A current research trend is the identification of psychosocial variables that moderate and/or mediate the association between stressors and psychopathological symptoms. Research has shown Locus of ...Control (LoC) is a key cognitive component of this psychological process in adolescents from individualist cultures. It is unclear whether this finding can be generalized to collectivist adolescents given that LoC is argued to be a culturally relative construct. The study examined the moderating and mediating effects of LoC on the relationship between negative events and psychopathological symptoms (anxiety and depressive symptoms) in adolescents from collectivist countries (n = 2800). Consistent with prior research, negative life events and external LoC were associated with more psychopathological symptoms. Unlike past studies with samples from individualist countries, the study did not produce clear evidence that LoC moderated or mediated this relationship. Results are discussed in terms of cultural differences in the (un)desirability of external control.
•LoC has stress-mediating and stress-moderating effects in individualist cultures.•Such effects have not been tested in adolescents from collectivist cultures.•The study tested 2800 adolescents from 7 collectivist countries.•Replicating prior studies, external LoC was linked to more psychological symptoms.•However, there was no clear evidence of mediating or moderating effects.
Background
Problematic Internet gaming is an increasingly recognized global mental health problem. This multicultural cross-sectional study examined the association between Internet gaming disorder ...(IGD) symptoms and anxiety and depressive symptoms and substance use within a sample of young Internet users. In total, 3529 college/university students (1260 (35.7%) males; mean age 21 ± 3 years) were surveyed online. We assessed online gaming patterns using the Internet Gaming Disorder Self-report for College/University Students (ICMH-IGD), symptoms of depression using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and symptoms of anxiety using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale-7.
Results
IGD symptoms were associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety, and substance use, independent of time spent online, psychiatric diagnosis, culture, or sociodemographic characteristics. For males, more significant IGD symptoms were associated with more extended Internet browsing per day time and higher levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms, while for females, with more extended Internet browsing per day time, marihuana use, and higher levels of depressive symptoms.
Conclusions
Our study found that more overt symptoms of IGD were associated with higher levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms and substance use. Still, these associations differed among males and females, suggesting that gender differences should be considered when planning specific treatments.
Exposure to traumatic events in childhood is associated with the development and maintenance of various psychiatric disorders, but most frequently with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The aim ...of this study was to evaluate the types of traumatic events experienced and the presence and predictors of PTSD symptoms among adolescents from the general population from ten low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Data were simultaneously collected from 3370 trauma-exposed adolescents (mean age = 15.41 SD = 1.65 years, range 12-18; 1465 (43.5%) males and 1905 (56.5%) females) in Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Indonesia, Montenegro, Nigeria, the Palestinian Territories, the Philippines, Romania, and Serbia, with Portugal, a high-income country, as a reference point. The UCLA PTSD Reaction Index for the DSM-5 (PTSD-RI-5) was used for the assessment of traumatic events and PTSD symptoms.
The most frequently reported traumatic events were death of a close person (69.7%), witnessing violence other than domestic (40.5%), being in a natural disaster (34.4%) and witnessing violent death or serious injury of a close person (33.9%). In total, 28.5% adolescents endorsed two to three DSM-5 PTSD criteria symptoms. The rates of adolescents with symptoms from all four DSM-5 criteria for PTSD were 6.2-8.1% in Indonesia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Montenegro, and 9.2-10.5% in Philippines, Croatia and Brazil. From Portugal, 10.7% adolescents fall into this category, while 13.2% and 15.3% for the Palestinian Territories and Nigeria, respectively. A logistic regression model showed that younger age, experiencing war, being forced to have sex, and greater severity of symptoms (persistent avoidance, negative alterations in cognitions and mood, and alterations in arousal and reactivity) were significant predictors of fulfilling full PTSD criteria.
Nearly every third adolescent living in LMICs might have some PTSD symptoms after experiencing a traumatic event, while nearly one in ten might have sufficient symptoms for full DSM-5 PTSD diagnosis. The findings can inform the generation of PTSD burden estimates, allocation of health resources, and designing and implementing psychosocial interventions for PTSD in LMICs.
The study investigated the associations of religiosity, religious coping and suicide acceptance to suicide ideation and attempts in 7427 young adults affiliating with Islam from 11 Muslim countries.
...A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. We used F and χ2 tests and correlation analyses to report descriptive statistics. Multi-group path models with (i) a zero-inflated Poisson distribution and, (ii) a Binomial distribution were used to model the number of occurrences of suicidal ideation, and occurrence of a suicide attempt, respectively.
Religiosity was negatively associated with acceptability of suicide, but it was positively related to punishment after death across the 11 countries. Religiosity was negatively associated with ever experiencing suicidal ideation, both directly and indirectly through its association with attitudes towards suicide, especially the belief in acceptability of suicide. Neither positive nor negative religious coping were related to suicidal ideation. However, religiosity was negatively related to suicide attempts among those who experienced suicidal ideation at least once. This association was mediated through the belief in acceptability of suicide and religious coping. Negative religious coping was positively associated with suicide attempts probably because it weakened the protective effects of religiosity.
Findings from this study suggest that the effects of religiosity in the suicidal process operate through attitudes towards suicide. We therefore conclude that clinical assessment as well as research in suicidology may benefit from paying due attention to attitudes towards suicide.
•Religiosity deters suicide through its effects on attitudes towards suicide.•Acceptability of suicide has the strongest links to suicidal thoughts and attempts.•Neither positive nor negative religious coping are related to suicidal ideation.•Negative religious coping is positively associated with suicide attempts.•Positive religious coping does not deter suicide attempts.
•Suicide acceptance and negative life-events were associated with suicidal ideation.•Perceived social support was negatively related to suicidal ideation.•Those who had interdependent self-construal ...were less accepting of suicide.•Number of life-events was the strongest predictor of ever attempting suicide.•Interdependence attenuated the association of negative life-events with suicide attempts.
Research on suicidality in low to middle-income countries is scarce. We addressed this issue by investigating suicidality in a cross-national college student samples from 11 predominantly low to middle-income majority Muslim countries.
The sample consisted of 7427 college students (56% female) who reported to be affiliated with Islam. Data on self-construal, social support, negative life-events, acceptability of suicide, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts were collected with self-administered questionnaires.
Acceptability of suicide and the experience of negative life-events were positively, and perceived social support was negatively associated with suicidal ideation. Interdependent self-construal was negatively related to the acceptability of suicide and positively associated with perceived social support, implying a negative indirect effect on suicidal ideation although its direct effect was positive. The number of negative life-events was the strongest positive predictor of ever attempting suicide. The interdependent self-construal moderated the association of negative life-events with suicide attempts.
Cross-sectional and self-report nature of the study were its major limitations. Participants may have suppressed their responses about suicide because of religious and legal reasons.
Remarkable similarities across 11 country samples emerged in the linkages between cultural and interpersonal factors with suicidality. Our findings highlight the value of a nuanced approach to suicidality, that can recognize the differences in the processes associated with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, as well as the need to consider the interplay of a broad range of personal, interpersonal, and cultural influences.
Background
Digital mental health interventions and digital psychiatry have been rapidly implemented over the past decade, particularly with the intent to offer a cost‐effective solution in those ...circumstances in which the current mental health services and infrastructure are not able to properly accommodate the patients' needs. However, mental health workforce is often poorly theoretical/practical trained in digital psychiatry and in delivering remote consultations safely and effectively, not being common to own curricula‐specific training requirements in digital psychiatry and skills.
Methods
A web‐based international cross‐sectional survey was carried out by a working group constituted by one or two national representative(s) of each WHO South‐East Asia and Western Pacific Regions (APAC), with the aim to evaluate the level of training, knowledge, experience, and perception regarding the topic of digital psychiatry in a sample constituted by medical students, psychiatry trainees, and early career psychiatrists from APAC.
Results
An overall lack of theoretical and/or practical training on new digital tools and digital health interventions in psychiatry was observed. The level of training influences knowledge background, which, in turns, influences young professionals' perceptions and opinions regarding digital psychiatry and interventions in mental health.
Conclusion
Implementing psychiatry training programs may significantly improve the level of knowledge and use of digital tools in mental healthcare. Moreover, mental health services and infrastructures should be properly adapted to the digital era, considering the overall weak and heterogeneous technical support and equipment, issues of internet connectivity, and other administrative‐related challenges observed in APAC.
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