Term of Award
Winter 1978
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Document Type and Release Option
Thesis (restricted to Georgia Southern)
Department
Department of Psychology
Committee Chair
Robert Haney
Committee Member 1
Gary E. Dudley
Committee Member 2
Paul R. Kleinginna, Jr.
Abstract
The relationship of specific demographic and organismic variables with the occurrence of mental disorders in urban settings has been the subject of numerous epidemiological studies. While the previous studies have been concerned with client populations who were under treatment in hospital settings in urban areas in the Northeast and Midwest, the clients in the present study resided in a Southern city and were receiving treatment at a comprehensive mental health center. The client sample consisted of 270 males and 380 females who were residents of Savannah, Georgia and under treatment at the Comprehensive Mental Health Center between January 1, 1976 and December 31. 1976 or first admitted during that time. The sample was limited to the clients with the following mental disorders according to the DSM-II nosological systemi schizophrenia, affective disorders, paranoid reaction, neurosis, personality disorders, and depressive reaction. One of the primary findings was that while previous studies reported that the highest rate of disorder was among clients who were divorced or separated, the present study found that the highest frequency was among single clients, followed by married, divorced or separated and widowed clients. The clients under treatment were predominately female, black, between the ages of 25 - 44, unemployed, with a high school education and an income of under $5»000, and classified as schizophrenic,
Copyright
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Recommended Citation
Darby, Steven L., "The Relationship of Incidence Rates of Behavior Disorders to Selected Demographic and Organismic Variables at an Urban Mental Health Center" (1978). Legacy ETDs. 818.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd_legacy/818
