A prospective study of college student depressive symptoms, sense of purpose, and response to a COVID-19 campus shutdown

Religion and Suicide in Black Emerging Adults: Examining Pathways Through Hope and Meaning in Life

While suicide persists as a leading cause of death for Black emerging adults in the U.S., few studies identify specific positive psychological mechanisms that can be leveraged to reduce future risk. The current study, therefore, explores whether religion is related to suicidal ideation via hope and meaning in life among a sample of n = 375 Black emerging adults ages 18-25-years-old (M = 20.79, SD = 2.22). Structural equation modeling techniques were used to measure direct and indirect associations. Primary results indicate that non-organizational religiosity (e.g., reading religious texts, listening to religious music, prayer) was positively associated with hope, presence of meaning in life, and search for meaning in life. Presence of meaning in life was the strongest contributor to decreased suicidal ideation. Further, non-organizational religiosity was indirectly associated with less suicidal ideation via hope and presence of meaning in life. Personal forms of religious involvement, and not service attendance, appear to be the most salient aspects of religion to consider when exploring pathways between religion and suicidality during this particular developmental stage.

The relationship between the perception of major life events and depression: A systematic scoping review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Major life events can lead to depression in adulthood. However, as predicted by several depression theories, not only the mere occurrence of major life events but also the way people perceive them determines the onset of a depression.

METHODS

Based on a systematic literature search, we identified 276 studies (Ntotal = 89,600) that examined the relationship between the perception of major life events and depression. We provide an overview of how this relationship has been examined. Furthermore, we meta-analytically integrated 420 effect sizes (172 studies) on the association between the perception of major life events and depression.

RESULTS

Most studies relied on college student samples, were cross-sectional, and were conducted in the United States. A more negative perception of events was significantly associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms (r = 0.28). This association was robust across several design and sample characteristics. Furthermore, the perception of major life events and depression were also longitudinally associated with each other (event perception predicting later depressive symptoms: r = 0.26; depressive symptoms predicting later event perception: r = 0.17).

LIMITATIONS

Longitudinal research on the relationship between depression and the perception of major life events was relatively rare impairing definite conclusions on whether the perception of life events can predict changes in depressive symptoms over time.

CONCLUSION

The perception of major life events is related to depression. However, further longitudinal research considering a range of different perceived event characteristics and using non-Western heterogeneous samples is needed to better understand their relationship.

MentorOn: A peer mentoring program developed for COVID-19 times

Burgeoning research has documented COVID-19's detrimental impacts globally, especially on the lives of adolescents. The present study examined the positive influences of a virtual, cross-age peer mentoring program on the development of adolescent participants in the face of the hardships created by the pandemic. In particular, this study focuses on the experiences of high school participants who served as both mentors and mentees in the program. Semi-structured interviews with participating high schoolers (n = 13) were coded and analyzed using the thematic analysis process. The interview data indicated that increased social support, the agency in prosocial pursuits, and greater purpose engagement resulted from their participation in the program. Results are discussed in the context of self-determination theory: youths' needs for relatedness, competence, and autonomy. The program met these basic needs among participants which in turn supported purpose exploration during the pandemic.

Examining the role of life purpose in high school students' self-esteem through structural equation modelling

The aim of this study was to examine the extent to which high school students' sense of purpose explained variance their self-esteem. Life purpose is a multidimensional construct that encompasses long-term goals, commitments, and intentions to fulfill aspirations that are meaningful to self and have consequences for the world beyond-the-self. For this study, we explored the role of three distinct dimensions of awareness of purpose, awakening to purpose, and altruistic purpose in predicting students' self-esteem. High school students' (N = 234) between 14 and 18 years, completed surveys on self-esteem and sense of purpose. A structural model was tested, in which the three latent factors of awakening to purpose, awareness of purpose, and altruistic purpose were specified to predict a latent factor of self-esteem. Analyses were conducted using maximum likelihood estimation method. Findings showed that both awareness of purpose and altruistic purpose contributed positively to adolescents' self-esteem. Awakening to purpose, on the other hand, was not significantly related to adolescents' self-esteem once their awareness of purpose and altruistic purpose were taken into account. This study expanded the growing body of research on the role of purpose in contributing to school students' personal wellbeing and development. We have discussed the findings of this study and previous literature in the context of practical implications that could support school personnel, teachers, and counselors to engage in wellness-oriented approaches that could strengthen students' sense of purpose, and thereby their self-esteem.