scholarly journals Science Gallery Dublin—Open Mind: Improving Mental Health of Young People

2021 ◽  
pp. 119-127
Author(s):  
Grace D’Arcy ◽  
Ilaria Mariani

AbstractTo face the challenge of improving mental health and well-being with young people, Science Gallery Dublin initiates a high-school programme for mentorship among students. Involving academics, NGO’s, psychologists, parents, teachers, college and high-school students, ‘Open Mind’ intends to use hobbies and individual attitudes for favouring empowerment and the overall atmosphere of the school, also leading to a long-term increased well-being and fewer mental health issues.

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-163
Author(s):  
Myung Sun Hyun ◽  
Mi-kyung Yun ◽  
Sun-Mi Chae ◽  
Hee Young Oh ◽  
Sun-Mi Jung

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a positive psychology-based mental health promotion program for high school students. Methods: This study used a randomized control group pretest-posttest design. A total of 47 high school students participated from two high schools in Gyeonggi Province. They were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n=24), which participated in the 8-session program, or to a control group (n=23). Psychological well-being, depression, and self-esteem were measured. Results: A significant difference in psychological well-being was observed between the two groups after the program. However, there were no significant between-group differences in depression or self-esteem. Conclusion: The positive psychology-based mental program was effective at increasing psychological well-being in adolescents, especially high school students. This study suggests that a school curriculum could incorporate positive psychology-based mental programs for high school students to promote their mental health.


2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-203
Author(s):  
Wuri Prasetyawati ◽  
Tjut Rifameutia ◽  
Robyn Gillies ◽  
Peter Newcombe

Well-being is an indicator of students’ happiness in school. There is currently a need to identify students’ well-being in order to know the conditions of students’ mental health and their levels of contentment in school. The existing instruments of student well-being in Indonesia have numerous items, which can impact the participants’ behavior in filling out the questionnaires. Therefore, there was a need for a shorter version of the instruments. This research focused on the adaption of the Brief Adolescent Subjective Well-Being in School Scale (BASWBSS), an instrument for subjective well-being with only eight items and was previously developed by Tian, Wang, and Huebner (2015) among high school students in China. A total of 235 Indonesian students, both high school and first-year university students were the participants in this study. Reliability testing using internal consistency, while construct and criterion validity testing was implemented to test this scale's psychometric properties in the Indonesian context. The result of this study indicated that the adaptation of Brief Adolescent Subjective Well-Being in School Scale (BASWBSS) was valid and reliable for Indonesian students. Kesejahteraan merupakan indikator kebahagiaan siswa di sekolah. Saat ini, terdapat kebutuhan mengidentifikasi kesejahteraan siswa untuk mengetahui kondisi kesehatan mental dan tingkat kepuasan mereka di sekolah. Alat ukur kesejahteraan siswa yang ada di Indonesia memiliki banyak butir pertanyaan, yang dapat berdampak pada perilaku partisipan dalam mengisi kuesioner. Karenanya, dibutuhkan versi pendek dari alat ukur tersebut. Penelitian ini berfokus pada adaptasi Brief Adolescent Subjective Well-Being in School Scale (BASWBSS), sebuah alat ukur kesejahteraan subjektif dengan delapan butir yang dikembangkan oleh Tian, Wang, dan Huebner (2015) untuk siswa sekolah menengah atas di Tiongkok. Sebanyak 235 siswa Indonesia, yang merupakan siswa sekolah menengah atas dan mahasiswa tahun pertama, menjadi partisipan dalam penelitian ini. Uji reliabilitas dilakukan menggunakan konsistensi internal, sedangkan uji validitas konstruk dan validitas kriteria digunakan untuk menguji aspek psikometri dalam konteks Indonesia. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa hasil adaptasi dari Brief Adolescent Subjective Well-Being in School Scale (BASWBSS) valid dan reliabel untuk siswa di Indonesia.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Dale ◽  
MMag. Dr. Andrea Jesser ◽  
Teresa O´Rourke ◽  
Thomas Probst ◽  
Elke Humer ◽  
...  

<p>The COVID-19 pandemic and containment efforts seem to be particularly challenging for adolescents. This study assessed mental health in 14- to 20-year-old high school students 1.5 years after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Austria. A cross-sectional survey was carried out from 14<sup>th</sup> September 2021 to 14<sup>th</sup> November 2021. Well-being (WHO-5), depressive symptoms (PHQ-9), anxiety symptoms (GAD-7) and sleep quality (ISI) were assessed. A total of 1505 adolescents participated (77.9% girls). The cut-off for clinically relevant depressive symptoms (i.e., PHQ-9 score, ≥11) was exceeded by 61.9% girls and 38.1% boys and 49.3% girls and 28.8% boys had clinically relevant anxiety symptoms (i.e., GAD-7 score, ≥11). Clinically relevant moderate insomnia (i.e., ISI score, ≥15) was reported by 27.5% girls and 16.7% boys. The prevalence of suicidal ideation (item 9 of the PHQ-9) within the last 2 weeks was 46.8% in girls and 32.0% in boys. These data collected in autumn 2021 (at the start of the second semester of reopened schools; t2) were compared to data collected in February 2021 (one semester after almost exclusively remote schooling; t1). A matched pairs analysis according to age, gender, region, school type and migration background resulted in a total sample size of N = 2514 adolescents (70.1% females). Results showed small reduction in mental health (i.e., well-being, depressive symptoms, insomnia, suicidal ideation) in girls at t2 compared to t1, and an increase in suicidal thoughts in boys (all <i>p</i>-values <0.05). Results suggest that mental health burden in adolescents remained high 1.5 years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and highlight the need to implement timely psychological support. </p>


Author(s):  
Min-Pei Lin

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has significantly disrupted normal activities globally. During this epidemic, people around the world were expected to encounter several mental health challenges. In particular, Internet addiction may become a serious issue among teens. Consequently, this study aimed to examine the prevalence of Internet addiction and identify the psychosocial risk factors during the COVID-19 outbreak. This study was constructed using a cross-sectional design with 1060 participants recruited from among junior high school students around Taiwan using stratified and cluster sampling methods. Taiwan’s first COVID-19 case was diagnosed on 28 January 2020. New cases exploded rapidly in February, and as a result, participants were surveyed during March 2 through 27 March 2020. The prevalence of Internet addiction was found to be 24.4% during this period. High impulsivity, high virtual social support, older in age, low subjective well-being, low family function, and high alexithymia was all independently predictive in the forward logistic regression analyses. The prevalence rate of Internet addiction was high among junior high school students during the COVID-19 outbreak. Results from this study can be used to help mental health organizations and educational agencies design programs that will help prevent Internet addiction in adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziggi Ivan Santini ◽  
Veronica S. C. Pisinger ◽  
Line Nielsen ◽  
Katrine Rich Madsen ◽  
Malene Kubstrup Nelausen ◽  
...  

Background: Previous research has suggested that social disconnectedness experienced at school is linked to mental health problems, however, more research is needed to investigate (1) whether the accumulation of various types of social disconnectedness is associated with risk for mental health problems, and (2) whether loneliness is a mechanism that explains these associations.Methods: Using data from the Danish National Youth Study 2019 (UNG19), nation-wide cross-sectional data from 29,086 high school students in Denmark were analyzed to assess associations between social disconnectedness experienced at school (lack of classmate support, lack of teacher support, lack of class social cohesion, and not being part of the school community) and various mental health outcomes, as well as the mediating role of loneliness for each type of disconnectedness. Multilevel regression analyses were conducted to assess the associations.Results: Descriptive analyses suggest that 27.5% of Danish high school students experience at least one type of social disconnectedness at school. Each type of social disconnectedness was positively associated with mental health problems (depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, stress, sleep problems, suicidal ideation, non-suicidal self-injury, eating disorder, body dissatisfaction, and low self-esteem) and negatively associated with mental well-being. In all cases, loneliness significantly mediated the associations. We found a clear dose-response pattern, where each addition in types of social disconnectedness was associated with (1) stronger negative coefficients with mental well-being and (2) stronger positive coefficients with mental health problems.Conclusion: Our results add to a large evidence-base suggesting that mental health problems among adolescents may be prevented by promoting social connectedness at school. More specifically, fostering social connectedness at school may prevent loneliness, which in turn may promote mental well-being and prevent mental health problems during the developmental stages of adolescence. It is important to note that focusing on single indicators of school social connectedness/disconnectedness would appear to be insufficient. Implications for practices within school settings to enhance social connectedness are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 10442
Author(s):  
Hedviga Tkáčová ◽  
Martina Pavlíková ◽  
Zita Jenisová ◽  
Patrik Maturkanič ◽  
Roman Králik

Various forms of social media (SM) appear to be very popular among young people because they provide information and entertainment, including a wide range of web technologies such as blogs, wikis, online social networks, and virtual networks. SM plays a huge role in the lives of children and teenagers, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the computer becomes not only a means of entertainment or leisure, but also a necessary and everyday means of education and communication with other people. Thus, COVID-19 has brought a radical change, not only in the daily schedule and leisure time of pupils and students, but also in the perception of the procedures used by this specific group in the online space. Through our own research, using structured interviews and a questionnaire, we examine the use of SM as a tool to promote sustainable well-being in a group of high school students from various schools in central Slovak Republic (formerly Czechoslovakia). The research confirms that during the pandemic, the use of SM by the young respondents contributes significantly to well-being. This is the case when SM is used by high school students as a tool in promoting: (1) personal interests; (2) motivation; (3) communication and interpersonal connectivity; (4) preferred forms of online education; and (5) online games. The article presents a set of recommendations regarding the use of SM as a tool for sustaining the well-being of young people during the pandemic.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya E. Rao ◽  
Dhananjai M. Rao

The American Psychological Association (APA) reports 81% of Gen Z teens (ages 13–17) have experienced more intense stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study uses a survey-based approach along with robust statistical analyses to identify key stressors from a set of students in a high school in Midwest United States. Our survey includes a broad range of stressors (15 explanatory variables) specific to high schoolers, controls (4 factors for pre-existing conditions), and mental health estimators (7 dependent variables) to identify changes in mental wellbeing during the pandemic. The results (n = 107) show good consistency in our estimators (Cronbach’s α = 0.78) and statistically significant (t = 0.636, p ≪ 0.001) degradation in the mental health. Correlation (r = 0.2, p = 0.034) and regression analysis showed that online learning (β1 = -0.96, p = 0.004) has the most influence on degradation in mental health, with some race-based differences. Exercise time helps reduce mental health degradation (β3 = -0.153, p = 0.037). Many other factors such as gender, homework time, school time, pre-existing mental health issues, and therapy did not have a significant influence on mental health degradation. Analysis of freeform feedback identified the following three recurring themes: increased stress due homework (13.2%), social isolation or lack of social interactions (8.5%), and lack of support for mental wellbeing (12.3%).


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-141
Author(s):  
Joachim Meier

The purpose of this article is to develop an account of existential suffering in youth. According to recent studies, a growing amount of young Westerners has come to suffer from mental disorders, stress, and a general lack of well-being. It is suggested however that the massive concern for young people's mental health might risk contributing to an increased pathologization of all kinds of suffering in youth. In continuation hereof the article aims at disclosing a suffering that is not pathological in kind but quite the contrary clings to existence. Based on interviews with three Danish high school students, regarding their experiences of bad conscience in their everyday lives, it is revealed how they suffer from matters conceivable as normative implications of fundamental conditions of existence such as freedom, finitude and the Other. In the end, critical concerns are raised regarding the normative evaluation of existential suffering as a necessity. That is, should we not always be against suffering?


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