Coping strategies and their correlates with depression in the Japanese general population.
This study's aim was to examine the relation between depression and stress-coping strategy among the general population. The survey was conducted in June 2000, using a large sample representative of the Japanese general population. A total of 24,551 responses from individuals aged 20 years or older were analyzed. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was used to assess the prevalence of depression with two different cut-off points; 16 and 26. Stress-coping strategies were asked based on given examples of actual behaviors covering problem-focused, emotion-focused, and avoidant ones. There was no marked gender difference in the prevalence of a problem-solving strategy, while various types of gender differences were found with respect to the prevalence of emotion-focused and avoidant strategies. In relation to depression, multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed the significantly highest odds ratios (OR) for avoidant coping strategies and the lowest OR for problem-focused ones in both genders. The fact that depression was associated positively with avoidant strategies but negatively with problem-solving strategies indicates that individual stress-coping strategies have their own significance with respect to depression, and may be utilized in establishing an evidence-based cognitive behavioral approach to depressive patients.
Nagase
Yukihiro
Y
Department of Psychophysiology, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Kodaira, Tokyo, 187-8553.
Uchiyama
Makoto
M
Kaneita
Yoshitaka
Y
Li
Lan
L
Kaji
Tatsuhiko
T
Takahashi
Sakae
S
Konno
Michiko
M
Mishima
Kazuo
K
Nishikawa
Toru
T
Ohida
Takashi
T
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019352:Censuses; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory; D015995:Prevalence; D011340:Problem Solving; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires