Factors affecting the distribution of psychological symptoms in urban areas of England.

A study is reported in which a number of sociodemographic variables are examined separately for their influence on psychological symptom levels in a sample of 232 people living in English cities. Sex, employment, education and social class are clearly related to symptom levels while age, marital status, social mobility and household crowding are not. Interactions between sex and unemployment of the spouse are also noted. The variables studied are also combined in a multiple regression analysis which resulted in a multiple correlation of 0.409. The implications of these findings for various hypotheses concerning the aetiology of variations in rates of psychological disturbance are considered.