Initial cohort characteristics and protocol for SIGMA: An accelerated longitudinal study of environmental factors, inter- and intrapersonal processes, and mental health in adolescence

Background: Over half of all mental health conditions have their onset in adolescence. Large-scale epidemiological studies have identified relevant environmental risk factors for mental health problems. Yet, few have focused on potential mediating inter- and intrapersonal processes in daily life, hampering intervention development. Objectives: To investigate 1) the impact of environmental risk factors on changes in inter- and intrapersonal processes; 2) the impact of altered inter- and intrapersonal processes on the development of (sub)clinical mental health symptoms in adolescents and; 3) the extent to which changes in inter- and intrapersonal processes mediate the association between environmental risk factors and the mental health outcomes in adolescents.Methods: ‘SIGMA’ is an accelerated longitudinal study of adolescents aged 12 to 18 from across Flanders, Belgium. Using self-report questionnaires, experience sampling, an experimental task, and wearables, we are investigating the relationship between environmental risk factors (e.g. trauma, parenting), inter- and intrapersonal processes (e.g. real-life social interaction and interpersonal functioning) and mental health outcomes (e.g. psychopathology, self-harm) over time. Results: N= 1913 adolescents (63% female) aged 11 – 20, from 22 schools, participated. The range of educational trajectories within the sample was broadly representative of the Flemish general adolescent population.Conclusions: Our findings will enable us to answer fundamental questions about inter- and intrapersonal processes involved in the development and maintenance of poor mental health in adolescence. This includes insights regarding the role of daily-life social and cognitive-affective processes, gained by using experience sampling. The accelerated longitudinal design enables rapid insights into developmental and cohort effects.

Download Full-text

Loneliness in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic: Cross-sectional results from The COVID-19 Psychological Wellbeing Study

10.31234/osf.io/j2pce ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jenny Groarke ◽

Emma Berry ◽

Lisa Graham-Wisener ◽

Phoebe McKenna-Plumley ◽

Emily McGlinchey ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Risk Factors ◽

Emotion Regulation ◽

Health Outcomes ◽

Mental Health Outcomes ◽

Psychological Wellbeing ◽

Public Health Issue ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

The Uk ◽

The Impact

Objectives: Loneliness is a significant public health issue. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in lockdown measures limiting social contact. The UK public are worried about the impact of these measures on mental health outcomes. Understanding the prevalence and predictors of loneliness at this time is a priority issue for research. Design: The study employed a cross-sectional online survey design. Method: Baseline data collected between March 23rd and April 24th 2020 from UK adults in the COVID-19 Psychological Wellbeing Study were analysed (N = 1963, 18-87 years, M = 37.11, SD = 12.86, 70% female). Logistic regression analysis was used to look at the influence of sociodemographic, social, health and COVID-19 specific factors on loneliness. Results: The prevalence of loneliness was 27% (530/1963). Risk factors for loneliness were younger age group (OR: 4.67 – 5.31), being separated or divorced (OR: 2.29), meeting clinical criteria for major depression (OR: 1.74), greater emotion regulation difficulties (OR: 1.04), and poor quality sleep due to the COVID-19 crisis (OR: 1.30). Higher levels of social support (OR: 0.92), being married/co-habiting (OR: 0.35) and living with a great number of adults (OR: 0.87) were protective factors. Conclusions: Rates of loneliness during the initial phase of lockdown were high. Risk factors were not specific to the COVID-19 crisis. Findings suggest that supportive interventions to reduce loneliness should prioritise younger people and those with mental health symptoms. Improving emotion regulation and sleep quality may be optimal initial targets to reduce the impact of COVID-19 regulations on mental health outcomes.

Download Full-text

Characterization of alcohol polygenic risk scores in the context of mental health outcomes: Within-individual and intergenerational analyses in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children

Drug and Alcohol Dependence ◽

10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2021.108654 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 108654

Author(s):

Kayleigh E Easey ◽

Robyn E Wootton ◽

Hannah M Sallis ◽

Elis Haan ◽

Laura Schellhas ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Longitudinal Study ◽

Health Outcomes ◽

Mental Health Outcomes ◽

Risk Scores ◽

Polygenic Risk ◽

Parents And Children ◽

Avon Longitudinal Study

Download Full-text

The Impact of Mobile Application Systems Use on Mental Health Outcomes: A Secondary Analysis of the Effect of Systems Usage on Anxiety, Worry, & Emotional Reactivity Among Participants in the Unwinding Anxiety Program (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.33696 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

William Nardi ◽

Alexandra Roy ◽

Shira Dunsiger ◽

Judson Brewer

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Health Outcomes ◽

Emotional Regulation ◽

Mobile Application ◽

Secondary Analysis ◽

Health Behavior Change ◽

Mental Health Outcomes ◽

Interoceptive Awareness ◽

Point Increase ◽

The Impact

BACKGROUND Mobile health applications provide a promising avenue to help mitigate the burden on mental health services by complimenting therapist-led treatments for anxiety. However, it remains unclear how specific systems' use of application components (i.e., tools) may be associated with changes in clinical symptomatology (i.e., anxiety, worry). OBJECTIVE This study was a secondary analysis of systems usage data from the Stage I randomized controlled trial testing the impact of the Unwinding Anxiety mobile application among adults with GAD. This secondary analysis was conducted to assess how using specific application tools may be associated with improvements in anxiety, worry, emotional regulation, and interoceptive awareness. METHODS We present analyses of the intervention group (i.e., those who received the Unwinding Anxiety program) during the Stage 1 trial. Total use of specific mobile application tools (i.e., ecological tools, meditation practices, educational modules) as well use specific to each tool (e.g., stress meter, lovingkindness meditation practice) were calculated. We utilized multivariate linear models to investigate the effect of total use of these tools on anxiety, worry, interoceptive awareness, emotional regulation at 2-months post-program initiation controlling for baseline scores, age, and education level. In addition, associations between systems usage metrics and baseline participant characteristics were assessed for differences in usage groupings. RESULTS The sample was primarily female (n=25; 92.6%) and the average age was 42.9 years old (SD=15.6) and educational module completion, the central intervention component, averaged 20.2 + 11.4 modules out of XXX for the total sample. Multivariate models revealed that completing >75% of the program was associated with an average 22.6-point increase in interoceptive awareness (SE=8.32, p=0.013) and an 11.6-point decrease in worry (SE=4.12, p=0.009). In addition, a single log unit change in total number of meditations was associated with a 0.95-point reduction in GAD-7 scores (SE=0.27, p=0.005) while a single log unit use of the stress meter was associated with an average of a 0.5-point increase in emotional regulation scores (FFMQ) (SE=0.21, p=0.027). CONCLUSIONS The work presented offers a clearer understanding of the impact of specific mobile app systems use on mental health outcomes. In addition, this research lays the groundwork for future comprehensive investigations of systems usage in dosing studies for health behavior change. CLINICALTRIAL Developing a Novel Digital Therapeutic for the Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (NCT03683472).

Download Full-text

Longitudinal Effects of Gendered Harassment Perpetration and Victimization on Mental Health Outcomes in Adolescence

Journal of Interpersonal Violence ◽

10.1177/0886260517723746 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 35 (23-24) ◽

pp. 5997-6016 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Sarah J. Rinehart ◽

Dorothy L. Espelage ◽

Kristen L. Bub

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Sexual Harassment ◽

Health Outcomes ◽

Mental Health Outcomes ◽

Depression Symptoms ◽

Negative Outcomes ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

The Impact ◽

Homophobic Name Calling ◽

Gendered Harassment

Gendered harassment, including sexual harassment and homophobic name-calling, is prevalent in adolescents and is linked to negative outcomes including depression, anxiety, suicidality, substance abuse, and personal distress. However, much of the extant literature is cross-sectional and rarely are perpetrators of these behaviors included in studies of outcomes. Therefore, the current study examined the effects of longitudinal changes in gendered harassment perpetration and victimization on changes in mental health outcomes among a large sample of early adolescents. Given that these behaviors commonly occur in the context of a patriarchal society (males hold power), we also investigated the impact of gender on gendered harassment. Participants included 3,549 students from four Midwestern middle schools (50.4% female, 49% African American, 34% White) at two time points (13 and 17 years old). Results indicated that increases from age 13 to 17 years in sexual harassment perpetration and victimization and homophobic name-calling perpetration and victimization predicted increases in depression symptoms and substance use. Gender did not moderate these pathways. These findings highlight that negative outcomes are associated with changes in gendered harassment among adolescents and emphasize the importance of prevention efforts. Implications for school interventions are discussed.

Download Full-text

The impact of childhood parental quality on mental health outcomes in older adults

Aging & Mental Health ◽

10.1080/13607863.2017.1317331 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 22 (6) ◽

pp. 819-825 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

R.A. Burns ◽

V. Loh ◽

J.E. Byles ◽

H.L. Kendig

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Older Adults ◽

Health Outcomes ◽

Mental Health Outcomes ◽

Parental Quality ◽

The Impact

Download Full-text

Environmental risk factors for Toxoplasma gondii infections and the impact of latent infections on allostatic load in residents of Central North Carolina

BMC Infectious Diseases ◽

10.1186/s12879-018-3343-y ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Andrey I. Egorov ◽

Reagan Converse ◽

Shannon M. Griffin ◽

Jennifer Styles ◽

Elizabeth Klein ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

North Carolina ◽

Toxoplasma Gondii ◽

Environmental Risk ◽

Allostatic Load ◽

Environmental Risk Factors ◽

Latent Infections ◽

The Impact

Download Full-text

Impact of Internet-Based Interventions on Caregiver Mental Health: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.10668 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Diana Sherifali ◽

Muhammad Usman Ali ◽

Jenny Ploeg ◽

Maureen Markle-Reid ◽

Ruta Valaitis ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Health Outcomes ◽

Chronic Condition ◽

Intervention Program ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Informal Caregivers ◽

Intervention Programs ◽

Mental Health Outcomes ◽

The Impact ◽

Internet Based Intervention

BACKGROUND The health of informal caregivers of adults with chronic conditions is increasingly vital since caregivers comprise a large proportion of supportive care to family members living in the community. Due to efficiency and reach, internet-based interventions for informal caregivers have the potential to mitigate the negative mental health outcomes associated with caregiving. OBJECTIVE The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine the impact of internet-based interventions on caregiver mental health outcomes and the impact of different types of internet-based intervention programs. METHODS MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Cochrane, and AgeLine databases were searched for randomized controlled trials or controlled clinical trials published from January 1995 to April 2017 that compared internet-based intervention programs with no or minimal internet-based interventions for caregivers of adults with at least 1 chronic condition. The inclusion criteria were studies that included (1) adult informal caregivers (aged 18 years or older) of adults living in the community with a chronic condition; (2) an internet-based intervention program to deliver education, support, or monitoring to informal caregivers; and (3) outcomes of mental health. Title and abstract and full-text screening were completed in duplicate. Data were extracted by a single reviewer and verified by a second reviewer, and risk of bias assessments were completed accordingly. Where possible, data for mental health outcomes were meta-analyzed. RESULTS The search yielded 7923 unique citations of which 290 studies were screened at full-text. Of those, 13 studies met the inclusion criteria; 11 were randomized controlled trials, 1 study was a controlled clinical trial, and 1 study comprised both study designs. Beneficial effects of any internet-based intervention program resulted in a mean decrease of 0.48 points (95% CI –0.75 to –0.22) for stress and distress and a mean decrease of 0.40 points (95% CI –0.58 to –0.22) for anxiety among caregivers. For studies that examined internet-based information and education plus professional psychosocial support, the meta-analysis results showed small to medium beneficial effect sizes of the intervention for the mental health outcomes of depression (–0.34; 95% CI –0.63 to –0.05) and anxiety (–0.36; 95% CI –0.66 to –0.07). Some suggestion of a beneficial effect on overall health for the use of information and education plus combined peer and professional support was also shown (1.25; 95% CI 0.24 to 2.25). Overall, many studies were of poor quality and were rated at high risk of bias. CONCLUSIONS The review found evidence for the benefit of internet-based intervention programs on mental health for caregivers of adults living with a chronic condition, particularly for the outcomes of caregiver depression, stress and distress, and anxiety. The types of interventions that predominated as efficacious included information and education with or without professional psychological support, and, to a lesser extent, with combined peer and psychological support. Further high-quality research is needed to inform the effectiveness of interactive, dynamic, and multicomponent internet-based interventions. CLINICALTRIAL PROSPERO CRD42017075436; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=75436 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/709M3tDvn)

Download Full-text

The Impact of Distal Influences and Proximal Resources on the Mental Health of African American Older Adults: Findings From the Georgia Centenarian Study

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igaa046 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (5) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Meneka C Johnson Nicholson ◽

Peter Martin ◽

Megan Gilligan ◽

Carolyn E Cutrona ◽

Daniel W Russell ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Older Adults ◽

African American ◽

Health Outcomes ◽

Early Life ◽

Well Being ◽

Mental Health Outcomes ◽

Financial Resources ◽

The Impact ◽

African American Older Adults

Abstract Background and Objectives Over the years, a large amount of research has been devoted to the investigation of factors that led to mental health outcomes in older adults. For African American older adults, their lived experiences place them at high risk for mental health problems. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of early life influences (i.e., education, childhood life events, and childhood financial well-being) and present psychosocial resources (i.e., individual, financial, and social) on current mental health outcomes in a sample of African American older adults in their 60s, 80s, and 100s. Research Design and Methods Using data from the Georgia Centenarian Study, 125 participants were interviewed about their mental health, resources, and early life influences. Results A structural equation model was tested and resulted in a good fit. Results indicated that the more social resources African American older adults had available, the lower the number of depressive symptoms they reported. African Americans with higher levels of financial well-being during childhood reported higher self-rated mental health. Older adults had higher levels of financial resources. Level of education showed a positive relationship with financial resources. Indirect effects of distal influences on health outcomes via current resources were not found. Discussion and Implications The findings are of direct practical relevance and can be used to more readily identify older African Americans who may be susceptible to poorer mental health outcomes based upon the impact of their unique distal and proximal psychosocial resources.

Download Full-text