PSYC496AV Lecture Notes - Statistical Significance, Anxiety Disorder, Internal Validity
Document Summary
Epidemiology is the study of the frequency and distribution of a disordered in a population or population period fo time a year. Data re gathered about the rates of a disorder and its possible correlates in a large samples. Epediologioical research focuses on determining three features of a disorder: 1) prevalence- the proportion of a population that has the disorder at a given point or. 2) incidence- the # of new cases of the disorder that occur in some period of time usually. 3) risk factors- conditions or variables that if present increase the likelihood of developing the disorder. Knowing this stuff is imp for planning health care facilities, services, etc. Depression is twice as common in women than men. Thus gender is a risk factor and this knowledge led to a theory of depression that suggests its due to a style of coping with stress that is more common in women than men.