Loneliness and Isolation as Barriers to Mental Health Services in a Rural Community

As America grapples with COVID-19, issues regarding mental health have been of rising concern, particularly among those who are isolated. According to the May 2021 American Perspectives Survey, “Americans report having fewer close friendships than they once did, talking to their friends less often, and relying less on their friends for personal support1.” Additionally, 49% have three or fewer close friends in 2021, compared to 27% in 1990. 17% have no friends in their core social network. Loneliness has been associated with physical and mental health risks. We sought to explore whether loneliness was also a barrier to seeking mental health services. 90 surveys were collected from rural New York. Respondents were aged 51 to 90, Caucasian (96.6%), and female (73.3% vs, 26.7%). Overall, 34.8% said they lived alone. 29.2% would seek mental health services for feelings of loneliness, while 75.4% would do so if isolated from family. Those who felt detached or isolated from others were significantly less likely to seek help from a counselor (r = - 0.25) or MD (r = - 0.37). Isolation also negatively related to measures on the resiliency scale. Purpose: - 0.22, Perseverance: - 0.33, being ok alone: - 0.32), and positively related to depression (r = .65). Those scoring higher on the “okay with being alone” scale had an increased likelihood of seeking counseling (r = 0.22). Thus, isolation and loneliness are complex topics. Intervention ought to be based on perceptions of being alone. Further research is needed.

Distinct Influences of Social Activity and Social Connectedness on Depressive Symptoms in Older Adult Couples

This study aimed to simultaneously examine the associations between social activity and connectedness and depressive symptoms in older adult couples. Using SEM and data from 116 community-dwelling couples (age 76.18 ± 8.49), we found that engagement in social activities was associated with lower depressive symptoms in men (p = 0.014), whereas more close friendships were associated with lower depressive symptoms in women (p = 0.018), controlling for partner effects, age, education, and cognitive function (CFI: 1.00, TLI: 1.35, RMSEA: 0.00 [0.00, 0.08]). Unexpectedly, we also found better female physical health to be associated with greater depressive symptoms in males (p = 0.029). When examined as dyadic physical health, more incongruence between the physical health of partners was associated with greater depressive symptoms in men (p = 0.007). Discussion will focus on distinct influences of social activity and connectedness on mental health, and the context of gender, marriage, and dyadic health.

Close Social Networks Among Older Adults: The Online and Offline Perspectives

Qualitative studies have found that the use of Information and Communication Technologies is related to an enhanced quality of life for older adults, as these technologies might act as a medium to access social capital regardless of geographical distance. In order to quantitatively study the association between older people’s characteristics and the likelihood of having a network of close friends offline and online, we use data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and data from Facebook. Using a novel approach to analyze aggregated and anonymous Facebook data within a regression framework, we show that the associations between having close friends and age, sex, and being a parent are the same offline and online. Migrants who use internet are less likely to have close friends offline, but migrants who are Facebook users are more likely to have close friends online, suggesting that digital relationships may compensate for the potential lack of offline close friendships among older migrants.

FRIENDSHIP IS SKIN (COLOR) DEEP

Friendships between members of different ethnoracial groups can help to reduce prejudice and ease tensions across ethnoracial groups. A large body of literature has explored possible determinants for the formation of these friendships. One unexplored factor is the role of an individual’s skin color in influencing their opportunities to befriend members of other ethnoracial groups. This study seeks to answer two questions: For ethnoracial minorities, how is an individual’s skin color associated with the likelihood that they will engage in a cross-ethnoracial friendship? Does the role of skin color depend on the ethnoracial combination of the two groups that befriend one another? Using waves 1, 2, and 3 of the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen and a series of multinomial logit models, the results suggest that the role of skin color is a function of the relative levels of social status of the two ethnoracial groups that befriend one another. I argue that lighter-skinned members of lower status ethnoracial groups have a greater likelihood of having close friendships with members of higher status ethnoracial groups. There is also limited evidence that darker-skinned members of a higher status group, specifically Asians, have a greater likelihood of having close friends from a lower status group.

Pain, social relationships, and school

Social consequences of chronic pain for youth have only been a focus of research in the past decade. Research suggests that peer relationships, including close friendships, of children and adolescents with chronic pain may be negatively affected by pain. It has also been suggested that social reactions from others can negatively affect the child or adolescent’s pain experience. School functioning (i.e., academic performance and social engagement at school) may also be impaired as a result of chronic pain. Clinicians should understand the many challenges experienced by youth with chronic pain and should attend to the social consequences of pain when working with youth and their families. Research investigating interventions to manage the effects of chronic pain on school and social functioning is needed. However, there are some strategies that may be helpful in mitigating the negative consequences to social and school functioning associated with chronic pain.

The influence of the specificity of fundamental values on interpersonal dependence in friendships

The article is devoted to the problem of the influence of the specifics of fundamental values on the type of interpersonal dependence in friendly relations. The author shows the actualised need to consider behavioural dependences on the example of interpersonal dependence due to the lack of scientific knowledge in this area. The specificity of interrelationships between the aspects of four fundamental motivations and normative and non-normative types of interpersonal dependence is revealed. The author considers aspects of fundamental motivations as predictors of the types of interpersonal dependence, namely, destructive overdependence and healthy dependence. In conclusion, the author concludes that some aspects of fundamental values have a specific impact on the formation of interpersonal dependence in close friendships. The data obtained can contribute to the development of practical methods for the prevention of abnormal types of interpersonal dependence.

„Ich werde dich immer Mr. Knightley nennen“

Translating you into German means deciding between different pronouns of address, a choice that can express either hierarchy, formality or intimacy between speaker and listener. This paper analyses to what extent the pronominal address is used to characterise fictional relationships in the eight German translations of Jane Austen’s novel Emma by comparing them with original German literature written around 1815, the year when the English novel was first published. While the selected parallel texts highlight special relationships like close friendships or romantic love with the pronominal address, the paper shows that this is less frequently the case in the translations.

Crohn's and colitis: New research offers insights into caring for young people

The unpredictable nature of inflammatory bowel disease symptoms and stigma can affect young people's ability to form close friendships and affect their social interactions. New research shows the importance of addressing the mental health and wellbeing of young people with Crohn's disease and colitis.

Finding True Friendships: The Friendship Experiences of Adolescents With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

The friendship experiences of adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were explored in this qualitative study. Nine 16- to 18-year old adolescents with ADHD participated in semi-structured interviews that were analyzed using a modified grounded theory framework. They reported chronic peer rejection, loneliness, and conflictual relationships with friends in childhood and early adolescence (theme 1). Although many participants reported becoming resigned to being friendless in adolescence (theme 2), the transition to high school where they could find peers who were similar to them helped them develop close friendships (theme 3). The core theme, Finding True Friendships: The Long Journey from Isolation to Acceptance, integrates the findings and illustrates the developmental and contextual factors influencing the friendship experiences of adolescents with ADHD. The participants provided specific suggestions about how parents, teachers, peers, and mental health professionals might support children and adolescents with ADHD who struggle with peer relations and friendships that formed the basis of the discussion of the clinical implications of the findings.