Dissertations and Theses
Date of Award
2024
Document Type
Thesis
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Deidre M. Anglin
Keywords
Psychosis, Schizophrenia, Social Determinants, Mental Health Disparities, Loneliness, Epigenetics
Abstract
This study examined social determinants in individuals diagnosed with psychotic disorders in a large, diverse, sample from the NIH-sponsored All of Us Research Program. Participants completed self-report measures of loneliness, perceived stress, everyday discrimination, and neighborhood social cohesion. Analyses showed that individuals with a diagnosis of a psychotic disorder experience significantly more feelings of loneliness, stress, everyday discrimination, and poorer neighborhood social cohesion compared to individuals without any diagnosis of a mental disorder as well as compared to individuals who may have other mental disorders other than psychosis. We further examined racial difference among individuals with psychotic disorders and found that black individuals experienced significantly more everyday discrimination and poorer neighborhood social cohesion compared to white individuals, while white individuals reported significantly more perceived stress and feelings of loneliness compared to black individuals. Further investigation on adverse social determinants associated with psychosis is warranted. Social determinants may have an individual impact on psychosis, as well as through exacerbating individual vulnerabilities such as neurobiological factors and genetic predispositions. Research with large, diverse, publicly available datasets such as All of Us can encourage a social epigenetic approach to exert a greater impact on reducing mental health disparities on a societal level.
Recommended Citation
Selloni, Alexandria, "Social Determinants of Psychosis: An examination of loneliness, stress, discrimination, and neighborhood cohesion in psychotic disorders" (2024). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/1163