Are Worries, Satisfaction with Oneself and Outlook in Secondary School Students Associated with Mental Health in Early Adulthood?

Does thinking make it so? Differential associations between adversity worries and experiences and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND

There is evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic is having adverse effects on mental health. It is vital to understand what is causing this: worries over potential adversities due to the pandemic, or the toll of experiencing adverse events.

METHODS

We used panel data from 41 909 UK adults in the COVID-19 Social Study assessed weekly from 1 April 2020 to 12 May 2020 to study the association between adversities and anxiety and depressive symptoms. We studied six categories of adversity including both worries and experiences of: illness with COVID-19, financial difficulty, loss of paid work, difficulties acquiring medication, difficulties accessing food, and threats to personal safety. Anxiety and depression were measured using the 7-item Generalised Anxiety Disorder Assessment and the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire. We used fixed-effect regression models to account for time-invariant confounders.

RESULTS

Cumulative number of worries and experience of adversities were both related to higher levels of anxiety and depression. A number of worries were associated more with anxiety than depression, but number of experiences were equally related to anxiety and depression. There were clear associations between specific worries and poorer mental health. There was weak evidence that individuals of lower socio-economic position were more negatively affected psychologically by the adverse experiences.

CONCLUSION

Measures over the first few weeks of lockdown in the UK appear to have been insufficient at reassuring people given that we see clear associations with mental health and cumulative worries. Interventions are required that seek to prevent adverse events (eg, redundancies) and reassure individuals and support adaptive coping strategies.

Associations between family characteristics and public health nurses' concerns at children's health examinations

RATIONALE

The family and the way it functions have a key role for the health and well-being of children and adolescents. Approximately 10-30% of children grow up in families where their health and well-being may be endangered or weakened. There is very little research data on public health nurses' concerns in connection with children's health examinations related to family characteristics.

AIM

The aim of this study was to investigate the associations of children's gender, age, family structure, mother's employment status and parents' perception on the sufficiency of income with public health nurses' concerns on physical and psychosocial health at children's health examinations.

METHODS

In 2007-2009, information about children's health and well-being and their background factors was collected from the health examinations of altogether 6506 children in Finland using a cross-sectional design. Associations between family characteristics and nurses concern related to physical and psychosocial health and development of children were assessed using logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS

Physical health and psychosocial issues of school-age children raised most concern in public health nurses. Especially, public health nurses felt concern for the psychosocial development of boys both under and of school age. Family structure and the family's financial situation were associated with public health nurses' concern for children's physical health, psychosocial development and the presence of at least one concern.

CONCLUSION

The fact that public health nurses found cause for concern during health examinations was associated with the child's gender, development stage and family characteristic. The research findings may be utilised in planning and targeting health counselling and services in child and school health care. Understanding the role of family characteristics in health and well-being challenges in children is useful in promoting multidisciplinary work in health care.