Exploring for idioms of distress used by individuals under community corrections

Abstract

Major Depressive Disorder and psychological distress in general often go unreported in correctional populations. A common technique used to capture underreporting of symptoms is to probe for idioms of distress, or culturally appropriate means of conveying symptoms. The present study assessed if idioms of distress, specifically self-report of physical complaints and stress, could add incremental validity to diagnosing depression in a community corrections sample. Participants (N = 512) underwent a clinical interview and responded to questionnaires assessing stress, physical complaints, demographics, and mood. After controlling for relevant covariates and self-report of depressive symptoms, a logistic regression predicting a diagnosis of depression indicated that both stress and self-report of physical complaints were significant predictors. Gender and self-report of depression were also significant. These findings suggest that a deeper examination of the idioms of distress used by correctional populations is warranted.