scholarly journals Comparison of response to Chinese and Western videos of mental-health-related emotions in a representative Chinese sample

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e10440
Author(s):  
Ting Wang ◽  
Yitong Zhao ◽  
Yifeng Xu ◽  
Zhuoying Zhu

Background Emotion plays an important role in mental health. Studying the relationship between emotion and mental health requires effective emotion-eliciting materials. Most standardized emotional stimuli, however, were based on Western contents and have not been validated in other cultures. The present study compared the emotional response to standard Western videos with videos of Chinese contents in a large representative Chinese sample. The effects of content source (film vs. real-life) and delivery medium (online vs. offline), as well as the effects of demographic factors were investigated. Participants’ depression level was assessed to test the potential use of the videos in mental health research. Methods Top-ranked videos of basic emotions commonly implicated in mental health (happiness, sadness, anger, and fear) were chosen from a widely used Western video database. Twelve corresponding Chinese videos (film or real-life) were selected, with three clips for each emotion. In addition, three Chinese videos of the emotion “awe” were included because of the growing research attention to its role in promoting mental health. A large representative sample were recruited (N = 348) either online or offline and each participant viewed and rated his/her emotional reaction to all videos. Results All Chinese and Western videos effectively elicited target emotions. The intensity of emotional response was generally higher for Chinese videos than for Western videos. Film and real-life videos provided mixed results in terms of the intensity of elicited emotions. There was a small difference in the delivery medium in which one video watched online were rated more intense than being watched in the laboratory. Older adults were more emotional reactive than young people in general, but the latter showed more differentiated response to Chinese versus Western videos. People with higher education levels responded less to happy videos. Finally, emotional reactivity of anger and awe were negatively related to depression level, which was partially consistent with the emotional-context-insensitivity (ECI) hypothesis of depression. Conclusions The results suggest that both Western and Chinese videos could reliably elicit emotion in Chinese people, but videos with local contents were generally more effective. The set of videos can be a useful tool for studying emotion and mental health in the Chinese cultural context.

Schools have become the default mental health providers for children and adolescents, but they are often poorly equipped to meet the mental health needs of their students. The introduction tackles how to make students eligible for school-based services using the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Using the new DSM-5 as an organizing principle, this book then addresses the 12 most common mental disorders of childhood and adolescence, ages 3–18. While there are many books that address child and adolescent psychopathology, this book focuses on how to help students with mental disorders in pre-K–12 schools. Each chapter addresses the prevalence of a disorder in school-age populations, appropriate diagnostic criteria, differential diagnosis, comorbid disorders, rapid assessment instruments available, school-based interventions using multitiered systems of support, and easy-to-follow suggestions for progress monitoring. Unique to this book, each chapter has detailed suggestions for how school-based clinicians can collaborate with teachers, parents, and community providers to address the needs of youth with mental health problems so that school, home, and community work together. Each chapter ends with a list of extensive web resources and a real-life case example drawn from the clinical practice of the authors. The final chapter addresses two newly proposed diagnoses for self-harm in the DSM-5 and brings a cautious and sensible approach to assessing and helping students who may be at risk for serious self-injury or suicide.


Author(s):  
Torbjörn Tännsjö

The three most promising theories of distributive ethics are presented: Utilitarianism, with or without a prioritarian amendment. The maximin/leximin theory. Egalitarianism. Utilitarianism urges us to maximize the sum-total of happiness. When prioritarianism is added to utilitarianism we are instead urged to maximize a weighted sum of happiness, where happiness weighs less the happier you are and unhappiness weighs more the more miserable you are. The maximin/leximin theory urges us to give absolute priority to those who are worst off. Egalitarianism gives us two goals: to maximize happiness but also to level out differences with regard to happiness between persons. All of these theories are justifiable. In abstract thought experiments they conflict. When applied in real life they converge in an unexpected manner: more resources should be directed to mental health and less to marginal life extension. It is doubtful if the desired change will take place, however. What gets in its way is human irrationality.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Tessa Lynch

<p>Generally, one in five New Zealanders experience mental illness. Majority of lifelong mental illnesses begin before the age of 25, presenting a real problem for youth. In 2018, young people of New Zealand called for more help as they rallied outside parliament. The government responded by allocating more money towards student mental health. Yet, employing more counsellors, which is necessary, is not the only way to contribute to an urgent need for a new approach towards supporting mental health and wellbeing.   This research portfolio responded to this complex situation by developing ‘a guide’ for the design of tertiary spaces supportive of wellbeing. One of the most important goals of this work was to align the research closely with user needs and views, therefore research methods involved including students views in more than one phase of development. The work draws on evidence based design, geography, health and architectural theory and the existing wellbeing knowledge. Engagement with the users, observation, experiments and real life interventions were critical in refining a conceptual framework which kept the users at the centre of the process. The outcome of this research was a resource to guide the design of tertiary space for wellbeing, using five intervention points, which could have a positive effect on the student wellbeing if implemented as a system.  New Zealand must shift the current model of mental health care towards more holistic understandings of health, which better incorporates Māori health and wellbeing. Despite New Zealand’s bicultural values, Māori experience significantly higher rates of mental illness. This prompted to design with the same understandings of hauora (health). As a result, the conceptual framework presented a multi-dimensional, interconnected understanding of wellbeing through an integrated framework exploring physical, cultural, social, learning and spiritual environments.   While it is acknowledged that environments can affect our mental health, this is an under researched field requiring motivation to stimulate discussion and change. This research advocates wellbeing as a central focus in the design of our built environments and explores the opportunity for architecture to facilitate our student and national wellbeing goals.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 10819
Author(s):  
Shu-Mei Liu ◽  
Shu-Fang Shih ◽  
Bo Meng ◽  
Rui Zhen ◽  
Xiao-Ben Pan ◽  
...  

The outbreak of the coronavirus disease in 2019 (COVID-19) has greatly impacted the life and mental health of many people globally. The objective of this study was to investigate the factors associated with preventive behaviors and mental health among Chinese adults during their home quarantine in the COVID-19 period. An online questionnaire survey was administered in March 2020. The study participants were adults aged between 18 and 70 years old from 31 provinces in China. Of the 3878 participants, 1314 reported moderate levels of anxiety, and the remaining participants reported moderate to severe levels of anxiety. Findings revealed that females aged between 18 and 30 years old who had higher educational qualifications, greater levels of preventive knowledge, trust in the government, and resided in urban and medium-risk areas (R2 = 0.100, F = 27.97, p < 0.001) were more likely to exhibit preventive behaviors. In contrast, a higher negative emotional response was generally seen in males who had low levels of preventive knowledge and behaviors, higher risk perception of infection, lower trust in the government, and unhealthy lifestyles (R2 = 0.127, F = 32.33, p < 0.001). In addition, the high-risk perception of infection was positively associated with high odds of anxiety (AOR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.10–1.24), whereas a greater level of preventive knowledge (AOR = 0.36, 95% CI: 0.19–0.70) and behaviors (AOR = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.57–0.84), higher trust in the government’s COVID-19 pandemic mitigation measures (AOR = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.71–0.83), and a healthier lifestyle (AOR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.79–0.99) were negatively associated with high odds of anxiety. Results showed that a lower level of anxiety and negative emotional response were associated with better preventive behaviors against COVID-19, which were influenced by preventive knowledge, risk perception, trust in the government’s COVID-19 pandemic mitigation measures, and healthy lifestyle. Findings in this study could help formulate health interventions for vulnerable groups related to gendered vulnerabilities in the COVID-19 environment to improve their mental health and preventive behaviors, especially during the period of a pandemic.


10.2196/15817 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. e15817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhaomeng Niu ◽  
Jessica Fitts Willoughby ◽  
Jing Mei ◽  
Shaochun Li ◽  
Pengwei Hu

Background Approximately 42.5 million adults have been affected by mental illness in the United States in 2013, and 173 million people have been affected by a diagnosable psychiatric disorder in China. An increasing number of people tend to seek health information on the Web, and it is important to understand the factors associated with individuals’ mental health information seeking. Identifying factors associated with mental health information seeking may influence the disease progression of potential patients. Objective This study aimed to test the planned risk information seeking model (PRISM) in China and the United States with a chronic disease, mental illness, and two additional factors, ie, media use and cultural identity, among college students. Methods Data were collected in both countries using the same online survey through a survey management program (Qualtrics). In China, college instructors distributed the survey link among university students, and it was also posted on a leading social media site called Sina Weibo. In the United States, the data were collected in a college-wide survey pool in a large Northwestern university. Results The final sample size was 235 for the Chinese sample and 241 for the US sample. Media use was significantly associated with mental health information–seeking intentions in the Chinese sample (P<.001), and cultural identity was significantly associated with intentions in both samples (China: P=.02; United States: P<.001). The extended PRISM had a better model fit than the original PRISM. Conclusions Cultural identity and media use should be considered when evaluating the process of mental health information seeking or when designing interventions to address mental health information seeking.


Politeja ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (8 (31/2)) ◽  
pp. 11-26
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Ossowska-Czader

The aim of this paper is to show how politics, culture and ethnicity interweave in the context of the Rushdie Affair in both the real‑life dimension of the historical events taking place in the late 1980s, as well as the literary dimension of the novel by Hanif Kureishi entitled The Black Album. The paper briefly outlines the Rushdie Affair as it unfolded in the British public sphere with particular emphasis placed on the process of consolidation of the Muslim identity among the representatives of different ethnic groups in Great Britain in the political and cultural context of the event which is deemed to be defining from the point of view of British Muslims. The author of the paper presents the profile of Hanif Kureishi, to indicate why he is ideally positioned to look critically at both sides of the conflict. The paper analyses the novel itself insofar as it examines the implications of the Rushdie Affair depicted in The Black Album, the reactions of the second‑generation immigrants of Pakistani descent in the face of the controversy, the influence this event exerted on the process of their searching for identity as well as their integration into British society. Two opposing identity options taken up by the protagonists of The Black Album are analysed by the author of the paper.


2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 1771-1772 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shulin Chen ◽  
Yeates Conwell ◽  
Helen Fung Kum Chiu

Loneliness is a common, distressing feeling that results when one perceives his/her social relationships and supports as inadequate. Social connectedness refers to the relationships between the individual and his or her family, friends, community, and other supports. Neither loneliness nor social connectedness has received enough research attention, in particular with regard to older adults’ physical and mental health.


2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (6) ◽  
pp. 846-865 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quynh Nhu (Natasha) Bui ◽  
Meekyung Han ◽  
Sadhna Diwan ◽  
Tran Dao

While involvement of family caregivers can play an important role in the recovery process of persons with serious mental illness (SMI), family caregivers often endure poor health and mental health issues due to caregiving-related distress. These challenges may be exacerbated for Vietnamese American families due to cultural values (e.g., familism and stigma). This qualitative exploratory study examined how Vietnamese American family caregivers of persons with SMI describe their caregiving experience. Using convenience and snowball sampling, the study recruited 21 participants who took part in two Vietnamese-language focus groups. Key findings of the study addressed three themes: (1) the influence of cultural and religious values on caregiving and mental health; (2) the negative impact of caregiving on caregivers’ wellbeing; and (3) the stigma attached to mental illness. The study offers useful insights to assist mental health practitioners in tailoring culturally appropriate and effective services for Vietnamese caregivers.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 559-566
Author(s):  
Frank Oberklaid ◽  
Margot Prior ◽  
Ann Sanson ◽  
Jill Sewell ◽  
Michael Kyrios

We used the Toddler Temperament Scale with large representative samples of younger (mean age = 20.5 months; N = 1188) and older (mean age = 35.4 months; N = 1360) Australian toddlers. There were significant sex differences on 6 of the temperament dimensions for the young group, and on 5 of the 9 dimensions for the older group. Older boys were also more likely to be categorized clinically as having a "difficult" temperament and less likely to have an "easy" temperament. Each group was divided into quartiles according to socioeconomic status. For the younger toddlers there were significant differences in 3 of 9 temperament dimensions, and for the older group there were significant differences in 7 of 9 dimensions. Groups with higher socioeconomic status had temperament ratings which were more likely to make them easier to manage, and to be categorized clinically as having an easy temperament, but toddlers with low socioeconomic status were more likely to have a difficult temperament. There were significant differences in temperament dimension scores between Australian toddlers and those studied in an American setting. These results indicate that toddler temperament ratings differ according to age, sex, social class, and cultural context. Great caution needs to be taken in interpreting individual temperament profiles utilizing comparison data obtained from different sociocultural settings. Future temperament "norms" may need to specify characteristics of the group of children from which they were derived to allow more valid comparisons.


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