To examine to what extent the association between neuroticism and psychological distress is related to individuals’ inherent vulnerability or their tendency to self-select high-risk environments or situations.

Data was drawn from both waves (1984/1985 and 1991) of the Health and Lifestyle Survey. Psychological distress was evaluated using the 30-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30) and neuroticism was assessed with the Eysenck Personality Inventory. A checklist of life events was completed in the second wave only. A Latent State Trait model was estimated to decompose psychological distress into its environmental-contextual and individual-specific components.

Neuroticism accounted for 31 and 10% respectively of the variance of the environmental-contextual and individual-specific psychological distress components.

Our results favour the notion that individuals with high-levels of neuroticism tend to self-select situations likely to lead to adversity and distress.

Discussions and debate about youth smoking, alcohol use, and illegal substance use (collectively referred to as youth substance use) continue to receive wide attention among researchers, policymakers, and the general public. Previous research has suggested that peer delinquency is a particularly strong correlate of youth substance use. The current study focuses on the influence of delinquent peers on substance use, and how peer delinquency influences change across age cohorts of youth.

The current study examines multiple correlates for youth substance use in a sample of 8,256 youth (mean age 14), with the goal of identifying the influence of delinquent peers across age cohorts while controlling for other correlates. Data was collected from the Ohio version of the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) developed by the Centers for Disease Control.

Results from multiple regression analyses identified peer delinquency as the strongest correlate of youth substance use even when other relevant factors related to family, neighborhood, and media use were controlled. Correlations between peer delinquency and substance use behavior increased across age cohorts and for individuals who first used in middle teen years (13–16) irrespective of current age.

Age appears to be a moderating factor regarding the correlation between peer delinquency and youth substance abuse. Primary and secondary prevention and intervention strategies that focus on peers are potentially more likely to reduce youth substance use and improve peer relationships than those focused on other areas such as schools or media.

Risk of retirement from work before statutory retirement age among employees with personality disorders is unknown.

We used diagnoses of awarded medical rehabilitations and hospitalisations to select two clinical cohorts from a population of 151,618 employees: participants in rehabilitation (total N = 1942, 233 personality disorder, 419 anxiety disorder and 1290 depression cases) and hospitalised patients (N = 1333, 354, 126 and 853, respectively). Early retirement from work was tracked through national registers during a period of 5 years. Cox proportional hazard models were used to examine the association of diagnostic groups with risk of early retirement.

In models adjusted for age, sex and socioeconomic position, the relative risk of early retirement for patients with personality disorders was 3.5-fold (95% CI 2.1 to 5.8) in the rehabilitation cohort and 2.3-fold (95% CI 1.6 to 3.5) in the hospital cohort compared with anxiety disorders. The corresponding hazard ratios of early retirement for personality disorders compared with depressive disorders were 1.1 (95% CI 0.8–1.5) and 1.7 (95% CI 1.4–2.1), respectively.

Personality disorders increase the risk of early retirement at least to an equal extent as depression and more than twice that of anxiety disorders.

Low and middle-income countries experience an expressive growth in the number of circulating motorcycles, paralleled by an increasing number of traffic accidents. Delivery motorcycles drivers (“motoboys”) are generally perceived as accountable for this scenario. Although traffic accidents have a multivariate etiology, mental disorders, such as substance use disorders (SUD) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), are often involved. This paper aims at investigating the prevalence of ADHD, SUD and other mental disorders in a sample of Brazilian motoboys, and additionally, to evaluate the association between psychiatric diagnoses, motorcycle accidents and traffic violation tickets.

A convenient sample of subjects was invited to participate in a cross-sectional assessment including an inventory of traffic accidents and violations. Psychiatric diagnoses were based on semi-structured and clinical interviews.

A sample of 101 motoboys was assessed. Overall, 75% of subjects had a positive lifetime history of at least one psychiatric disorder. SUD was the most frequent diagnosis (43.6% for alcohol, 39.6% for cannabis). ADHD was associated with a higher number of traffic accidents (p = 0.002), and antisocial personality disorder (APD) was associated with a greater number of traffic violations (p = 0.007).

The prevalence of mental disorders was much higher in our sample than in the general population. ADHD and APD, but not SUD, were associated with negative traffic outcomes. These findings have implications for public mental health planning since mental disorders can be both prevented and treated, improving driving behavior and increasing road safety.

The quality of life (QOL) of patients with schizophrenia has been found to be positively correlated with the social network and empowerment, and negatively correlated with stigma and depression. However, little is known about the way these variables impact on the QOL. The study aims to test the hypothesis that the social network, stigma and empowerment directly and indirectly by contributing to depression influence the QOL in patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders.

Data were collected on demographic and clinical variables, internalized stigma, perceived devaluation and discrimination, empowerment, control convictions, depression and QOL. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was applied to examine the impact of the above-mentioned constructs on QOL.

The influences of the social network, stigma, empowerment and depression on QOL were supported by the SEM. A poor social network contributed to a lack of empowerment and stigma, which resulted in depression and, in turn, in poor QOL. Interestingly, however, the social network and stigma did not show a direct effect on QOL.

Following a recovery approach in mental health services by focusing on the improvement of the social network, stigma reduction and especially on the development of personal strength has the potential to reduce depression in patients with psychosis and improving their QOL.

N-acetylaspartate (NAA) levels and serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels in patients with first-episode schizophrenia psychosis and age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects were investigated. In addition, plasma levels of homovanillic acid (HVA) and 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG) were compared between the two groups.

Eighteen patients (nine males, nine females; age range: 13–52 years) were enrolled in the study, and 18 volunteers (nine males, nine females; age range: 15–49 years) with no current or past psychiatric history were also studied by magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) as sex- and age-matched controls.

Levels of NAA/Cr in the left basal ganglia (p = 0.0065) and parieto-occipital lobe (p = 0.00498), but not in the frontal lobe, were significantly lower in patients with first-episode schizophrenia psychosis than in control subjects. No difference was observed between the serum BDNF levels of patients with first-episode schizophrenia psychosis and control subjects. In regard to the plasma levels of catecholamine metabolites, plasma MHPG, but not HVA, was significantly lower in the patients with first-episode psychosis than in control subjects. In addition, a significantly positive correlation was observed between the levels of NAA/Cr of the left basal ganglia and plasma MHPG in all subjects.

These results suggest that brain NAA levels in the left basal ganglia and plasma MHPG levels were significantly reduced at the first episode of schizophrenia psychosis, indicating that neurodegeneration via noradrenergic neurons might be associated with the initial progression of the disease.