Do material, psychosocial and behavioural factors mediate the relationship between disability acquisition and mental health? A sequential causal mediation analysis

Z Aitken; JA Simpson; L Gurrin; R Bentley; AM Kavanagh

Journal article

Do material, psychosocial and behavioural factors mediate the relationship between disability acquisition and mental health? A sequential causal mediation analysis

Z Aitken, JA Simpson, L Gurrin, R Bentley, AM Kavanagh

International Journal of Epidemiology | OXFORD UNIV PRESS | Published : 2018

DOI: 10.1093/ije/dyx277

Abstract

Background: There is evidence of a causal relationship between disability acquisition and poor mental health; however, the mechanism by which disability affects mental health is poorly understood. This gap in understanding limits the development of effective interventions to improve the mental health of people with disabilities. Methods: We used four waves of data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (2011–14) to compare self-reported mental health between individuals who acquired any disability (n¼387) and those who remained disability-free (n¼7936). We tested three possible pathways from disability acquisition to mental health, examining the effect of material..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Zoe Aitken Author

Julie Simpson Author

Lyle Gurrin Author

Rebecca Bentley Author

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Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council

Funding Acknowledgements

This work was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship and a National Health and Medical Research Council Postgraduate Scholarship (1093740 to Z.A.), a National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Research Fellowship (1104975 to J.A.S.) and an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT150100131 to R.B.).