Objectives: To determine the prevalence, age of onset, severity, associated disability, and treatment of major depression among United States ethnic groups, national survey data were analyzed.Methods: National probability samples of US household residents ages 18-years and older (N=14,710) participated. The main outcomes were past-year and lifetime major depression (World Mental Health Composite International Diagnostic Interview). Major depression prevalence estimates, age of onset, severity, associated disability, and disaggregated treatment use (pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy) and treatment guideline concordant use were examined by ethnicity. Results:The prevalence of major depression was higher among US-born ethnic groups compared to foreign-born groups, but not among older adults. African Americans and Mexicans had significantly higher depression chronicity and significantly lower depression care use and guideline concordant use than Whites. Discussion:We provide concise and detailed guidance for better understanding the distribution of major depression and related mental healthcare inequalities and related morbidity. Inequalities in depression care primarily affecting Mexican Americans and African Americans may relate to excesses in major depression disease burden.

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Smokers (N = 116) were administered the Questionnaire of Smoking Urges (QSU; S. T. Tiffany & D. J. Drobes, 1991) to explore the measurement of drug urges or cravings. Confirmatory factor analysis replicated the 2-factor structure, using the 6 best items on each of the QSU factors, although further analyses indicated that 1 conceptual factor may be a better fit. Three different categories of internally consistent items were identified within the QSU: urges to smoke, expectancies from smoking, and intentions to smoke. Path-modeling techniques were used to demonstrate patterns of interrelationships among these categories. Despite the widespread criticism of single-item scales, the present approach indicated that they are useful. In this sample, a 2-item or 3-item "desire" scale effectively measured urges to smoke. Complex scales can obscure the direct measurement of urges or cravings for a cigarette. Kozlowski and Wilkinson (1987a, 1987b) proposed that the study of drug urges ("cravings") necessarily involves the study of selfreports of the intensity of the desire to use drugs and that ideal studies should include behavioral measures of drug taking and measures of biological events as well as subjective reports. Self-report measures are commonly used in drug research to establish urges to use drugs, but there has been relatively little work on how best to ask questions about drug urges.In the smoking literature, self-report measures of urges vary in length, content, and complexity and frequently include wording such as "craving a cigarette," "desire to smoke," "urge to smoke," "missing a cigarette," "need to smoke," and "want to smoke." Numerous measures have included one or two face-valid items rated with fixed-point Likert-type scales (e.g.,

The knowledge gained from studying diverse populations should help to address inequities and prepare us to deal with the needs of the increasing number of older minorities in this country. At the same time, research that is not properly conducted threatens to lead us astray and misconstrue relationships and outcomes related to behavioral aspects of aging. In this article, we propose that simple comparisons between groups are neither necessary nor sufficient to advance our understanding of ethnic minorities. We discuss common pitfalls conducted in group-differences research, including a specific treatment on the issue of statistical power issues. Our goal is to encourage the use of multiple methodological designs in the study of issues related to racial and ethnic minorities by demonstrating some of the advantages of lesser employed approaches.

Genes and the environment contribute to variation in adult body mass index [BMI (in kg/m)], but factors modifying these variance components are poorly understood. We analyzed genetic and environmental variation in BMI between men and women from young adulthood to old age from the 1940s to the 2000s and between cultural-geographic regions representing high (North America and Australia), moderate (Europe), and low (East Asia) prevalence of obesity. We used genetic structural equation modeling to analyze BMI in twins ≥20 y of age from 40 cohorts representing 20 countries (140,379 complete twin pairs). The heritability of BMI decreased from 0.77 (95% CI: 0.77, 0.78) and 0.75 (95% CI: 0.74, 0.75) in men and women 20-29 y of age to 0.57 (95% CI: 0.54, 0.60) and 0.59 (95% CI: 0.53, 0.65) in men 70-79 y of age and women 80 y of age, respectively. The relative influence of unique environmental factors correspondingly increased. Differences in the sets of genes affecting BMI in men and women increased from 20-29 to 60-69 y of age. Mean BMI and variances in BMI increased from the 1940s to the 2000s and were greatest in North America and Australia, followed by Europe and East Asia. However, heritability estimates were largely similar over measurement years and between regions. There was no evidence of environmental factors shared by co-twins affecting BMI. The heritability of BMI decreased and differences in the sets of genes affecting BMI in men and women increased from young adulthood to old age. The heritability of BMI was largely similar between cultural-geographic regions and measurement years, despite large differences in mean BMI and variances in BMI. Our results show a strong influence of genetic factors on BMI, especially in early adulthood, regardless of the obesity level in the population.