Office of Population Research, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544;
Center for Population and Health, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057-1197.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 Jul 10;115(28):7290-7295. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1722023115. Epub 2018 Jun 18.
Although there is little dispute about the impact of the US opioid epidemic on recent mortality, there is less consensus about whether trends reflect increasing despair among American adults. The issue is complicated by the absence of established scales or definitions of despair as well as a paucity of studies examining changes in psychological health, especially well-being, since the 1990s. We contribute evidence using two cross-sectional waves of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study to assess changes in measures of psychological distress and well-being. These measures capture negative emotions such as sadness, hopelessness, and worthlessness, and positive emotions such as happiness, fulfillment, and life satisfaction. Most of the measures reveal increasing distress and decreasing well-being across the age span for those of low relative socioeconomic position, in contrast to little decline or modest improvement for persons of high relative position.
虽然美国阿片类药物流行对近期死亡率的影响几乎没有争议，但对于这些趋势是否反映了美国成年人日益绝望，人们的看法则不太一致。由于缺乏公认的绝望量表或定义，以及自 20 世纪 90 年代以来很少有研究关注心理健康（尤其是幸福感）的变化，这个问题变得更加复杂。我们使用美国中年生活研究（MIDUS）的两个横断面波来提供证据，以评估心理困扰和幸福感衡量指标的变化。这些衡量指标包括悲伤、绝望和无价值等负面情绪，以及幸福、满足和生活满意度等积极情绪。对于相对社会经济地位较低的人来说，大多数衡量指标显示在整个年龄段内的痛苦程度在增加，幸福感在下降，而相对地位较高的人则几乎没有下降或略有改善。
