scholarly journals Health behaviour changes during COVID-19 and the potential consequences: A mini-review

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 1155-1163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Arora ◽  
Ian Grey
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
Substance Use ◽  
Health Behaviours ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Long Term Consequences ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
Behaviour Changes ◽  
Mental Health Effects

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about profound changes to social behaviour. While calls to identify mental health effects that may stem from these changes should be heeded, there is also a need to examine potential changes with respect to health behaviours. Media reports have signalled dramatic shifts in sleep, substance use, physical activity and diet, which may have subsequent downstream mental health consequences. We briefly discuss the interplay between health behaviours and mental health, and the possible changes in these areas resulting from anti-pandemic measures. We also highlight a call for greater research efforts to address the short and long-term consequences of changes to health behaviours.

scholarly journals Changes in Modifiable Health Behaviors During the Pandemic and Effects on Mental Health: Evidence From England

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 236-236
Author(s):  
Giorgio Di Gessa ◽  
Paola Zaninotto
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
Older People ◽  
Health Behaviours ◽  
Depression And Anxiety ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
June July ◽  
English Longitudinal Study

Abstract COVID-19 mitigation efforts (including lockdowns and advice to stay at home as much as possible) are likely to have resulted in changes in health behaviours such as the amount of sleep, physical exercise, alcohol use, and eating. To date, little is known about how and to what extent these changes in health behaviours since the beginning of the pandemic are related to mental health. Using pre-pandemic data from Wave 9 (2018/19) and from two Covid-19 sub-studies (with data collection in June/July and November/December 2020) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, we investigate how changes in health behaviour during the initial months of the pandemic are associated with subsequent mental health among older people. In our regression analyses, we considered depression and anxiety and controlled for pre-pandemic measures of mental health. Between March and June/July 2020, about a third of older people reported less physical activity; one in five less sleep; and one in ten eating less food and drinking more. Compared to respondents who did not change their behaviours, those who reported sleeping and eating both more and less, and who mentioned less physical activity were more likely to report depression and anxiety, even taking into account pre-pandemic mental health. An increase in drinking was also marginally associated with higher depression. Policymakers should encourage older people who have engaged in unhealthier behaviours to modify them to reduce the negative long-term effects on their mental health.

Barriers to Physical Activity in Adolescents

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 47-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadine Langguth ◽  
Tanja Könen ◽  
Simone Matulis ◽  
Regina Steil ◽  
Caterina Gawrilow ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Leisure Activities ◽  
Outcome Expectations ◽  
Multidimensional Approach ◽  
Factor Analyses ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Tailored Interventions ◽  
Long Term Consequences ◽  
Age Range

During adolescence, physical activity (PA) decreases with potentially serious, long-term consequences for physical and mental health. Although barriers have been identified as an important PA correlate in adults, research on adolescents’ PA barriers is lacking. Thus reliable, valid scales to measure adolescents’ PA barriers are needed. We present two studies describing a broad range of PA barriers relevant to adolescents with a multidimensional approach. In Study 1, 124 adolescents (age range = 12 – 24 years) reported their most important PA barriers. Two independent coders categorized those barriers. The most frequent PA barriers were incorporated in a multidimensional questionnaire. In Study 2, 598 adolescents (age range = 13 – 21 years) completed this questionnaire and reported their current PA, intention, self-efficacy, and negative outcome expectations. Seven PA barrier dimensions (leisure activities, lack of motivation, screen-based sedentary behavior, depressed mood, physical health, school workload, and preconditions) were confirmed in factor analyses. A multidimensional approach to measuring PA barriers in adolescents is reliable and valid. The current studies provide the basis for developing individually tailored interventions to increase PA in adolescents.

THE POWER OF TESTS: A CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE ON THE USES OF LANGUAGE TESTS.Elana Shohamy. London: Longman, 2001. Pp. xxvi + 182. £18.99 paper.

2002 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 644-645 ◽  
Author(s):  
April Ginther
Keyword(s):  
School Administrators ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Motivating Factors ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Power Of Tests ◽  
Language Tests ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Long Term Consequences

In the introduction to The power of tests: A critical perspective on the uses of language tests, Elana Shohamy raises the following questions: What is the meaning of a test for test takers, parents, teachers, and school administrators? What are the short- and long-term consequences of tests on the lives of individuals? What are the motivating factors behind the administration of language tests? What are the politics of the tests? These kinds of questions logically arise when the examination of testing includes a concern with the use of tests by educational institutions, policy makers, and society at large. Focusing primarily on the misuse of tests, this volume chronicles both intended and unintended test consequences.

scholarly journals Understanding the interplay of individual and social–developmental factors in the progression of substance use and mental health from childhood to adulthood

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 721-741 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiffany M. Jones ◽  
Karl G. Hill ◽  
Marina Epstein ◽  
Jungeun Olivia Lee ◽  
J. David Hawkins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Substance Use ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Developmental Factors ◽  
Substance Use Problems ◽  
History Of ◽  
Individual Functioning ◽  
Family History Of Depression ◽  
History Of Depression

AbstractThis study examines the interplay between individual and social–developmental factors in the development of positive functioning, substance use problems, and mental health problems. This interplay is nested within positive and negative developmental cascades that span childhood, adolescence, the transition to adulthood, and adulthood. Data are drawn from the Seattle Social Development Project, a gender-balanced, ethnically diverse community sample of 808 participants interviewed 12 times from ages 10 to 33. Path modeling showed short- and long-term cascading effects of positive social environments, family history of depression, and substance-using social environments throughout development. Positive family social environments set a template for future partner social environment interaction and had positive influences on proximal individual functioning, both in the next developmental period and long term. Family history of depression adversely affected mental health functioning throughout adulthood. Family substance use began a cascade of substance-specific social environments across development, which was the pathway through which increasing severity of substance use problems flowed. The model also indicated that adolescent, but not adult, individual functioning influenced selection into positive social environments, and significant cross-domain effects were found in which substance-using social environments affected subsequent mental health.

Consequences of prenatal substance use

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thitinart Sithisarn ◽  
Don T. Granger ◽  
Henrietta S. Bada
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Substance Use ◽  
Behavioral Problems ◽  
Drug Exposure ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Child And Adolescent ◽  
In Utero ◽  
Major Public Health Problem ◽  
Prenatal Substance Use

Abstract Background: Prenatal substance use is a major public health problem and a social morbidity, with consequences on the drug user and the offspring. Objective: This review focuses on the child and adolescent outcomes following in utero drug exposure. Methods: Studies on the effects of specific substances, legal and illegal; i.e., tobacco or nicotine, alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, opiates, and methamphetamine were evaluated and analyzed. Results: In general, manifestations of prenatal exposure to legal and illegal substances include varying deficits in birth anthropometric measurements, mild-to-moderate transient neurobehavioral alterations in infancy and long-term behavioral problems noted from early childhood to adolescence. Severity of expression of behavioral problems is influenced by environmental factors. Further, behavioral alterations following in utero drug exposure often exist with mental health co-morbidities. Conclusion: Because of the long-term consequences of prenatal drug exposure on child and adolescent mental health, health providers need to promote substance use prevention, screen for exposure effects and provide or refer affected youths for intervention services. Preventive measures and treatment should consider other factors that may further increase the risk of psychopathology in the exposed children.

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