The Role of Despair in Predicting Self-Destructive Behaviors
Dados Bibliográficos
| ID | 11290455 |
|---|---|
| Autores | L Gaydosh (0000-0002-0036-626X, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, autor correspondente), Audrey Kelly, Audrey L Kelly (0000-0003-1783-7678, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Iliya Gutin (0000-0003-4216-8963, Syracuse University), Lilly Shanahan (0000-0002-4534-6924, Youth Development), Jennifer Godwin (0000-0001-5258-1351, Center for Child and Family Health), Kathleen Mullan Harris (0000-0001-9757-1026, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), William Copeland (0000-0002-1348-7781, University of Vermont) |
| Ano | 2025 |
| Volume | 44 |
| Fascículo | 3 |
| Páginas | 33-33 |
| Data de publicação | 2025-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Sim |
| Open Access | Sim |
| Tipo | ARTICLE |
| Periódico | Population Research and Policy Review (JOURNAL) |
| Identificadores do periódico | ISSN: 0167-5923 • E-ISSN: 1573-7829 |
| Editora | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s11113-025-09952-4 |
| PMID | 40376253 |
| OpenAlex | W4410322491 |
| Idioma | EN |
| Citações recebidas | 1 |
| Referências citadas | 65 |
Working age (25-64) mortality in the US has been increasing for decades, driven in part by rising deaths due to drug overdose, as well as increases in suicide and alcohol-related mortality. These deaths have been hypothesized by some to be due to despair, but this has rarely been empirically tested. For despair to explain mortality due to alcohol-related liver disease, suicide, and drug overdose, it must first predict the behaviors that lead to such causes of death. To that end, we aim to answer two research questions. First, does despair predict the behaviors that are antecedent to the "deaths of despair"? Second, what measures and domains of despair are most important? We use data from over 6000 individuals at five waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health and apply supervised machine learning to assess the role of despair in predicting self-destructive behaviors associated with these causes of death. Comparing predictive performance within each outcome using measures of despair to benchmark models of clinical and prior behavioral predictors, we evaluate the added predictive value of despair above and beyond established risk factors. We find that despair underperforms compared to clinical risk factors for suicidal ideation and heavy drinking, but over performs compared to clinical risk factors and prior behaviors for illegal drug use and prescription drug misuse. We also compare model performance and feature importance across outcomes; our ability to predict thoughts of suicide, drug abuse and misuse, and heavy drinking differs depending on the behavior, and the relative importance of different indicators of despair varies across outcomes as well. Our findings suggest that the self-destructive behaviors are distinct and the pathways from despair to self-destructive behavior varied. The results draw into question the relevance of despair as a unifying framework for understanding the current crisis in midlife health and mortality
Mental Health Research Topics · Mental Health Treatment and Access · Psychology · Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
Self-medication with alcohol or drugs for mood and anxiety disorders
Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve in Diagnostic Test Assessment
The drug abuse screening test
Mortality and Morbidity in the 21st Century
Cohort Profile
Association Between Educational Attainment and Causes of Death Among White and Black US Adults, 2010-2017
A comprehensive review of the psychometric properties of the Drug Abuse Screening Test
Life Expectancy and Mortality Rates in the United States, 1959-2017
Suicide, Suicide Attempts, and Suicidal Ideation
Random Forests
Rising morbidity and mortality in midlife among white non-Hispanic Americans in the 21st century
Trends in Binge and Heavy Drinking among Adults in the United States, 2011–2017
Visualizing Age, Period, and Cohort Patterns of Substance Use in the U.S. Opioid Crisis
Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism
Mortality from Suicide, Chronic Liver Disease, and Drug Poisonings among Middle-Aged U.S. White Men and Women, 1980–2013
Growing sense of social status threat and concomitant deaths of despair among whites
Drug and Alcohol Abuse
Opioid-related mortality in rural America
More than a rural revolt
Trends in Mortality Risk by Education Level and Cause of Death Among US White Women From 1986 to 2006
Despair as a Cause of Death
The Depths of Despair Among US Adults Entering Midlife
Does Despair Really Kill? A Roadmap for an Evidence-Based Answer
Research Note
Trends in Life Expectancy and Lifespan Variation by Educational Attainment
Demographic and Geographic Variation in Fatal Drug Overdoses in the United States, 1999–2020
US Mortality in an International Context
Are employment and social integration more strongly associated with deaths of despair than psychological or economic distress
Defining despair
Understanding the health decline of Americans in boomers to millennials
Changes in mental health, pain, and drug misuse since the mid-1990s
Perception has its Own Reality
The Contemporary American Drug Overdose Epidemic in International Perspective
Deaths of Despair in Comparative Perspective
| Obras citantes distintas | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citações por ano | 1 |
| Intervalo de citações | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Velocidade de citação | current |
| Altamente citado | Não |