Psychological distress in young Australian women by area of residence: findings from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health

Prevalence of emotional and behavioral problems among adolescents in Bangladesh

BACKGROUND

Emotional and behavioral problems among adolescents is a global concern. Previous studies conducted in Bangladesh have highlighted the importance to effectively prevent and address emotional and behavioral problems among adolescents to improve their psychological well-being. Despite these efforts, there remains limited research specifically addressing emotional and behavioral problems, conduct disorders, hyperactivity/attention disorders, and peer relationship problems among adolescents in Bangladesh in terms of age, gender, grade, and location. To address this knowledge gap, the present study aimed to comprehensively investigate the prevalence of emotional and behavioral problems among school-going adolescents in Bangladesh.

METHODS

The study employed a two-stage stratified cluster sampling technique to recruit a total of 1496 participants. The socio-demographic characteristics of the participants, such as age, gender, grade, location, birth order, family type, monthly family income, and parental education were collected. Emotional and behavioral problems were assessed using the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), while the chi-square test and logistic regression were used to analyze the data with STATA software.

RESULTS

The prevalence of emotional disorder was 9.09% (7.73 - 10.65%). The rate was 21.72% (19.70 - 23.88%) for conduct disorder, 6.21% (5.09 - 7.55%) for hyperactivity, and for peer-relationship problem, the rate was 15.10% (13.37 - 17.01%) among adolescents. Overall, gender, grade, location, monthly family income, and parental education were significantly associated with emotional and behavioral problems. More specifically, adolescent girls (OR = 2.90 for the emotional disorder), grade (8th: OR = 2.07, 9th: OR = 1.95, for the emotional disorder), urban residents (OR = 2.46, for conduct disorder; OR = 2.29, for hyperactivity; OR = 2.03, for peer-relationship problem), poor monthly family income (OR = 2.84, for peer-relationship problem) significantly increased the risk of psychiatric morbidity.

CONCLUSION

The study highlights the need for school-based intervention programs to address adolescent emotional and behavioral problems. By targeting vulnerable individuals, these programs can effectively reduce mental health problems among adolescents.

Effects of housing layout and perceived behavioral control over social distancing in relation between social isolation and psychological distress during pandemic of COVID-19

Due to the results of the COVID-19 epidemic on health, the positive effect of social distancing has been highlighted. Nevertheless, the effect of housing layouts on resident's perceived behavioral control over social distancing in shared open spaces have been rarely investigated in the context of pandemic. Filling this gap, the current study examines the moderating effect of perceived behavioral control on the relationship between social isolation and psychological distress. Data from 1349 women residing in 9 gated communities during the Iranian national lockdown were collected. The results of ANOVA indicate that there is a significant difference between various housing layouts in terms of residents' perceived behavioral control. Respondent in courtyard blocks layout reported higher perceived behavioral control over social distancing than in linear and freestanding blocks. The findings of structural equation modeling identified perceived behavioral control as a buffer against the effect of social isolation on psychological distress.

Social isolation transitions and psychological distress among older adults in rural China: A longitudinal study before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic could increase the number of older adults who are socially isolated including community-dwelling older adults, and result in the secondary damage of mental health. This study aimed to examine the longitudinal association between social isolation transitions and psychological distress among the community-dwelling older adults before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in rural China.

METHODS

A total of 2749 community-dwelling older adults aged 60 years and older in rural Shandong, China were included. We used the generalized estimating equations (GEE) model to estimate the impact of social isolation transitions on psychological distress before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

RESULTS

The percentage of high and very high psychological distress (K10 ≥ 22) was 23.54% and 31.36% before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, respectively, indicating a 7.82% increase (P < 0.001). Compared with the group remaining nonisolated, "became socially isolated" and "remained isolated" groups were more likely to have a deterioration of psychological distress after experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic (became socially isolated: b = 0.92, P < 0.001; remained isolated: b = 0.98, P < 0.001).

LIMITATIONS

The main variables in this study were measured by self-report information, which might result in recall bias.

CONCLUSIONS

During the COVID-19 pandemic, psychological distress increased among the community-dwelling older adults in rural China. There was a significant risk of psychological distress among those who had transitioned from nonisolation before the pandemic to social isolation after experiencing the pandemic, thus intervention on social isolation process during the pandemic may be important to protect older adults' mental health.