Sleep duration and depression among adolescents: Mediation effect of collective integration

Adolescence is a time of dramatic physical and mental change when adolescents are extremely vulnerable to various mental health problems. Depression and poor sleep duration are increasingly common among adolescents. This study is mainly aimed to verify the important mediating role of collective integration on sleep duration and depression and examine the interrelationship between sleep duration and depression in adolescents longitudinally. The data were obtained from the Wave 1 (in 2013-2014) and Wave 2 (in 2014-2015) longitudinal surveys of China Education Panel Survey (CEPS). The analytic sample in the present study included 8,829 seventh-grade students aged about 14 years (51.50% boys and 48.50% girls). A structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to investigate parent-child/teacher factors affecting adolescent sleep duration and depression, and Monte Carlo resampling with R was employed to confirm the significance of the mediation effects of collective integration. An autoregressive cross-lagged model was employed to analyze the interrelationship between adolescent sleep duration and depression. The findings were as follows. Firstly, collective integration strongly mediated the relationships among academic self-efficacy, parental involvement, teacher praise/criticism, sleep duration, and depression. Secondly, sleep duration and depression were found to have enduring effects and have effects on each other. Thirdly, parental involvement and teacher praise were positively associated with sleep quality and negatively associated with depression. Teacher criticism was negatively associated with sleep quality and positively associated with depression. Compared with teacher praise, teacher criticism has stronger effects on youth sleep duration and depression. In conclusion, improving sleep problems and depression in adolescents as early as possible can stop the persistent and long-term consequences of these problems. Increasing teacher praise, decreasing teacher criticism, and increasing adolescents' collective integration were effective ways to improve adolescents' sleep duration and mediate depression.

The role of parenting, self-compassion and friendships in depressive symptoms among young people in the UK and China

Self-compassion, being kind to oneself in difficult times, is a way of relating to oneself that promotes better mental health, but little is known about how self-compassion affects interpersonal relationships. The current study examined the association between self-compassion and adolescent depressive symptoms from an interpersonal perspective in different cultural contexts. Adolescents (N = 422/570, Mean age = 14.44/13.41, UK/China) completed questionnaires about their perceptions of their parents' behaviour towards them, self-compassion, friendships and depressive symptoms. Structural equation modelling revealed that positive parenting was positively associated with higher self-compassion, positive friendship quality, and with fewer depressive symptoms in both samples. Additionally, we confirmed a negative association between self-compassion and depressive symptoms. The pathway from positive parenting to lower depressive symptoms via higher self-compassion was also corroborated in both cultures. Contrary to our hypothesis, positive quality of friendship was associated with higher depressive symptoms in both countries. Conflicts were associated with more depressive symptoms in the Chinese sample only. There was evidence of a negative association between self-compassion and conflicts in the Chinese sample only. Finally, the direct association between self-compassion and depressive symptoms was greater in the UK sample, whereas in the Chinese sample, interpersonal factors were more strongly associated with self-compassion and depressive symptoms. Our findings suggest that self-compassion may be a useful therapeutic target to improve social functioning and mental health among adolescents and that it may be necessary to account for cross-cultural differences in interpersonal factors when designing psychological interventions.

A Data-Driven Analysis of Sociocultural, Ecological, and Economic Correlates of Depression Across Nations

The prevalence of depression varies widely across nations, but we do not yet understand what underlies this variation. Here we use estimates from the Global Burden of Disease study to analyze the correlates of depression across 195 countries and territories. We begin by identifying potential cross-correlates of depression using past clinical and cultural psychology literature. We then take a data-driven approach to modeling which factors correlate with depression in zero-order analyses, and in a multiple regression model that controls for covariation between factors. Our findings reveal several potential correlates of depression, including cultural individualism, daylight hours, divorce rate, and GDP per capita. Cultural individualism is the only factor that remains significant across all our models, even when adjusting for spatial autocorrelation, mental healthcare workers per capita, multicollinearity, and outliers. These findings shed light on how depression varies around the world, the sociocultural and environmental factors that underlie this variation, and potential future directions for the study of culture and mental illness.

Testing of a Dual Process Model to Resolve the Socioeconomic Health Disparities: A Tale of Two Asian Countries

A wealth of past studies documented that individuals of lower socioeconomic status (SES) are more susceptible to both acute and chronic life stress than those of higher SES, but some recent evidence documents that not all individuals from the lower SES group experience immense stress. The present study was grounded in theories of coping and psychological adjustment, and a dual process model was formulated to address some resolved issues regarding socioeconomic disparities in health. For a robust test of the proposed dual process model, data were collected from two Asian countries—Hong Kong and Indonesia—with different socioeconomic heritage and conditions. Consistent with the predictions of our model, the present findings revealed that coping flexibility was a psychological mechanism underlying the positive association between social capital and health for the lower SES group, whereas active coping was a psychological mechanism underlying this positive association for the higher SES group. These patterns of results were largely replicable in both Asian samples, providing robust empirical support for the proposed dual process model.

Worldviews and Individual Vulnerability to Suicide: The Role of Social Axioms

Research investigating the role of generalized beliefs about the world or worldviews is relatively scarce in the suicide literature. Two studies, using Hong Kong Chinese samples, examined how worldviews, as assessed by the Social Axioms Survey (SAS), were linked with individual vulnerability to suicide. In Study 1, we investigated the relationships of social axioms with various suicide indicators in cognitive, emotional and interpersonal domains, viz., suicidal ideation, negative self–esteem, psychache, burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness. Results from canonical correlation analysis showed that beliefs along the axiom dimensions of social cynicism, reward for application, and social complexity were linked to these suicide indicators. In Study 2, we tested the interplay of worldviews and personality traits in the prediction of suicidal thoughts. Hierarchical regression results demonstrated the predictive power of social axioms over and above that provided by the Big Five personality dimensions. Moreover, a significant interaction was observed between belief in reward for application and negative life events in predicting suicidal ideation, showing that reward for application buffered the effect of negative life events on suicidal ideation. Based on these results, we discussed the significance of worldviews as a consideration in suicide research and their implications for clinical assessment and intervention. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Unpacking Structure-Oriented Cultural Differences Through a Mediated Moderation Model: A Tutorial With an Empirical Illustration

Explaining cultural differences in the magnitude of psychological constructs and associations between psychological constructs is pivotal in cross-cultural psychology. Although unpacking level-oriented cultural differences has been well documented in the literature, discussion on methods to unpack structure-oriented cultural differences is limited. To tackle this problem, we propose an application of mediated moderation analysis. By estimating and comparing the “indirect (mediated) moderation effects of culture” through different mediated moderators, researchers can evaluate the explanatory power of an underlying mechanism relative to other mediated moderators. To facilitate the use of the mediated moderation model to unpack structure-oriented cultural differences, we discuss technical issues on how to specify a mediated moderation model, how to interpret the moderation effects of culture, and how large the sample size needs to be. An empirical illustration is also presented to demonstrate the application of the method with syntax for different software programs.

Linking loneliness to depression: a dynamic perspective

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand the influence of change in loneliness on the experience of depression among the students in a business school in India. Building on the literature, the authors argued the dynamic nature of loneliness and depression and subsequently explored the linkage between change in loneliness and associated change in the experience of depression. Further, the purpose is also to explore whether such linkage depends on individual personality factors.

Design/methodology/approach

The present study is part of a bigger study that employed a longitudinal survey design. Data were collected in two phases with a six-month time lag between the phases. Data were initially collected in July 2014, and again with all measures repeated in January, 2015. Data were collected from two sections from the undergraduate program participants at one of the reputed institutions in India. Demographic variables such as gender, number of siblings, and family type (nuclear family or joint family) were collected. The authors controlled for age and qualification as all the students have the same qualification and almost all of them were in the same age group. All these variables were controlled due to their probable interference with the proposed theoretical model.

Findings

The findings reveal a significant role of loneliness on experience of depression and a moderating role of personality on the relationship. The linkage between change in loneliness and change in depression was found to be higher among those people who were high on extraversion. The findings clearly indicate that the impact of loneliness will be more as the need for attachment is high for individuals having higher extraversion.

Research limitations/implications

Further research may explore the role of neuroticism in the link between loneliness and depression.

Practical implications

The findings of this longitudinal study are very relevant for all the professional groups in the college/university setting. It is important for students as well as college authorities to understand the dynamic nature and relationship of loneliness and depression, as well as the role of personality factors. Routine monitoring as well as various educational programs may be included as regular components of campus culture. Even curriculum can also be fine-tuned. Various programs can be designed to improve interpersonal skills, cognitive understanding, and resolution of aversive emotions, as these college going students or buddying managers are more receptive to intervention programs.

Originality/value

The paper clearly reflects its originality. It adds value in the form of contribution to theoretical development as well as to various college authorities to handle students emotions effectively.

Media Violence and Other Aggression Risk Factors in Seven Nations

Cultural generality versus specificity of media violence effects on aggression was examined in seven countries (Australia, China, Croatia, Germany, Japan, Romania, the United States). Participants reported aggressive behaviors, media use habits, and several other known risk and protective factors for aggression. Across nations, exposure to violent screen media was positively associated with aggression. This effect was partially mediated by aggressive cognitions and empathy. The media violence effect on aggression remained significant even after statistically controlling a number of relevant risk and protective factors (e.g., abusive parenting, peer delinquency), and was similar in magnitude to effects of other risk factors. In support of the cumulative risk model, joint effects of different risk factors on aggressive behavior in each culture were larger than effects of any individual risk factor.

Nation-Level Moderators of the Extent to Which Self-Efficacy and Relationship Harmony Predict Students’ Depression and Life Satisfaction

Previous two-nation comparisons have provided evidence that self-efficacy may be a protective factor against depression in individualist cultures, whereas relationship harmony may be a stronger protective factor in collectivist cultures. However, wider sampling and more specific measures of cultural difference are required to test these conclusions. Student ratings of depression and life satisfaction were surveyed in 10 samples drawn from nine nations. Culture-level individualism positively moderated the relationship of self-efficacy to low depression. However, culture-level collectivism negatively moderated the linkage of relationship harmony to depression. To better understand these effects, four separate nation-level predictors derived from dimensions of self-construal were employed. Effects of self-efficacy were strongest where cultural models of selfhood emphasized self-direction (vs. receptiveness to influence); effects of relationship harmony were strongest where cultural models of selfhood emphasized dependence on others (vs. self-reliance). These results illustrate the value of unpackaging the diffusely defined concept of individualism-collectivism.

Collectivistic orientation, acculturative stress, cultural self-efficacy, and depression: a longitudinal study among Chinese internal migrants

The current study examined the longitudinal relationship of collectivistic orientation and depression and the mediating effects of acculturative stress and cultural self-efficacy between collectivistic orientation and depression. We expect that collectivistic orientation would decrease acculturative stress and increase cultural self-efficacy, and in turn, improve depression. Using data from 641 Chinese internal migrants during a 1-year period, the results supported the hypothesis that collectivistic orientation predicted decreased depression. Moreover, collectivistic orientation alleviated depression through reducing acculturative stress. Although cultural self-efficacy was also a significant mediator, collectivistic orientation relieved depression through decreasing cultural self-efficacy. Implications for future research directions and counseling are discussed.

Role of virtues and perceived life stress in affecting psychological symptoms among Chinese college students

OBJECTIVE

This study explored the relationship among virtues, self-perceived life stress, and psychological symptoms.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 235 undergraduates participated in the study in March 2013.

METHODS

The participants were recruited to complete the Life Stress Rating Scale for College Students, the Chinese Virtues Questionnaire that measures 3 virtues (relationship, vitality, and conscientiousness), and the Symptom Checklist-90.

RESULTS

Regression analyses indicated that the perceived stress from minor events explained approximately 35.00% of the variance of psychological symptoms. Both vitality and conscientiousness contributed to another 6.00% of psychological symptoms. Perceived stress from minor events mediated the relationship between vitality and psychological symptoms, whereas conscientiousness directly affected psychological symptoms regardless of the perceived stress level.

CONCLUSION

This study clarified the positive role of virtues in stressful situations among Chinese undergraduates. The results benefit the college health professionals in attending strengths of their clients in practice both in Eastern and Western countries.

Control cognitions as predictors of distress in a cross-cultural context

Negative psychological states as well as happiness belong to universal human experience; however, research findings reveal interindividual and intercultural differences in their symptoms and effective ways of coping. The aim of this article is to analyze the experience of distress in a cultural perspective with special focus on the relationship with control cognitions. Models of agency and Michel’s theory of uncertainty are used to interpret differences in attitude toward ambiguity and subjective need of control, indicated by preliminary cross-cultural studies. Finally, practical implications of the findings are discussed, pointing out that effectiveness of commonly used psychological interventions, based on the change in control beliefs, may not be universal.

Attention to negative emotion is related to longitudinal social network change: The moderating effect of interdependent self-construal

AIM

Many previous studies have investigated older adults' attentional preference toward different emotions. Interdependent self-construal is identified to be an important moderator of this phenomenon. However, despite the important social functions of emotions, the social consequence of older adults' emotional preferences in attention have not yet been examined. The current study tested how older adults' attentional preferences assessed in the laboratory influenced changes in their real-life social network, and how interdependent self-construal moderated this effect.

METHODS

A total of 45 older adults aged 60-84 years participated in an eye-tracking session that measured their attentional preference to emotional faces versus neutral faces. After that, participants completed the Self-Construal Scale. Participants' social network was then assessed by the Social Convoy Questionnaire twice over a 2-year period.

RESULTS

Interdependent self-construal significantly moderated the effect of attention to angry and sad faces on older adults' real-life social network changes. For older adults with a higher level of interdependent self-construal, more attention toward negative emotions was related to longitudinal decreases in the number of their emotionally close social partners.

CONCLUSIONS

The present study shows the important role of attentional preferences in older adults' social network maintenance. It identified a real-life macro level social outcome of a micro level laboratory phenomenon, which can be an important direction for future research.

The Conscientiousness Paradox: Cultural Mindset Shapes Competence Perception

Studies comparing personality across cultures have found inconsistencies between self–reports and measures of national character or behaviour, especially on evaluative traits such as Conscientiousness. We demonstrate that self–perceptions and other–perceptions of personality vary with cultural mindset, thereby accounting for some of this inconsistency. Three studies used multiple methods to examine perceptions of Conscientiousness and especially its facet Competence that most characterizes performance evaluations. In Study 1, Mainland Chinese reported lower levels of self–efficacy than did Canadians, with the country effect partially mediated by Canadian participants’ higher level of independent self–construal. In Study 2, language as a cultural prime induced similar effects on Hong Kong bilinguals, who rated themselves as more competent and conscientious when responding in English than in Chinese. Study 3 demonstrated these same effects on ratings of both self–perceived and observer–perceived competence and conscientiousness, with participants changing both their competence–communicating behaviours and self–evaluations in response to the cultural primes of spoken language and ethnicity of an interviewer. These results converge to show that self–perceptions and self–presentations change to fit the social contexts shaped by language and culture. Copyright © 2013 European Association of Personality Psychology

Resilience and depressive symptoms in mainland Chinese immigrants to Hong Kong

PURPOSE

Immigrants are highly vulnerable to the development of psychological problems such as depressive symptoms, which calls for further study of immigration in the Eastern context. Identification of factors that protect against depressive symptoms would inform interventions to enhance immigrant adaptation.

METHODS

This survey recruited 1,205 individuals who are adult immigrants from mainland China to Hong Kong. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was used to screen them for depressive symptoms. Participants also completed assessments for acculturative stress, discrimination and rejection, and personal and family resilience.

RESULTS

The results showed that participants reported considerable depressive symptoms. After controlling for socio-demographic characteristics, acculturative stress, and discrimination and rejection, personal resilience was associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Family resilience added significant explanation of variance to predict depressive symptoms over and above the individual variables, including personal resilience.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings draw attention to the role of resilience as a protective factor against mental distress when facing adversities, while highlighting the central importance of family as an emotional resource for immigrant adjustment in the Chinese context. As personal resilience can increase with interventions, our results can inform trials to enhance adaptation among mainland Chinese immigrants in Hong Kong.

A longitudinal study of self-efficacy and depressive symptoms in youth of a North American Plains tribe

We used a 3-year cross-sequential longitudinal design to examine the relations between self-efficacy judgments in three different domains (academic, social, resisting negative peer influences), cultural identity, theories of intelligence, and depressive symptoms. One hundred ninety-eight American Indian youths participated in the study, who all attended a middle school on a reservation in the northern plains of the United States. We conducted multilevel models to examine both between- and within-person associations as well as to investigate lagged within-youth associations. We found that not only did youths with relatively high self-efficacy have lower depressive symptom levels than other youths, but also increases in efficacy beliefs for academic, social, and for resisting negative peer influences predicted decreases in depressive symptoms within youths, even after controlling for previous levels of depressive symptoms as well as both contemporaneous and previous academic achievement. Neither cultural identity nor theories of intelligence moderated the relationship between self-efficacy and depression. As the first evidence that within-youth improvements in self-efficacy has developmental benefits, our findings help fill a long empty niche in the line of studies investigating the impact of efficacy beliefs on depressive symptoms.

Differential item responses on CES-D inventory: A comparison of elderly Hispanics and non-Hispanic Whites in the United States and item usage by elderly Hispanics across time

OBJECTIVES

This study examines the differential item functioning (DIF) on both the standard 20-item scale and 10-item and 12-item subsets of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) inventory.

METHOD

Two elderly groups in the United States are compared: one composed of Hispanics and the other of non-Hispanic Whites. We also compare item use among the elderly Hispanics over time. Survey data was analyzed from participants (N = 4499) in the Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly (EPESE) with complete data on the CES-D. Partial correlation analysis was applied to test hypotheses regarding the DIF on the basis of ethnic background and among the elderly Hispanics across time points.

RESULTS

Hispanics appear to express positive affect differently than non-Hispanic Whites. On the 20-item scale, Hispanics under responded to items measuring positive affect. Item bias was also found for one positive affect question in the 10-item subset. Among the Hispanic sub-population, we also observed item response bias for the positive affect items across time. A 12-item subset tested for DIF displays an acceptable amount of item bias across ethnic groups and across time for the Hispanic sample.

CONCLUSIONS

Attempts to make substantive comparisons about the relative prevalence of depression symptoms in elderly Hispanic and non-Hispanic sub-populations appears to be limited by the lack of measurement invariance in the full CES-D. Comparisons across time for elderly Hispanics also appear problematic.

The relationships of personal and cultural identity to adaptive and maladaptive psychosocial functioning in emerging adults

The present study examined the extent to which cultural identity would be associated with adaptive and maladaptive psychosocial functioning, both directly and indirectly through a personal identity consolidation. A sample of 773 White, Black, and Hispanic university students completed measures of cultural identity, personal identity consolidation, adaptive psychosocial functioning, internalizing symptoms, and proclivity toward externalizing symptoms. Both heritage and American cultural identity were positively related to adaptive psychosocial functioning; American-culture identity was negatively associated with internalizing symptoms; and heritage-culture identity was negatively related to proclivity toward externalizing symptoms. All of these findings were mediated by personal identity consolidation and were fully consistent across ethnic groups. We discuss implications in terms of broadening the study of identity to include both personal and cultural dimensions of self.

Behavioral Manifestations of Modesty

Three studies examined the social manifestations of modesty in Chinese and Canadian cultures, conceptualizing and operationalizing it as a self-presentation tactic with communal functions. In Study 1, the authors developed a self-report Modest Behavior Scale (MBS) to tap the behavioral aspects of modesty and identified three factors: self-effacement, other-enhancement, and avoidance of attention-seeking. The authors validated the scale by establishing its nomological network with trait modesty, individuation, independent and interdependent self-construals, traditionality, and modernity, in both Hong Kong and Shanghai, which are culturally different regions of China. In Study 2, the MBS was supplemented with additional items, and a different set of predictors, including values, was used to predict the three factors in both Hong Kong and Beijing, China. In Study 3, we administered the MBS in Vancouver, Canada, adding emic items generated from this Canadian sample and using values and other variables as predictors. Gender differences are discussed in terms of the role played by modest self-presentations in promoting intragroup harmony in different cultural settings.