Attachment, loneliness, and social connection as prospective predictors of suicidal ideation during the COVID-19 pandemic: A relational diathesis-stress experience sampling study

Network based evidence of suicidal ideation among teachers

This study investigates the relationship between risk and protective factors and suicidal ideation among teachers, a group often overlooked in suicide prevention efforts. Using the diathesis-stress model as a partial framework, the research explores how depression and anxiety, as risk factors, and emotional intelligence, resilience, and positive thoughts, as protective factors, influence suicidal ideation. A cross-sectional design was employed, involving 1,270 Spanish teachers (median age: 46, 70.2% female). Key measures included the Positive and Negative Suicidal Ideation scale (PANSI), the Brief Emotional Intelligence Scale (BEIS-10), the Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS) for resilience, and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) for depression and anxiety. A network approach was used to examine the relationships between these variables. Results showed that depression had a stronger relationship with negative ideation than anxiety, while emotional intelligence and positive thoughts acted as protective factors. Positive ideation was negatively associated with depression and anxiety, and positively linked to emotional intelligence and resilience. Emotional intelligence emerged as the most critical protective factor. These findings provide valuable evidence to inform the development of emotional management and resilience-building programs aimed at enhancing teachers' mental health and performance, which could also indirectly benefit students.

Chronic stress and lack of social support: Role in adolescent depression and suicide-related behaviors in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to examine acute and chronic stressors, and perceived lack social support, and their associations with depression and suicidal ideation in adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

Deidentified data from (N = 270,153) U.S. adolescents aged 11 to 17 who completed the Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item tool (PHQ-9) in the years 2020 and 2021 were sourced from a collection of online screening tools that are free, confidential, anonymous, and scientifically validated. In addition to depression, the survey included questions about suicidality, past/chronic stressful events, and contributors to mental health problems and sociodemographic variables. SPSS software version 28 for descriptive analyses, and Mplus version 7.31 for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM), were respectively used.

RESULTS

Participants were predominantly female, White, and heterosexual, and exhibited a high prevalence of severe depression and a significant frequency of suicidal thoughts. Significant associations were found between past/chronic stressful events, and lack of social support, with suicidality and depression. Mental health stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic itself presented no significant associations with depression and suicidality and was weakly and negatively associated with lack of social support and past/chronic stressors.

DISCUSSION

These findings reinforce the notion that prior traumatic events can create vulnerabilities in the face of acute stressors, while social support can enhance resilience in adolescents. Factors that increase resilience, such as preventing traumatic events, reducing social stressors, and increasing social support, can serve as valuable guidelines for clinical and public health interventions.

Reliability and validity evaluation of the stigma of loneliness scale in Chinese college students

BACKGROUND

The stigma of loneliness exacerbates the negative effect of loneliness, reduces the willingness to seek help, damages interpersonal relationships, and threatens health status. However, there is currently no valid scale for measuring the stigma of loneliness in China. The study aims to translate the Stigma of Loneliness Scale (SLS) and evaluate the reliability and validity of the Chinese version.

METHODS

The investigation was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, the SLS was used to conduct a questionnaire survey on 657 college students aged 17 to 24; in the second phase, the SLS, the UCLA Loneliness Scale (ULS-8), the Distress Disclosure Index (DDI), the Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale (RCBS), the Self-Concealment Scale (SCS), the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS), the Social Phobia Scale (SPS), the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) were used to conduct the questionnaire survey on 801 college and graduates students aged 18 to 39.

RESULTS

Two dimensions of Self-stigma of Loneliness and Public Stigma of Loneliness were extracted with a cumulative factor interpretation rate of 74.60% when conducting exploratory factor analysis on the first-stage data. The factor loading of each item ranged from 0.585 to 0.890, and the commonality ranged from 0.609 to 0.735. The confirmatory factor analysis and reliability and validity test were carried out on the data gathered in the second phase, indicating that the two-factor model fits well. In addition, the scores of SLS and all dimensions were significantly positively correlated with the total scores of ULS-8, RCBS, SCS, SIAS, SPS, and K10, and negatively correlated with those of DDI and RSES. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients for SLS and SSL and PSL dimensions were 0.957, 0.941, and 0.955. The cross-group invariance test found that the SLS was equivalent for males and females. Meanwhile, males scored significantly higher than females on both the total scores of SLS score and each dimension.

CONCLUSIONS

The Chinese version of SLS displayed satisfactory psychometric properties and can be a valid tool to assess the stigma of loneliness among Chinese young people.

Do Attachment Orientations Relate to Coping with Crises? Lessons from a Cross-Sectional Study during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study was designed to explore whether attachment orientations were related to distress and resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sample included 2000 Israeli Jewish adults who answered an online survey during the first phase of the pandemic. The questions referred to background variables, attachment orientations, distress, and resilience. Responses were analyzed using correlation and regression analyses. A significant positive relationship was found between distress and attachment anxiety, and a significant negative relationship was found between resilience and attachment insecurities (avoidance and anxiety). Women suffered higher distress, as did people with lower income, poor health, secular religious affiliation, a lack of a sense of spacious accommodation, and a dependent family member. The findings indicate that attachment insecurities are associated with the severity of mental health symptoms during the peak period of the COVID-19 pandemic. We recommend strengthening attachment security as a protective factor for psychological distress in therapeutic and educational settings.