Workplace Policies and Mental Health among Working-Class, New Parents.

Little research has explored linkages between workplace policies and mental health in working-class, employed parents, creating a gap in our knowledge of work-family issues across social class levels. The current U.S. study addresses this gap by employing hierarchical linear modeling techniques to examine how workplace policies and parental leave benefits predicted parents' depressive symptoms and anxiety in a sample of 125, low-income, dual-earner couples interviewed across the transition to parenthood. Descriptive analyses revealed that, on average, parents had few workplace policies, such as schedule flexibility or child care supports, available to them. Results revealed, however, that, when available, schedule flexibility was related to fewer depressive symptoms and less anxiety for new mothers. Greater child care supports predicted fewer depressive symptoms for fathers. In terms of crossover effects, longer maternal leave predicted declines in fathers' anxiety across the first year. Results are discussed with attention to how certain workplace policies may serve to alleviate new parents' lack of time and resources (minimize scarcity of resources) and, in turn, predict better mental health during the sensitive period of new parenthood.

Mental Health Literacy for Anxiety Disorders: How perceptions of symptom severity might relate to recognition of psychological distress.

PURPOSE: Improving mental health literacy is an important consideration when promoting expedient and effective treatment seeking for psychological disorders. Low recognition serves as a barrier to treatment (Coles and Coleman, 2010), and this article examines recognition by lay individuals of severity for three psychological disorders: social anxiety, generalized anxiety, and major depression using a dimensional approach. DESIGN: Vignettes of mild/subclinical, moderate, and severe cases of each disorder were rated for severity by a team of expert assessors and 270 participants (mean age = 26.8; 76.7% women). FINDINGS: Difference ratings were calculated comparing participants' responses to scores from the assessors. A within-groups factorial ANOVA with LSD follow-up was performed to examine the effects of Diagnosis and Severity on difference ratings. Both main effects [Diagnosis, F(2, 536)=35.26, Mse=1.24; Severity, F(2, 536)=9.44, Mse=1.93] and the interaction were significant [F(4, 1072)=13.70, Mse=1.13] all p's < 0.001. Social anxiety cases were underrated in the mild/subclinical and moderate cases, generalized anxiety cases were underrated at all three severities, and major depression cases were overrated at all three severities. SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS: Judgments of severity may underlie the low recognition rates for social anxiety disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. Future efforts should focus on improved recognition and education regarding anxiety disorders in the population, particularly before they become severe. VALUE: This project demonstrates the importance of considering judgments of symptom severity on a continuum, and in a range of cases, rather than just the ability to correctly label symptoms, when determining whether or not people recognize psychological disorders.

Differences Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Heterosexual Individuals, and those Who Reported an Other Identity on an Open-Ended Response on Levels of Social Anxiety.

Previous research suggests that individuals with a marginalized sexual orientation report higher levels of emotional distress (Cochran, 2001; Mayer, 2003), including higher prevalence of social anxiety (Gilman et al., 2001; Potoczniak, Aldea, & DeBlaere, 2007; Safren & Pantalone, 2006) than heterosexuals. The present study builds on previous research by examining results across sexual minority identities, including an additional write-in response option. One hundred eighty individuals participated in an online study in which they indicated their sexual orientation and completed measures of social anxiety. Results indicated that in a sample recruited in a liberal urban population, lesbian/gay, and heterosexual individuals rated similar levels of social anxiety across four Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale subscales (fear, avoidance, social, and performance; Liebowitz, 1987). Alternatively, individuals who identified as bisexual, or indicated a write-in sexual orientation rated significantly higher levels of social anxiety than the heterosexual, and lesbian/gay groups. Findings highlight the importance of offering a write-in sexual identity option, as well as looking at differences among group experiences across sexual minorities. Future studies should investigate potential group differences in social anxiety across sexual orientations in larger samples so that comparisons can be made among subgroups of the write-in response group, as well as investigate potential contributors to these group differences.