NORMALITY, DEVIANCE AND MINOR PSYCHIATRIC MORBIDITY IN THE COMMUNITY - A POPULATION-BASED APPROACH TO GENERAL HEALTH QUESTIONNAIRE DATA IN THE HEALTH AND LIFE-STYLE SURVEY

This paper investigates factors affecting the distribution of psychiat ric morbidity in the community. It identifies a close relationship bet ween mean Chronic General Health Questionnaire (CGHQ) scores in subdiv isions of a large random sample of the community (the Health and Lifes tyle Survey, N = 6317) and the prevalence in these groups of abnormal, above-threshold CGHQ scores. The frequency distributions of CGHQ scor es in these different populations move up and down as a whole: like ot her physiological and behavioural attributes, these mental health outc omes in individuals are associated with characteristics of the populat ions in which they arise. Populations thus carry a collective responsi bility for their own mental health and well-being. This implies that e xplanations for the differing prevalence rates of psychiatric morbidit y must be sought in the characteristics of their parent populations; a nd control measures are unlikely to succeed if they do not involve pop ulation-wide changes.