The DOI matches its Crossref record; 40 of the 41 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Measurement for a Human Science
Abstract
This paper argues a number of points about measurement in the sociology of mental health: (1) measurement is critical, (2) measures should represent and assess elements of human experience, taking measure of life as people feel it, sense it, and understand it, and (3) social scientists should create a human science, producing information for the people it studies so that they can better understand and control their own lives. We argue that a human science is best achieved with the use of indexes, not diagnoses, to measure mental health. We present a brief history of diagnostic instruments and detail how a diagnosis is made. We show how use of diagnoses to measure mental health discounts much human suffering. They dichotomize the true range of feelings and emotions into crude either/or distinctions that do not reflect the reality of people's lives, and they often exclude suffering such as that due to loss or illness that does not meet medical model preconceptions about mental disorder. Using diagnoses to measure mental health presents a reified image of hidden disease knowable and manageable only by trained professionals--beyond the capacity of the suffering individuals to understand and control.
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“Psychological distress is de fi ned as a condition of emotional suffering characterized by symptoms such as hopelessness, sadness, and loss of interest, which are indicative of depression, and restlessness and a sense of tension, which are symptoms of anxiety (Mirowsky & Ross 2002).”
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“Notably, psychological distress can be measured and categorized according to the type of psychological problem and the severity of symptoms, regardless of diagnosis by a psychiatrist (9).”
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“…that may contribute to psychological distress (PD), namely “a state of emotional suffering characterized by symptoms of depression (e.g., lost interest; sadness; hopelessness) and anxiety (e.g., restlessness; feeling tense)” (Drapeau et al., 2012, p. 105; Mirowsky & Ross, 2002; Ridner, 2004).”
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“Psychological distress reflects women’s lived experiences of sadness, anxiety, anger, hope-lessness, and emotional strain, which may temporally precede, coincide with, or overlap with clinically defined common mental disorders [2,5].”
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“Complementing this perspective, Mirowsky and Ross (2002) argue that psychological distress represents a general indicator of emotional suffering resulting from exposure to adverse social, economic, and interpersonal conditions.”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Mirowsky, J., & Ross, C. E.
- Affiliations
- The Ohio State University (US)
- ORCID
- Ross, Catherine E.
- Venue
- Journal of Health and Social Behavior
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2002-06
- Volume
- 43
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 152
- ISSN
- 0022-1465 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2331656655
- Cited by
- 378
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 22 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 45 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 20 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 22.07
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Health and Social Behavior (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Mental Health and Psychiatry
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychology and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Keywords
- mental health measurement, human sciences, mental health index, psychiatric diagnosis, diagnostic tools, human suffering, emotions
- MeSH terms
- Attitude to Health, Mental Disorders, Diagnosis, Differential, Humans, Humanism, Mental Health, Sociology
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