focus of suicide research was on the importance of psychosocial factors, a focus which was undoubtedly a legacy of the influential work of Durkheim. Indeed, in 1971 Alvin Alvarez stated that the study of suicide had become the subject of intensive scientific research. The change began in 1897 with the publication of Emile Durkheim's classic Suicide: A Study in Sociology, and more recently Alexander Murray noted that, if the study of suicide had its own era it would divide into two ages, before and after that book ... Le Suicide ... which, more than any other, established its subject as a specialization. Therefore it is not unexpected that many believe that there had not been any substantial suicide research before Durkheim, let alone any which had addressed illness and biological factors and their inter-relationship with society.