scholarly journals Does social support moderate the association between hunger and mental health in youth? A gender-specific investigation from the Canadian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nour Hammami ◽  
Scott T. Leatherdale ◽  
Frank J. Elgar
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Support ◽  
Health Behaviour ◽  
Negative Association ◽  
Mental Health Score ◽  
Health Score ◽  
School Aged Children ◽  
The Social ◽  
Canadian Health ◽  
Gender Specific

Abstract Background Youth who go hungry have poorer mental health than their counterparts – there are gender differences in this relationship. This study investigated the role of social support in the association between hunger and mental health among a nationally representative sample of youth in Canada in gender-specific analyses. Methods We used a probability-based sample of 21,750 youth in grades 6–10 who participated in the 2017–2018 Canadian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children. Self-report data were gathered on hunger, mental health (measured via the World Health Organization-5 well-being index) and five sources of support – peer, family and teacher support as well as the school climate and neighborhood support. We conducted adjusted, gender-specific, multilevel regression analyses assessing the association between mental health, social support and hunger. Results We found that youth who reported lower support were more likely to experience going to bed hungry (relative to never hungry) across all support factors. As for the social support factors, all the social support factors were associated with a higher mental health score, even after controlling for hunger. Despite these results our final set of models showed that our measures of social support did not alleviate the negative association between hunger and mental health. As for gender-specific findings, the negative association between hunger and a mental health was more pronounced among females relative to their male counterparts. We also found that certain social support factors (i.e., family, teacher and neighborhood support) were associated with a higher mental health score among females relative to males while controlling for hunger status. Conclusions We find that five social support factors are associated with a higher mental health score among ever hungry youth; however, social support did not overpower the negative association between hunger and mental health. Food insecurity is a challenge to address holistically; however, hungry youth who have high social support have higher odds of better mental health.

scholarly journals Mental health and its relationship with social support in Iranian students during the COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Reza Ghafari ◽  
Mojgan Mirghafourvand ◽  
Mahsa Rouhi ◽  
Shirin Osouli Tabrizi
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Support ◽  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Perceived Social Support ◽  
Inverse Correlation ◽  
Medical Sciences ◽  
Mental Health Score ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Health Score ◽  
Support Score

Abstract Background In addition to physical problems, the COVID-19 crisis continues to impose serious psychological adverse effects on people's mental health, which plays a major role in the efficiency of every community. Students, especially medical sciences students, suffer from more stress as a result of exposure to COVID-induced stressors. It is, therefore, essential to measure mental health and its relationship with social support in medical sciences students during the COVID pandemic. The present study was conducted to determine the mental health status of students and its correlation with social support. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted using random sampling on 280 students of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in Iran in 2020. Socio-demographic profile scale, Mental Health Test (GHQ-28), and the scale of Perceived Social Support (PRQ-85) were used to collect data. Participants completed the questionnaires online. Results Considering the potential confounding variables, a general linear model (GLM) was utilized to determine the relationship between mental health and perceived social support. Mean (± standard deviation) of total mental health score 26.5 (12.5) was in the acceptable range of 0–63., and 56% of students suffered from a mental disorder. Mean (± standard deviation) of social support score 128.2 (21.0) ranged from 25 to175. According to Pearson's correlation coefficient, there was a significant inverse correlation between social support score and total mental health score and all its subscales [p < 0.001; r =  − 0.294 to − 0.536]. According to the GLM, mental health score decreased significantly with social support score [p = 0.0001; − 0.32 to − 0.20; CI 95%; B = 0.26]. Conclusions Given the inverse relationship between social support and mental health, it is suggested to increase the level of social support for students at all times, especially during the stressful COVID-19 pandemic to improve their mental health.

scholarly journals Development of a dual-factor measure of adolescent mental health: an analysis of cross-sectional data from the 2014 Canadian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. e041489
Author(s):  
Nathan King ◽  
Colleen M Davison ◽  
William Pickett
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Construct Validity ◽  
Health Behaviour ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Adolescent Mental Health ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
School Aged Children ◽  
Canadian Health

IntroductionStudies of adolescent mental health require valid measures that are supported by evidence-based theories. An established theory is the dual-factor model, which argues that mental health status is only fully understood by incorporating information on both subjective well-being and psychopathology.ObjectivesTo develop a novel measure of adolescent mental health based on the dual-factor model and test its construct validity.DesignCross-sectional analysis of national health survey data.Setting and participantsNationally weighted sample of 21 993 grade 6–10 students; average age: 14.0 (SD 1.4) years from the 2014 Canadian Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study.MeasuresSelf-report indicators of subjective well-being (life satisfaction, positive and negative affect), and psychopathology (psychological symptoms and overt risk-taking behaviour) were incorporated into the dual-factor measure. Characteristics of adolescents families, specific mental health indicators and measures of academic and social functioning were used in the assessment of construct validity.ResultsProportions of students categorised to the four mental health groups indicated by the dual-factor measure were 67.6% ‘mentally healthy’, 17.5% ‘symptomatic yet content’, 5.5% ‘asymptomatic yet discontent’ and 9.4% ‘mentally unhealthy’. Being mentally healthy was associated with the highest functioning (greater social support and academic functioning) and being mentally unhealthy was associated with the worst. A one-unit increase (ranges=0–10) in peer support (OR 1.19; 95% CI 1.15 to 1.22), family support (OR 1.32; 95% CI 1.28 to 1.36), student support (OR 1.20; 95% CI 1.17 to 1.24) and average school marks (OR 1.18; 95% CI 1.10 to 1.27) increased the odds of being symptomatic yet content versus mentally unhealthy. Mentally healthy youth were the most likely to live with both parents (77% vs ≤65%) and report their family as well-off (62% vs ≤53%).ConclusionsWe developed a novel, construct valid dual-factor measure of adolescent mental health. This potentially provides a nuanced and comprehensive approach to the assessment of adolescent mental health that is direly needed.

scholarly journals Mental Health and its Relationship with Social Support in Iranian Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reza Ghafari ◽  
Mojgan Mirghafourvand ◽  
Mahsa Rouhi ◽  
Shirin Osouli-Tabrizi
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Support ◽  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Linear Model ◽  
Perceived Social Support ◽  
General Linear Model ◽  
Mental Health Score ◽  
Health Score ◽  
Support Score

Abstract Background In addition to physical problems, the COVID-19 crisis continues to impose serious psychological adverse effects on people's mental health, which plays a major role in the efficiency of every community. Students, especially medical students, suffer more stress as a result of exposure to COVID induced stressors. It is, therefore, essential to measure mental health and its correlation with social support in medical students during the COVID pandemic. The present study was conducted to determine mental health status of students and its correlation with social support. MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted in 2020 on 280 students of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in Iran using random sampling. Socio-demographic profile scale, Mental Health Test (GHQ-28) and the Scale of Perceived Social Support (PRQ-85) were used to collect data. Participants completed the questionnaires online. Results To determine the relationship between mental health and perceived social support, a general linear model was utilized considering the potential confounding variables.Mean (standard deviation) of total mental health score 26.5 (12.5) was in the acceptable range of 0 to 63. 56% students suffered from a mental disorder. Mean (standard deviation) of social support score 128.2(21.0) was within the range 25 to175. According to the Pearson's correlation coefficient, there was a significant inverse correlation between social support score and total mental health score and all its subscales [p<0.001; r=-0.294 to -0.536]. According to the general linear model, mental health score decreased significantly with social support score [p=0.0001;-0.32 to-0.20; CI 95%; B=0.26].ConclusionsGiven the inverse relationship between social support and mental health, it is suggested to increase the level of social support for students at all times, especially during the stressful COVID-19 pandemic to improve their mental health.

scholarly journals The social support, mental health, psychiatric symptoms, and functioning of persons with schizophrenia participating in peer co-delivered vocational rehabilitation: a pilot study in Taiwan

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kan-Yuan Cheng ◽  
Chia-Feng Yen
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Support ◽  
Vocational Rehabilitation ◽  
Psychiatric Symptoms ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Pilot Program ◽  
The Social ◽  
Functional Scores ◽  
Persons With Schizophrenia

Abstract Background Vocational peer support (VPS) services are recovery-oriented interventions in modern psychiatric care for persons with schizophrenia. However, few VPS services are found in Taiwan. Hence, a pilot program of peer co-delivered vocational rehabilitation to support persons with schizophrenia in Taiwan was proposed and evaluated. Methods Six peers were trained and were willing to co-lead and assist workplace problem-solving groups and care skills training in an extended vocational rehabilitation program from August 2017 to December 2018. The social support, mental health, psychiatric symptoms, and functioning of service users were assessed before and after peer co-delivered services, and the assessments were based on the following: Social Support Scale (SSS), Chinese Health Questionnaire-12 (CHQ-12), Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), Global Assessment of Function (GAF), and the Chinese version of the Social Functioning Scale (C-SFS). Results The recruited 46 service users were mostly middle-aged (49.1 ± 9.8), with 27 being male (58.7%). After interventions, 42 service users who completed the program had a significantly increased SSS score (149.1 ± 31.8 vs. 161.2 ± 35.0, df = 41, t = 2.70, p = 0.01) and subscale of friend-peer dimension (44.4 ± 12.0 vs. 53.2 ± 13.2, df = 41, t = 4.72, p < 0.001). The objective (GAF: 69.8 ± 9.8 vs. 72.6 ± 8.8, df = 41, t = 3.50, p = 0.001) and subjective social functional scores (C-SFS: 75.2 ± 8.8 vs. 78.1 ± 9.5, df = 41, t = 2.59, p = 0.01) both significantly increased. The weekly wage elevated significantly (37.5 ± 35.5 vs. 43.6 ± 38.0, df = 41, t = 2.57, p = 0.01) and the BPRS-18 score decreased significantly, too (31.2 ± 6.7 vs. 29.3 ± 5.0, df = 41, t = − 2.83, p = 0.007). Conclusions Peer co-delivered vocational rehabilitation services may enhance the social support received by persons with schizophrenia and improve their occupational outcomes. The pilot program proposed can thus be a model for non-Western countries with limited resources allocated by governments to support persons with schizophrenia. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials NCT04767204, retrospectively registered on Feb 23, 2021.

How Relationship Satisfaction Influences Post-Pandemic COVID-19 Anxiety: A Four-Wave Study in China

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingyi Ou ◽  
yunhanqi ◽  
Ke Zhang ◽  
Yuexiao Du ◽  
Yihang He ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Support ◽  
Psychological Distress ◽  
Relationship Satisfaction ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Perceived Social Support ◽  
The Social

The social isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic exerts lasing impacts on people’s mental health. However, whether and how people’s pre-existing positive social relationships can serve as stable reserves to alleviate people psychological distress following the disaster remains unknown. To address the question, the current study examined whether pre-pandemic relationship satisfaction would predict post-pandemic COVID-19 anxiety through middle-pandemic perceived social support and/or gratitude using four-wave data in China (N = 222, 54.50% female, Mage = 31.53, SD = 8.17). Results showed that people’s COVID-19 anxiety decreased from the peak to the trough pandemic stage; perceived social support increased markedly from the pre-pandemic to the peak and remained stable afterwards, while relationship satisfaction remained unchanged throughout. Further, it was middle-pandemic perceived social support, but not gratitude, mediated the association between pre-pandemic relationship satisfaction and post-pandemic COVID-19 anxiety, indicating perceived social support played a more crucial role than gratitude in this process. Last, it is suggested to distinguish perceived social support from gratitude as two different components of social interactions.

scholarly journals What does social support sound like? Challenges and opportunities for using passive episodic audio collection to assess the social environment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anubhuti Poudyal ◽  
Alastair van Heerden ◽  
Ashley Hagaman ◽  
Celia Islam ◽  
Ada Thapa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Support ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Adolescent Mothers ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
The Social ◽  
Audio Data

Abstract Background: The social environment, including social support, social burden, and quality of interactions, influences a range of health outcomes, including mental health. Passive audio data collection on mobile phones (e.g., episodic recording of the auditory environment without requiring any active input from the phone user) enables new opportunities to understand the social environment. We evaluated the use of passive audio collection on mobile phones as a window onto the relationship between the social environment within a study of mental health among adolescent mothers in Nepal.Methods: We enrolled 23 adolescent mothers who first participated in qualitative interviews to describe their social support and identify sounds potentially associated with that support. Then episodic recordings were collected for two weeks from the same women using an app to capture 30 seconds of audio every 15 minutes from 4am to 9pm. Audio data were processed and classified using a pretrained model. Each classification category was accompanied by a predicted accuracy score. Manual validation of the machine-predicted speech and non-speech categories (10%) was done for accuracy.Results: In qualitative interviews, mothers described a range of positive and negative social interactions and the sounds that accompanied these. Potential positive sounds included adult speech and laughter, baby babbling and laughter, and sounds from baby toys. Sounds characterizing negative stimuli included yelling, crying, screaming by adults and crying by babies. Sounds associated with social isolation included silence and TV or radio noises. Speech comprised of 43% of all passively recorded audio clips (n=7725). Manual validation showed a 23% false positive rate and 62% false-negative rate for speech, demonstrating potential underestimation of speech exposure. Other common sounds included music and vehicular noises.Conclusions: Passively capturing audio has the potential to improve understanding of the social environment. However, the limited accuracy of the pre-trained model used in this study did not adequately distinguish between positive and negative social interactions. To improve the contribution of passive audio collection to understanding the social environment, future work should improve the accuracy of audio categorization, code for constellations of sounds, and combine audio with other smartphone data collection such as location and activity.

New Approach to Estimating Mental Health Score Using a Communication Agent

2021 ◽  
pp. 239-247
Author(s):  
Satoshi Nakagawa ◽  
Shogo Yonekura ◽  
Hoshinori Kanazawa ◽  
Satoshi Nishikawa ◽  
Yasuo Kuniyoshi
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Score ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Health Score ◽  
Communication Agent

Adopted Adolescents at School: Social Support and Adjustment

2020 ◽  
pp. 0044118X2097703
Author(s):  
Carmen Paniagua ◽  
Irene García-Moya ◽  
Carmen Moreno
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Conduct Problems ◽  
Teacher Support ◽  
School Experiences ◽  
Adjustment Problems ◽  
School Aged Children ◽  
The Social ◽  
Hbsc Study ◽  
Classmate Support

There is a need of additional research into the social aspects of adoptees’ school experiences. For that purpose, the present study used a sample of adopted ( n = 541) and non-adopted ( n = 582) adolescents from the Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) study in Spain. Specifically, we analyzed social support at school (from classmates and teachers), explored adjustment differences between domestic adoptees, intercountry adoptees, and non-adopted adolescents, and examined whether adoption status and adjustment problems explain potential differences in support from teachers and from classmates. Results showed more difficulties in domestic adoptees than in the other two groups. Furthermore, differences were found in the role of adoption status and adjustment problems in classmate and teacher support: once conduct problems were taken into account, the association between adoption status and classmate support became non-significant. In contrast, both conduct problems and adoption status were significant factors associated with lower teacher support.

scholarly journals Masculinity, Social Connectedness, and Mental Health: Men’s Diverse Patterns of Practice

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1247-1261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah K. McKenzie ◽  
Sunny Collings ◽  
Gabrielle Jenkin ◽  
Jo River
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Support ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Support Networks ◽  
Social Connections ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
The Social ◽  
Patterns Of Practice

Men’s mental health has remained undertheorized, particularly in terms of the gendered nature of men’s social relations. While the importance of social connections and strong supportive networks for improving mental health and well-being is well documented, we know little about men’s social support networks or how men go about seeking or mobilizing social support. An in-depth understanding of the gendered nature of men’s social connections and the ways in which the interplay between masculinity and men’s social connections can impact men’s mental health is needed. Fifteen life history interviews were undertaken with men in the community. A theoretical framework of gender relations was used to analyze the men’s interviews. The findings provide rich insights into men’s diverse patterns of practice in regards to seeking or mobilizing social support. While some men differentiated between their social connections with men and women, others experienced difficulties in mobilizing support from existing connections. Some men maintained a desire to be independent, rejecting the need for social support, whereas others established support networks from which they could actively seek support. Overall, the findings suggest that patterns of social connectedness among men are diverse, challenging the social science literature that frames all men’s social relationships as being largely instrumental, and men as less able and less interested than women in building emotional and supportive relationships with others. The implications of these findings for promoting men’s social connectedness and mental health are discussed.

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