What Predicts Adjustment Among Law Students? A Longitudinal Panel Study

Facing the truth - A report on the mental health situation of German law students

Depression is a serious and widespread mental illness that can occur among all ages and genders. This cross-sectional study investigates the previously disregarded state of mental health of German law students based on the Beck Depression Inventory-II. A sample consisting of N = 306 students was surveyed, showing an increased frequency of depressive symptoms. One-third of the participants reported having depression according to BDI-II scoring criteria. More specifically, in the whole sample there are 16.7% with mild, 11.1% with moderate, and 5.6% with severe depression. About 17.7% reported having suicidal thoughts in the last two weeks before the survey. Moreover, the study reports about the correlation between the BDI-II total score and certain risk factors, stress factors and resilience factors, which were assessed using self-report questionnaires and the NEO-FFI. The self-reported depressive symptoms were higher with every accumulation of risk or stress factors and lower with each accumulation of resilience factors. Finally, based on the test results, recommendations are offered to facilitate the burdened student's life.

The big five personality traits, perfectionism and their association with mental health among UK students on professional degree programmes

Background

In view of heightened rates of suicide and evidence of poor mental health among healthcare occupational groups, such as veterinarians, doctors, pharmacists and dentists, there has been increasing focus on the students aiming for careers in these fields. It is often proposed that a high proportion of these students may possess personality traits which render them vulnerable to mental ill-health.

Aim

To explore the relationship between the big five personality traits, perfectionism and mental health in UK students undertaking undergraduate degrees in veterinary medicine, medicine, pharmacy, dentistry and law.

Methods

A total of 1744 students studying veterinary medicine, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and law in the UK completed an online questionnaire, which collected data on the big five personality traits (NEO-FFI), perfectionism (Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale), wellbeing (Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale), psychological distress (General Health Questionnaire-12), depression (Beck Depression Inventory-II) and suicidal ideation and attempts.

Results

Veterinary, medical and dentistry students were significantly more agreeable than law students, while veterinary students had the lowest perfectionism scores of the five groups studied. High levels of neuroticism and low conscientiousness were predictive of increased mental ill-health in each of the student populations.

Conclusions

The study highlights that the prevailing anecdotal view of professional students possessing maladaptive personality traits that negatively impact on their mental health may be misplaced.

Short-Term Effects of a Multidimensional Stress Prevention Program on Quality of Life, Well-Being and Psychological Resources. A Randomized Controlled Trial

It is well-documented that university students have an increased risk in developing psychological problems because they face multiple stressors. Cognitive, behavioral, and mindfulness-based stress prevention programs were shown to reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, and perceived stress in university students. However, little is known of their effect on resource activation. Additionally, most validated interventions are unidimensional, i.e., including one stress-coping approach. In this study, we investigated the short-term effects of a multidimensional stress prevention program on students' quality of life, psychological symptoms and resources, and resilience factors against stress. Using an experimental design, 64 healthy undergraduate students (56 women), between 18 and 34 years old (M = 21.34, SD = 2.53), from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, were randomly allocated either to the intervention or the wait-list control group. The intervention group participated in a multidimensional stress prevention program, integrating mindfulness-based activities, cognitive and behavioral strategies, social skills, and emotional regulation exercises. The program consisted of eight 2-h weekly sessions. Before and after the intervention, participants completed self-reported questionnaires evaluating quality of life; psychological symptoms such as depression, anxiety, social anxiety, and interpersonal problems; as well as psychological resources like self-efficacy, sense of coherence, self-compassion, and social support, presented online. A standardized clinical interview was performed at pre- and post-measurement times. To analyze the sort-term effects of the program, we used mixed, two-factorial ANOVAs (per-protocol analyses). In accordance with our hypotheses, our results showed significant reduction of psychological symptoms, including anxiety, interpersonal problems, and symptoms of pain; a significant increase in quality of life, sense of coherence, and self-compassion in students who participated in the intervention program compared to the control group, (all p < 0.05). No significant results were found for symptoms of depression, social anxiety, self-efficacy, and social support. These preliminary findings indicate specific short-term effects of our multidimensional stress prevention program on psychological symptoms and on quality of life as well as promising effects on psychological resources and factors associated with resilience against stress. Future studies should investigate the long-term effects of the intervention as well as the effects in clinical samples.

Do law students stand apart from other university students in their quest for mental health: A comparative study on wellbeing and associated behaviours in law and psychology students

We are not producing a product, but a well-balanced person.(1) It is well-documented that law students experience higher levels of psychological distress than members of the general population and university students in other professional disciplines. In 2014, we published our findings on an empirical study identifying the correlations between law student wellbeing and student behaviour both at and away from law school. The results of the study informed the development of an evidence-based 'behavioural toolkit' to assist law students and law schools in making informed choices and decisions that promote and even improve the mental health of students. The study we undertook was not, however, limited to law students. It extended to collecting quantitative data on psychological distress and associated behaviours in psychology students. This article reports on the comparative findings of the study and provides a comparative basis for understanding the contextual influences on the wellbeing of law students.

Sending mobile messages to different social ties in modern urban life

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of mobile messaging for the purposes of information sharing and social networking based on the types of social ties involved. The authors identify two psychological traits in the model: perceived time shortages (TSs) and anxiety trait. These traits can influence individuals’ mobile-messaging usage by facilitating users’ connections to different social ties in modern urban life.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors distributed questionnaires at random on the streets of certain densely populated areas in Hong Kong to young urbanites, who are the dominant users of technological social media. The authors collected 492 valid responses, which the authors analysed via multivariate regression analysis.

Findings

– Mobile messages are more effectively used to share information within strongly tied groups rather than weakly tied groups. However, there is little difference between weakly and strongly connected groups in terms of the perceived effectiveness of mobile messages used for social networking. Anxious people are more inclined to send mobile messages to individuals with whom they have weak ties, and people who perceived TSs send more mobile messages to individuals with whom they have strong ties.

Research limitations/implications

– The rapid nature of information and communication technology has enabled new “richer” forms of mobile media. For instance, WhatsApp allows people to attach images and other multimedia files to their messages, and WeChat provides a location-sharing service that enables users to meet new people based on their friendship preferences. Future studies should examine this trend.

Originality/value

– This study contributes to the literature by elaborating the mobile-messaging behaviour of urban citizens who are anxious and perceive TSs within strongly and weakly connected social groups.

How religious coping is used relative to other coping strategies depends on the individual's level of religiosity and spirituality

Results from empirical studies on the role of religiosity and spirituality in dealing with stress are frequently at odds, and the present study investigated whether level of religiosity and spirituality is related to the way in which religious coping is used relative to other coping strategies. A sample of 616 university undergraduate students completed the Brief COPE (Carver in Int J Behav Med 4:92-100, 1997) questionnaire and was classified into groups of participants with lower and higher levels of religiosity and spirituality, as measured by the WHOQOL-SRPB (WHOQOL-SRPB Group in Soc Sci Med 62:1486-1497, 2006) instrument. For participants with lower levels, religious coping tended to be associated with maladaptive or avoidant coping strategies, compared to participants with higher levels, where religious coping was more closely related to problem-focused coping, which was also supported by multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. The results of the present study thus illustrate that investigating the role of religious coping requires more complex approaches than attempting to assign it to one higher order factor, such as problem- or emotion-focused coping, and that the variability of findings reported by previous studies on the function of religious coping may partly be due to variability in religiosity and spirituality across samples.

Development of a student health questionnaire: the necessity of a symbiosis of science and practice

RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

University students report more health complaints than their working peers, but do not appear to seek help for these problems. This stresses the importance of early detection. The aim of this study was to obtain information on indicators of health associated with academic functioning to develop a preliminary health surveillance questionnaire. In addition, we aimed to gain insight in the additional value of adding experience-based information from the priority population, and individuals in their direct environment, to the knowledge gained from the scientific literature.

METHOD

First, a review of literature on indicators of health associated with academic functioning was conducted. Next, interviews were held with students (n = 11) and two groups of significant others with professional experience in student health care: general practitioners (n = 9) and practice assistants (n = 8).

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

A health surveillance questionnaire to detect students with health problems associated with academic functioning should consist of questions on social support, general health, physical health, psychological health, study-related issues and health, help-seeking behaviour and life events in the past. Experiences from practice should be integrated when developing a questionnaire.

Gender differences in delayed-type hypersensitivity response: effects of stress and coping in first-year law students

Law students show significant deficits in emotional and physical well-being compared with groups of students in other areas of higher education. Furthermore, evidence suggests that these effects may be worse for women than for men. The use of active coping can positively affect immunity under stress, but this may be most true for men in the context of law school. The current study examined the delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) skin responses of first-year law students (n=121) and a comparison group (n=30). Students' health behaviors, self-evaluative emotions, and coping strategies were also reported. Male law students had larger DTH responses than females, but this gender effect was not present in the comparison group. Endorsement of perseverance under stress (n=19), an active coping strategy, moderated the gender effect on immunity. Perseverance associated with larger DTH responses and more positive self-evaluative emotion, but only among men. These results indicate that active coping may be less efficacious for women than for men in law school, which in turn may limit women's opportunities to attenuate negative effects of law school.

Immunity and antioxidant capacity in humans is enhanced by consumption of a dried, encapsulated fruit and vegetable juice concentrate

The daily consumption of fruits and vegetables is a common dietary recommendation to support good health. We hypothesized that a commercially available encapsulated fruit and vegetable juice powder concentrate (FVJC) could support functional indices of health due to increased intake of various phytonutrients. This was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled investigation of 59 healthy law students who consumed either FVJC or placebo capsules for 77 d. Blood was collected on d 1, 35, and 77 to examine the number of circulating alphabeta- and gammadelta-T cells, cytokine production, lymphocyte DNA damage, antioxidant status, and levels of carotenoids and vitamin C. A log of illnesses and symptoms was also kept. The FVJC group tended to have fewer total symptoms than the placebo group (P < 0.076). By d 77 there was a 30% increase in circulating gammadelta-T cells and a 40% reduction in DNA damage in lymphocytes in the FVJC group relative to the placebo group. Plasma levels of vitamin C and of beta-carotene, lycopene, and lutein increased significantly from baseline in the FVJC group as did plasma oxygen radical absorptive capacity (50%). Interferon-gamma produced by phorbol-stimulated lymphocytes was reduced 70% in the FVJC group, whereas other cytokines (IL-4, IL-6, transforming growth factor beta) were unchanged relative to treatment or time. FVJC consumption during this study period resulted in increased plasma nutrients and antioxidant capacity, reduction in DNA strand breaks, and an increase in circulating gammadelta-T cells.

Individual differences in adolescent health symptoms: the effects of gender and coping

Previous studies have suggested that adult men and women experience different types and severities of physical and psychological health symptoms. This study examined whether in the case of adolescents these reported gender differences in physical and psychological health symptoms could actually be the result of differences in coping styles. Five hundred and forty-six adolescents were questioned on their coping styles and symptoms. We found gender differences in physical and psychological health symptoms (e.g. anger, depression, tension, negative moods), as well as in coping styles. We also found that the relation between health symptoms and coping varied significantly by gender. The results of this study suggest that doctors, school counselors and family therapists may want to take gender differences in coping styles into account when seeing adolescent patients for physical or psychological health symptoms, and find ways to help the adolescents cope more effectively with their stressors.