scholarly journals Mental distress among young adults in Great Britain: long-term trends and early changes during the COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Gagné ◽  
I. Schoon ◽  
A. McMunn ◽  
A. Sacker
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Mental Distress ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Prevalence Ratio ◽  
Health Trends ◽  
Long Term Trends ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Purpose In Great Britain, few studies documented mental health trends in young adults in the years preceding 2020, the mental health dimensions affected, and how these compare with changes observed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Long-term trends in mental health among 16–34 year old men and women between 1991 and 2018, and changes between 2018–19 and July–September 2020 were examined using all waves from the British Household Panel Study (1991–2008), the UK Household Longitudinal Study (2009–20), and the first five UKHLS COVID-19 waves administered in April, May, June, July, and September 2020. Findings are based on the GHQ-12 continuous score (0–36), clinically significant cases (4 + /12) and severe cases (7 + /12) for mental distress, and item endorsements. Results Between 1991 and 2018, the prevalence of cases (4 + /12) increased from 14–22% to 19–32% across groups. Increases were largest in women aged 16–24. In April 2020, the risk of caseness (4 + /12) increased across groups by 55% to 80% compared to the 2018–19 baseline. This increase, however, rapidly diminished over time: in July–September 2020, there was only a higher risk of caseness (4 + /12) in men aged 25–34 (prevalence ratio = 1.29, 95% CI 1.01–1.65) compared to the 2018–19 baseline. Conclusion Whereas distress surged in April 2020, its return to pre-pandemic levels by September 2020 highlights the nuanced impact that the pandemic may have over time. Given the magnitude of the decline in mental health over the past decade, attention must be given to young adults once the pandemic ends.

The Effect of Suicide-Related Internet Use on Users’ Mental Health

Crisis ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 348-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hajime Sueki
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Suicidal Ideation ◽  
Internet Use ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Psychological Effects ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Suicide Methods ◽  
Internet Users

Background: Previous studies have shown that suicide-related Internet use can have both negative and positive psychological effects. Aims: This study examined the effect of suicide-related Internet use on users’ suicidal ideation, depression/anxiety tendency, and loneliness. Method: A two-wave panel study of 850 Internet users was conducted via the Internet. Results: Suicide-related Internet use (e.g., browsing websites about suicide methods) had negative effects on suicidal ideation and depression/anxiety tendency. No forms of suicide-related Internet use, even those that would generally be considered positive, were found to decrease users’ suicidal ideation. In addition, our results suggest that the greater the suicidal ideation and feelings of depression and loneliness of Internet users, the more they used the Internet. Conclusion: Since suicide-related Internet use can adversely influence the mental health of young adults, it is necessary to take measures to reduce their exposure to such information.

A Downward Spiral? A Panel Study of Misinformation and Media Trust in Chile

2021 ◽  
pp. 194016122110252
Author(s):  
Sebastián Valenzuela ◽  
Daniel Halpern ◽  
Felipe Araneda
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Downward Spiral ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Trust ◽  
People’S Attitudes ◽  
Over Time

Despite widespread concern, research on the consequences of misinformation on people's attitudes is surprisingly scant. To fill in this gap, the current study examines the long-term relationship between misinformation and trust in the news media. Based on the reinforcing spirals model, we analyzed data from a three-wave panel survey collected in Chile between 2017 and 2019. We found a weak, over-time relationship between misinformation and media skepticism. Specifically, initial beliefs on factually dubious information were negatively correlated with subsequent levels of trust in the news media. Lower trust in the media, in turn, was related over time to higher levels of misinformation. However, we found no evidence of a reverse, parallel process where media trust shielded users against misinformation, further reinforcing trust in the news media. The lack of evidence of a downward spiral suggests that the corrosive effects of misinformation on attitudes toward the news media are less serious than originally suggested. We close with a discussion of directions for future research.

Psychotic disorders in young adults with perinatally acquired HIV: a UK case series

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
I. Mallik ◽  
T. Pasvol ◽  
G. Frize ◽  
S. Ayres ◽  
A. Barrera ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Young People ◽  
Case Series ◽  
Psychotic Episode ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Perinatally Acquired

Abstract Background Increasing numbers of children with perinatally acquired HIV (PaHIV) are transitioning into adult care. People living with behaviourally acquired HIV are known to be at more risk of psychosis than uninfected peers. Young adults living with PaHIV face numerous risk factors; biological: lifelong exposure to a neurotrophic virus, antiretroviral medication and immune dysfunction during brain development, and environmental; social deprivation, ethnicity-related discrimination, and migration-related issues. To date, there is little published data on the prevalence of psychotic illness in young people growing up with PaHIV. Methods We conducted a retrospective case note review of all individuals with PaHIV aged over 18 years registered for follow up at a dedicated clinic in the UK (n = 184). Results In total, 12/184 (6.5%), median age 23 years (interquartile range 21–26), had experienced at least one psychotic episode. The presentation and course of the psychotic episodes experienced by our cohort varied from short-lived symptoms to long term illness and nine (75%) appear to have developed a severe and enduring mental illness requiring long term care. Conclusion The prevalence of psychosis in our cohort was clearly above the lifetime prevalence of psychosis in UK individuals aged 16–34 years, which has been reported to be 0.5–1.0%. This highlights the importance of clinical vigilance regarding the mental health of young people growing up with PaHIV and the need to integrate direct access to mental health services within the HIV centres providing medical care.

Do Materialistic Adolescents Ruminate More About Their Social Media Posts?

2020 ◽  
pp. 0044118X2098417
Author(s):  
Keeley Hynes ◽  
Daniel G. Lannin ◽  
Jeremy B. Kanter ◽  
Ani Yazedjian ◽  
Margaret M. Nauta
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Mental Distress ◽  
External Validation ◽  
Value Orientation ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Over Time

Previous research suggests that ruminating on social media content is associated with greater mental distress (Yang et al., 2018). This study examined whether materialistic value orientation (MVO)—prioritizing values and goals related to consumerism, consumption, and social status—predicted social media rumination in a sample of diverse adolescents in a two-wave cross-lagged design. A cross-lagged analysis among 119 adolescents indicated that MVO at Wave 1 predicted greater social media rumination 4 months later at Wave 2, but social media rumination at Wave 1 did not predict MVO at Wave 2. Cross-lagged results suggested that MVO may lead to greater social media rumination over time for diverse adolescents. Adolescents with MVO could benefit from interventions to reduce the effects of their need for external validation and maladaptive rumination, as external validation and maladaptive rumination are linked to behaviors and thoughts that can be harmful to mental health.

scholarly journals Long-Term Trends in News Content

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edda Humprecht ◽  
Linards Udris
Keyword(s):  
International Comparisons ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
Steady Increase ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
News Content ◽  
National Differences ◽  
Long Term Trends ◽  
Over Time ◽  
The Way

The way news is produced and consumed has changed dramatically during the first two decades of the 21st century due to digitalization and economic pressures. In a globalized world, current events are reported in almost real time in various countries and are diffused rapidly via social media. Thus much scholarly attention is devoted to determining whether these developments have changed news content. Comparative research in the area of journalism focuses on whether news content across countries converges over time and to what degree national differences persist across countries. When studying the research on long-term trends in news content, three main observations can be made. First, theoretical assumptions are often rooted in different models of democracies, but they are rarely explicitly discussed. Second, many studies focus on the organizational level using theoretical concepts related to increased market orientation of news outlets, such as personalization, emotionalization, or scandalization. Furthermore, commercialization is associated with the effects of digitalization and globalization, namely, decreased advertising revenues and increased competition. A commonly expressed fear is that these changes have consequences for democracy and informed citizenship. Third, in recent years, there has been a steady increase of studies employing international comparisons as well as a growing standardization for measurements. These developments lead to more multicountry studies based on large samples but come at the expense of more fine-grained analysis of the way news content changes over time. Finally, the vast majority of cross-national and single-country studies focus on Western democracies. Thus our knowledge about recent changes in news content is limited to a small set of countries. Overall, many studies provide evidence for constant changes of news content driven by social, political, and economic developments. However, different media systems exhibit a sustained resilience toward transnational pressures reflected in a persistence of national differences in news content over time.

Sleep Patterns and Affect Dynamics Among College Students during COVID-19 Pandemic (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahra Mousavi ◽  
Jocelyn Lai ◽  
Katharine Simon ◽  
Alexander P. Rivera ◽  
Asal Yunusova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Longitudinal Design ◽  
Sleep Onset ◽  
Sleep Time ◽  
Sleep Onset Latency ◽  
Sleep Patterns ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Affect Dynamics

BACKGROUND Sleep disturbance is a transdiagnostic risk factor so prevalent among young adults it is considered a public health epidemic, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Sleep may contribute to mental health via affect dynamics. Prior literature on contribution of sleep to affect is largely based on correlational studies or experiments that do not generalize to the daily lives of young adults. Furthermore, the literature examining the associations between sleep variability and affect dynamics remains scant. OBJECTIVE In an ecologically valid context, using an intensive longitudinal design, we aimed to assess the daily and long-term associations between sleep patterns and affect dynamics among young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS College student participants (N=20, 65% female) wore an Oura ring continuously for 3-months to measure sleep patterns, such as average and variability in total sleep time (TST), wake after sleep onset (WASO), sleep efficiency (SE), and sleep onset latency (SOL), resulting in 1173 unique observations. We administered a daily ecological momentary assessment (EMA) using a mobile health app to evaluate positive (PA) and negative affect (NA), and COVID-worry once per day. RESULTS Participants with higher SOL and TST on the prior day had lower PA the next day. Further, higher average TST across the 3-month period predicted lower average PA. TST variability predicted higher affect variability across all affect domains. CONCLUSIONS Fluctuating sleep patterns are associated with affect dynamics at daily and long-term scales. Low PA and affect variability may be potential pathways through which sleep has implications for mental health.

Mental Health among Children and Young Adults with Visual Impairments: A Systematic Review

2017 ◽  
Vol 111 (5) ◽  
pp. 411-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liv Berit Augestad
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Longitudinal Design ◽  
Visual Impairments ◽  
Emotional Problems ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Children And Young Adults ◽  
Over Time

Introduction The purpose of this study was to summarize current scientific knowledge relating to the occurrence of mood disorders among children with visual impairments. Methods A systematic review was conducted of articles published between January 1998 and July 2016, inclusive. A total of 17 publications met the inclusion criteria, of which 15 reported studies with a cross-sectional design. The 17 publications represent 13 countries. Results The majority of the studies suggested that children and young adults with visual impairments had more emotional problems than did their sighted peers. In addition, girls with visual impairments more often experienced serious symptoms of depression and anxiety than did boys with visual impairments, a finding that was in line with results for the general population. Two studies with a longitudinal design suggested that emotional problems among children and young adults with visual impairments might lessen over time. Discussion Due to the different research purposes, study designs, definitions of visual impairment, participants’ age ranges, cultures, countries, small sample sizes, measurements, and analyses of mental health, the overall results of the reviewed studies were inconsistent. To give children the best opportunities for good mental health, there is a need for more knowledge and for further longitudinal and randomized studies of high quality. Implications for practitioners Social support, friendship, and independence in mobility seem to be important for enhancing the mental health of all children. Children with earlier onset and more severe visual impairments may be less likely to experience a reduction in their mental health problems over time.

Long-term outcome of a mental health promotion program in Germany

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 532-540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Lyssenko ◽  
Gerhard Müller ◽  
Nikolaus Kleindienst ◽  
Christian Schmahl ◽  
Mathias Berger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Mental Distress ◽  
Satisfaction With Life ◽  
Mental Health Promotion ◽  
Study Entry ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Long Term Outcome

Summary Mental health promotion programs (MHP) seek to reduce sub-syndromal symptoms of mental distress and enhance positive mental health. This study evaluates the long-term effects of a mindfulness-based MHP program (‘Life Balance’) provided by health coaches in a multi-site field setting on mental distress, satisfaction with life and resilience. Using a controlled design, propensity score matching was used to select a control group for participants of the MHP. The total study sample (N = 3624) comprised 83% women, with a mean age of 50 years. Data was collected via mailings 1 year after study entry. Results suggest participants experience reduced emotional distress at 12-month follow-up, with a medium between-group effect size (d = 0.40) for those participants who showed clinically relevant symptoms of mental distress at study entry. The effects of the program were more pronounced in participants with higher initial distress scores. New cases of psychopathological symptoms were prevented in 1 of 16 participants. Satisfaction with life and resilience were enhanced significantly. Our data suggest ‘Life Balance’ shows long-term effectiveness and indicate it is possible to design MHP programs that serve as both primary and indicated prevention, and that these programs can be applied on a population basis.

Remarkable lives: Jen Waring in conversation with Jerome Carson

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 153-159
Author(s):  
Jen Waring ◽  
Jerome Carson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Distress ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Many ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of Jen Waring. Design/methodology/approach – Jen provides a short biographical description of her life. She is then interviewed by Jerome. Findings – Jen talks about her long battle with mental health problems and what has sustained her over this time. She talks about the crucial importance of support from both loved ones and professionals, as well as medication. Research limitations/implications – Single case studies are of course just one person’s story. Given Jen is an academic biologist, she not only has a unique way of looking at mental illness, she can see the potential of developing approaches in the biological understanding for people experiencing mental distress. Practical implications – Jen’s account shows the need for long-term support for more severe mental health problems. There are no quick fixes! It also highlights the need for interventions at biological, psychological and social levels. Social implications – People need “somewhere to live, someone to love and something meaningful to do” (Rachel Perkins). Many sufferers do not have all three. Services may only be able to provide two of these. Originality/value – Accounts of mental illness recovery by academics can often provide the authors with amazing insights into the world of the mentally distressed. They can also serve as an inspiration to the many students who experience mental distress.

scholarly journals Cardiff English: A Real Time Study of Stability and Change between Childhood and Mid-Adulthood

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-77
Author(s):  
Inger Margrethe Mees ◽  
Christina Høøck Osorno
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Time Study ◽  
Linguistic Variables ◽  
Stylistic Variation ◽  
Stability And Change ◽  
The Third ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Made In

This article describes a real time panel study of a small number of working and middle class female speakers recorded in Cardiff at three points in time over a period of 35 years. The first recordings were made in 1977 when the informants were ten years old. The second date from 1990 when they were young adults, and the third from 2011 when they had entered into midadulthood. The linguistic variables investigated were h-dropping and the realisation of /r/ as an approximant or tap. Three issues were addressed. First, the two variables were categorised into indicators or markers/stereotypes on the basis of social and stylistic variation. This served as a basis for the second question, which was to discover if the patterns of change over time were in accordance with those predicted by the literature, with indicators remaining stable and markers/stereotypes being age-graded. Finally, we looked at individual variation.

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