Objectives-The psychiatric symptom frequency (PSF) scale was developed to assess symptoms of anxiety and depression (ie affective symptoms) experienced over the past year in the general population This study aimed to examine the distribution of PSF scores, internal consistency, and factor structure and to investigate relationships between total scores for this scale and other indicators of poor mental health. Participants-The Medical Research Council national survey of health and development, a class stratified cohort study ofmen and women followed up from birth in 1946, with the most recent interview at age 43 when the PSF scale was administered. Main results-The PSF scale showed high internal consistency between the 18 items (Cronbach's a=0.88). Ratings on items of the scale reflected one predominant factor, incorporating both depression and anxiety, and two additional factors of less statistical importance, one reflecting sleep problems and the other panic and situational anxiety. Total scores were calculated by adding 18 items of the scale, and high total scores were found to be strongly associated with reports of contact with a doctor or other health professional and use ofprescribed medication for "nervous or emotional trouble or depression," and with suicidal ideas. Conclusions-The PSF is a useful and valid scale for evaluating affective symptoms in the general population. It is appropriate for administration by lay interviewers with minimal training, is relatively brief, and generates few missing data. The total score is a flexible measure which can be used in continuous or binary form to suit the purposes of individual investigations, and provides discrimination at lower as well as upper levels of symptom severity. (J Epidemiol Community Health 1997;51:549-557) Depressive and anxiety disorders together constitute a considerable proportion of all psychiatric disorders in adults. The United States national comorbidity survey estimated the 12 month prevalence of depressive disorders at 1 1.3% and that of anxiety disorders at 17.2 %

The findings underline the importance of taking account of secular trends in examining the impact of psychosocial risks.

Self-reported Health among Employees in Relation to Sex Segregation at Work Sites: Pia SVEDBERG, et al. Section of Personal InjuryPrevention, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden-Objectives: Despite the high level of sex segregation of the labour market in Sweden and other countries, there is little knowledge on the association between sex segregation and illhealth. The aim of this study was to study associations between self-reported ill-health among women and men and the level of numerical sex segregation at their work sites and psychosocial work conditions. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted among 10,000 employed persons in the County of Östergötland, Sweden. The questionnaire covered the level of numerical sex segregation at the work site, work organisation and conditions, ill-health, and demography. The proportions of individuals at sexintegrated and sex-segregated work sites reporting frequent ill-health symptoms were calculated and compared using Chi-square test statistics. Prevalence's of physical and psychosocial work aspects were calculated. Logistic regression models were used to assess the associations between sex segregation and other aspects of the work situation and health. Results: Among the men, 69% worked at male-dominated work sites, 16% at female-dominated, and 15% at sex-integrated work sites. Among the women, the equivalent rates were 8%, 75%, and 17%, respectively. Sex segregation was associated with all self-reported ill-health symptoms among the men, also when controlling for possible confounders. Other variables that were associated with self-reported illhealth symptoms were demands at work, negative expectations, and sickness presence. Conclusions:The present study generates sufficient findings to suggest that the link between sex segregation at work sites and ill-health is an important area that merits further attention. (J Occup Health 2009; 51: 223-231)

There was some evidence of a link between parent-child interaction in middle childhood and adult depression, although the mechanism for this remains unclear.