Stress, internet use, substance use and coping among adolescents, young-adults and middle-age adults amid the 'new normal' pandemic era

Evaluation of the Situations of Coping With Mental Trauma and Trauma in Emergency Service Personnel Who Medically Intervened to Earthquake Affected People in the 2020 Izmir Earthquake

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to evaluate the mental trauma and coping status of emergency health care workers who responded to the earthquake affected people in the October 2020 Izmir earthquake.

METHODS

This was a descriptive and cross-sectional study. State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Posttraumatic Cognition Inventory, Strategies for Coping with Earthquake Stress Scale (SCESS), and Post-earthquake Trauma Level Determination Scale (PETLDS) were used. Independent t-test, analysis of variance, Tukey's test, and Pearson's correlation analysis were used for statistical analysis. Statistical significance was accepted as P ≤ 0.05.

RESULTS

A total of 113 health-care professionals participated in the study. There is a positive and high degree of correlation between the religious coping sub-dimension of the SCESS and the PETLDS (P < 0.001). There was a moderate positive correlation between the religious coping sub-dimension of the SCESS and the state anxiety (P < 0.001) and trait anxiety (P < 0.001) subscales of the STAI.

CONCLUSIONS

In our study, mental trauma and post-traumatic coping levels of health-care workers who were exposed to earthquakes differed according to age, gender, and educational status. We found that post-earthquake trauma levels were directly related to state and trait anxiety levels and religious coping levels. We found that, after the earthquake, social support seeking behavior, state and trait anxiety levels increased; negative cognitions about self, negative cognitions about the world, and self-blame increased.Practice implications: This study draws attention to the evaluation of emergency health workers who work at the forefront of disasters in terms of subsyndromal post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is recommended to make plans for psychologically protective and preventive interventions for health-care workers especially after disasters.

Substance Use among Emerging Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Review through the Lens of Sustainable Development Goals

Public health initiatives, including lockdowns to reduce the spread of COVID-19, have resulted in societal stressors like loneliness, job loss, and economic collapse linked to worsening mental health outcomes, such as depression, anxiety, and coping-related substance use. The various psychosocial stressors caused by the pandemic have potentially led to the increased use of substances across the globe, particularly among emerging adults. The current study summarises the literature on substance use among emerging adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. The terms "coronavirus", "COVID-19", "substance use", "substance abuse", "drug use", drug abuse", "emerging adults", and "young adults" were all used in different combinations throughout the search, using the Scopus, PubMed, and JSTOR databases. Using this method, a total of 28 English-language citations published between 2020 and 2023 were obtained. Following a study of the articles mentioned above, 16 papers were removed. The remaining 12 papers were included in this review. Even though substance use dropped when COVID-19 lockdowns began, it rose when restrictions were removed, particularly among those with prior substance use. Studies related to mental health need to assess substance use, as many emerging adults use substances to cope with distress, including isolation and loneliness, which are part of the current mental health crisis among emerging adults.

The relationship between internet use preference and loneliness among college students during COVID-19: The chain mediating effect of online social support and self-esteem

The outbreak of COVID-19, especially the demands of social interaction and spatial distancing behavior, has led to a surge in Internet use, which has also led to an increase in loneliness. Therefore, we investigated the role of online social support and self-esteem in the relationship between Internet use preference and loneliness. In this study, 1053 college students were surveyed with a questionnaire based on the framework of Ecological System Theory, and a chain mediation model was established to clarify the mechanism between Internet use preference and loneliness. The results show that Internet use preference not only positively predicts loneliness, but also indirectly influences loneliness through the mediators of online social support and self-esteem, thereby impacting loneliness through the "online social support → self-esteem" chain. The results also indicate the need to pay attention to college students' mental health status during COVID-19. The advent of COVID-19 has impacted people's lifestyles and has changed the impact of the Internet on individual mental health. This study provides a new way to further understand college students' Internet use preferences, online social support, self-esteem, and loneliness status during COVID-19. It provides targeted interventions for college students' loneliness during COVID-19.

The adverse impact of excessive internet use during the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents' coping skills: A case study in Hanoi, Vietnam 2021

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant stressors in Vietnamese adolescents' lives. Coping skills play important roles in helping adolescents contend with stress. This study aimed to evaluate adolescents' coping skills during the COVID-19 pandemic and examine how those skills are impacted by excessive internet use during this pandemic.

Methods

The study used respondent-driven sampling and Google online survey forms to collect data. The study sample included 5,315 high school students aged 11- 17 years in Hanoi's rural and urban areas. The Kid Coping Scale was applied to examine adolescents' coping, and the coping score was compared among adolescents with different levels of internet use.

Results

The average coping score measured by Kid Coping Scale was 20.40 (std = 2.13). About half of adolescents often "avoid the problem or the area where it happened" when experiencing a hard time. One-third of adolescents often stopped thinking about the problem they faced. More than one-fourth of respondents stayed online for at least 8 h per day. The online time for learning/other activities showed a reverse dose-response relationship with the coping score; the longer the internet use duration, the lower the coping score.

Conclusion

The mean score of coping of Hanoi adolescents was moderate. Internet use has an adverse impact on their coping skills.

Substance Use Among Youth During the COVID-19 Pandemic: a Systematic Review

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

To review the literature on the trends in substance use among youth during the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic.

RECENT FINDINGS

The pandemic has given rise to concerns about the mental health and social well-being of youth, including its potential to increase or exacerbate substance use behaviors. This systematic review identified and included 49 studies of use across alcohol, cannabis, tobacco, e-cigarettes/vaping, and other drugs, and unspecified substances. The majority of studies across all categories of youth substance use reported reductions in prevalence, except in the case of other drugs and unspecified drug and substance use, which included three studies that reported an increase in use and three studies that reported decrease in use. Overall, the results of this review suggest that the prevalence of youth substance use has largely declined during the pandemic. Youth substance use in the post-pandemic years will require monitoring and continued surveillance.