scholarly journals What Is the Role of Resilience and Coping Strategies on the Mental Health of the General Population during the COVID-19 Pandemic? Results from the Italian Multicentric COMET Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1231
Author(s):  
Gaia Sampogna ◽  
Valeria Del Del Vecchio ◽  
Vincenzo Giallonardo ◽  
Mario Luciano ◽  
Umberto Albert ◽  
...  

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health are now well documented, however, few studies have been focused on the role of coping strategies and resilience in counterbalancing these detrimental effects. Data are derived from the COvid Mental hEalth Trial (COMET), a national multicentric trial carried out in the Italian general population. The final sample consisted of 20,720 participants, 53.1% (n = 11,000) of the sample reported low levels of resilience. Adaptive coping strategies and resilience levels did not have any significant protective impact on the levels of depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms. Only self-distraction was a risk factor for poor mental health (Beta Coefficient, B = 0.1, 95% Confidence Interval, CI: 0.003 to 0.267 for stress symptoms; B = 0.2; 95% CI: 0.077 to 0.324 for anxiety symptoms and B = 0.2, 95% CI: 0.105 to 0.382 for depressive symptoms). High levels of resilience were predicted by adaptive coping strategies, such as acceptance (B = 1.8, CI 95% = 1.4–2.7). Exposure to the different weeks of lockdown, being infected by COVID-19, and being a healthcare professional did not influence the levels of resilience. Our findings should be carefully considered, since the low levels of resilience may represent the missing link between the pandemic and the current increase in mental health problems.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Maenhout ◽  
Carmen Peuters ◽  
Greet Cardon ◽  
Geert Crombez ◽  
Ann DeSmet

Abstract Background Healthy lifestyles may contribute to better mental health, which is particularly important in adolescence, an age at which half of all mental health problems first occur. This association may be even more relevant in adolescents of low family affluence, who show more mental health problems, as well as more unhealthy lifestyles. This study investigated the healthy lifestyle behaviors, namely sufficient sleep and physical activity, daily breakfast intake, low levels of alcohol use or smoking, in relation to mental health and mental health problems (feelings of depression, anxiety, stress and self-esteem) among adolescents from different family affluence. Furthermore, the moderating role of family affluence was examined in those relations.Methods Adolescents aged 12-18y were recruited via a random sample of schools. A total of 1037 adolescents participated (M age=15.2, 49.8% female). Multiple linear regression analyses assessed the association between healthy lifestyles and mental health outcomes and the moderating role of family affluence.Results All healthy lifestyle behaviors were associated with at least one mental health outcome. Adolescents from low-medium family affluence had lower levels of physical activity, less often took breakfast, and reported lower self-esteem than adolescents from high family affluence. The results only showed a moderating effect of family affluence for smoking in relation to stress: at low levels of smoking, high family affluence youngsters experienced more stress symptoms than low-medium family affluence youth. At high levels of smoking, low-medium family affluence youth, however, experienced more stress symptoms than high family affluence youth.Conclusion These findings support the value of integrating healthy lifestyle behaviors in interventions for mental health promotion, for both youth of low-medium and high family affluence.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasuhiro Kotera ◽  
Akihoko Ozaki ◽  
Hirotomo Miyatake ◽  
Chie Tsunetoshi ◽  
Yoshitaka Nishikawa ◽  
...  

Abstract The current pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has negatively impacted medical workers’ mental health in many countries including Japan. Although research identified poor mental health of medical workers in COVID-19, protective factors for their mental health remain to be appraised. Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate relationships between mental health problems, loneliness, hope and self-compassion among Japanese medical workers, and compare with the general population. Online self-report measures regarding those four constructs were completed by 142 medical workers and 138 individuals in the general population. T-tests and multiple regression analysis were performed. Medical workers had higher levels of mental health problems and loneliness, and lower levels of hope and self-compassion than the general population. Loneliness was the strongest predictor of mental health problems in the medical workers. Findings suggest that Japanese medical workplaces may benefit from targeting workplace loneliness to protect staff mental health from the current crisis.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. e0244212
Author(s):  
Signe Boe Rayce ◽  
Maiken Pontoppidan ◽  
Tine Nielsen

Parents of children with physical or mental health problems are at higher risk for experiencing parental stress. However, mothers and fathers may experience parental stress differently. The aim was to examine whether mothers and fathers of children with physical and/or mental health problems are equally inclined within the couples to experience different aspects of parental stress when considering child and parent couple characteristics. Single aspects of Parental stress were assessed with nine items from the Parental Stress Scale in 197 parent couples of children aged 1–18 years with physical and/or mental health problems. Agreement within parent couples for each item was tested using two tests of marginal homogeneity for dependent data: a nominal G2-test and an ordinal γ-test. Analyses were conditioned on child gender, child age, couple educational level, and overall parental stress. For seven aspects of parental stress, differences in agreement within the couples were found with at least one of the conditioning variables. For five aspects (item 3, 4, 9, 10, 13) addressing specific personal experience of daily stressors related to having children and feeling inadequate as a parent, the differences were systematic. Mothers were more inclined to experience these aspect of parental stress than fathers, specially mothers of boys, a younger child, in couples with an education above high school or with a higher stress level. Agreement was found for two aspects (item 14 and 16) of parental stress. This study suggests that mothers’ and fathers’ experience of most aspects of parental stress vary within the couples. Knowledge on systematic difference between parents’ experience of parental stress may inform future interventions. For aspects where mothers generally experience the highest degree of stress, fathers may be involved as support. Future studies may explore the role of diagnoses, coping strategies and examine concordance in parental stress symptoms in other subgroups.


Author(s):  
Yasuhiro Kotera ◽  
Akihiko Ozaki ◽  
Hirotomo Miyatake ◽  
Chie Tsunetoshi ◽  
Yoshitaka Nishikawa ◽  
...  

AbstractThe current pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has negatively impacted medical workers’ mental health in many countries including Japan. Although research identified poor mental health of medical workers in COVID-19, protective factors for their mental health remain to be appraised. Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate relationships between mental health problems, loneliness, hope and self-compassion among Japanese medical workers, and compare with the general population. Online self-report measures regarding those four constructs were completed by 142 medical workers and 138 individuals in the general population. T-tests and multiple regression analysis were performed. Medical workers had higher levels of mental health problems and loneliness, and lower levels of hope and self-compassion than the general population. Loneliness was the strongest predictor of mental health problems in the medical workers. Findings suggest that Japanese medical workplaces may benefit from targeting workplace loneliness to prevent mental health problems among the medical staff.


2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Fiorillo ◽  
Gaia Sampogna ◽  
Vincenzo Giallonardo ◽  
Valeria Del Vecchio ◽  
Mario Luciano ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is an unprecedented traumatic event influencing the healthcare, economic, and social welfare systems worldwide. In order to slow the infection rates, lockdown has been implemented almost everywhere. Italy, one of the countries most severely affected, entered the “lockdown” on March 8, 2020. Methods The COvid Mental hEalth Trial (COMET) network includes 10 Italian university sites and the National Institute of Health. The whole study has three different phases. The first phase includes an online survey conducted between March and May 2020 in the Italian population. Recruitment took place through email invitation letters, social media, mailing lists of universities, national medical associations, and associations of stakeholders (e.g., associations of users/carers). In order to evaluate the impact of lockdown on depressive, anxiety and stress symptoms, multivariate linear regression models were performed, weighted for the propensity score. Results The final sample consisted of 20,720 participants. Among them, 12.4% of respondents (N = 2,555) reported severe or extremely severe levels of depressive symptoms, 17.6% (N = 3,627) of anxiety symptoms and 41.6% (N = 8,619) reported to feel at least moderately stressed by the situation at the DASS-21. According to the multivariate regression models, the depressive, anxiety and stress symptoms significantly worsened from the week April 9–15 to the week April 30 to May 4 (p < 0.0001). Moreover, female respondents and people with pre-existing mental health problems were at higher risk of developing severe depression and anxiety symptoms (p < 0.0001). Conclusions Although physical isolation and lockdown represent essential public health measures for containing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, they are a serious threat for mental health and well-being of the general population. As an integral part of COVID-19 response, mental health needs should be addressed.


2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Kranzler ◽  
Emily A. Panza ◽  
Matthew K. Nock ◽  
Edward A. Selby

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 2499
Author(s):  
Víctor-María López-Ramos ◽  
Benito León-del-Barco ◽  
Santiago Mendo-Lázaro ◽  
María-Isabel Polo-del-Río

Last year, the COVID-19 pandemic had severe consequences on the health and well-being of millions of people. Different studies try to identify the main effects that the crisis and several lockdowns have had on the citizens’ mental health. This research analyses the coping strategies generated by students from a community group and a clinical group in response to this crisis, using the Coping Responses Inventory—Adult Form (CRI-A) by Moos with a sample of 1074 students of Universidad de Extremadura. Multivariate analysis and receiver operating characteristic curve analysis have been carried out, revealing, amongst other things, a greater predisposition of the clinical sample towards factors such as seeking guidance and support, cognitive avoidance or emotional discharge. Results show that students with prior mental health problems perform an unhealthy coping response based on avoidance strategies. This group of students suffers a double source of distress and anxiety, one derived from their prior psychopathologic problems and the stress of the lockdown and another one originating from an inefficient coping response, which makes coping strategies raise levels of distress and anxiety.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shervin Assari

Recent research has documented poor mental health among high socioeconomic status (SES) Blacks, particularly African American males. The literature has also shown a positive link between SES and perceived discrimination, suggesting that perceived discrimination may explain why high SES Black males report poor mental health. To better understand the role of contextual factors in explaining this pattern, we aimed to test whether school racial composition explains why high income Black youth perceive more discrimination. We explored these associations by ethnicity and gender. Using data from the National Survey of American Life-Adolescent supplement (NSAL-A), the current study included 810 African American and 360 Caribbean Black youth, with a mean age of 15. Ethnicity, age, gender, income-to-needs ratio (SES), skin color, school racial composition, and perceived (daily) discrimination were measured. Using Stata 15.0 (Stata Corp., College Station, TX, USA), we fitted seven structural equation models (SEMs) for data analysis in the pooled sample based on the intersection of ethnicity and gender. Considerable gender by ethnicity variations were found in the associations between SES, school racial composition, and perceived discrimination. For African American males but not African American females or Caribbean Black males or females, school racial composition fully mediated the effect of SES on perceived discrimination. The role of inter-racial contact as a mechanism for high discrimination and poor mental health of Black American adolescents may depend on their intersection of ethnicity and gender. School racial composition may be a mechanism for increased perceived discrimination among high SES African American males.


2021 ◽  
pp. 216770262097436
Author(s):  
Alice Y. Hua ◽  
Jenna L. Wells ◽  
Casey L. Brown ◽  
Robert W. Levenson

Caregiving for a person with dementia or neurodegenerative disease is associated with increased rates of depression and anxiety. As the population ages and dementia prevalence increases worldwide, mental health problems related to dementia caregiving will become an even more pressing public health concern. In the present study, we assessed emotional empathy (physiological, behavioral, and self-reported emotional responses to a film depicting others suffering) and two measures of cognitive empathy (identifying the primary emotion experienced by another person and providing continuous ratings of the valence of another person’s changing emotions) in relation to mental health (standard questionnaires) in 78 caregivers of people with dementia or neurodegenerative disease. Greater emotional empathy (self-reported emotional responses) was associated with worse mental health even after accounting for known risk factors. Neither measure of cognitive empathy was associated with mental health. A relationship between high levels of emotional empathy and poor mental health in caregivers suggests possible risk indicators and intervention targets.


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