RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN EIGHTEEN ARAB COUNTRIES: A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY

Assessing students' mental health in two American dental hygiene programs

OBJECTIVES

Dental hygiene students adapt to new environments while learning technical skills and providing clinical care during their education. Understanding how stress affects students in their professional healthcare program warrants exploration. This study assessed stress among dental hygiene students in two educational settings in the Southeastern United States.

METHODS

First and second-year dental hygiene students (N = 136) from a community college setting (n = 67) and a university setting (n = 69) were invited to complete an anonymous online survey on mental health in fall 2019. Validated surveys on depression, anxiety, social support, and burnout were included. Data analysis included chi-squared and Mantel-Haenszel statistics, depending on the scale of measurement, with the level of significance set at 0.05 for all analyses.

RESULTS

Participants included 54 dental hygiene students from a community college (Response rate = 80.6%) and 69 dental hygiene students from a university (RR = 100%). There was a statistically significant difference in the proportion of students reporting moderately severe or severe anxiety (p = 0.007), with 56% (n = 30) of the community college respondents and 36% (n = 24) of the university reporting these anxiety levels. Students attending a community college were also more likely to express feelings of worry (n = 34) compared to students in a university setting (p = 0.005). There was no statistically significant difference in depression (p = 0.07) or suicidal thoughts (p = 0.41).

CONCLUSION

Dental hygiene students enrolled in these two programs reported high levels of self-reported stress, mental and emotional concerns that may increase suicidal tendencies.

Depression Disorders in Mexican Adolescents: A Predictive Model

Depression is a type of mood disorder that can impact individuals of any age. A variety of factors, including biological, psychological, and environmental factors, can contribute to the likelihood of developing depression. If the environment in which a person exists does not support its occurrence, the disorder may not manifest. The current research follows a retrospective, correlational approach, utilizing a non-probability sample of 557 high school students from public schools in Mexico City. This sample includes 181 males and 376 females, aged between 15 and 18 years, with an average age of 15.66 and a standard deviation of 0.68. The main objective of this research is to identify the variables that serve as risk factors for the development of depressive disorders in Mexican adolescents in high school. The data show that 78% of the adolescents in the total sample were at risk of depression, which is consistent with what has been reported by other researchers. The regression model shows that alcohol and drug consumption is associated with and influences the emergence and presence of depressive symptomatology and major depressive disorder. Adolescents with different sexual orientations than heterosexuals are twice as likely to suffer depression and emotional dysregulation. It was confirmed that the developmental stage and adolescence contributes as a context that favors the evolution of such a symptomatology.

A qualitative analysis of negative feelings among incarcerated filicide mothers in Rwanda

BACKGROUND

Most of the research on filicide mothers suggests that they experience negative feelings before they kill their child. However, little is known about whether these negative feelings can be expressed after one-year post-offense among incarcerated filicide mothers with no history of psychiatric problems. In this study, we aimed to conduct a qualitative analysis to (a) understand negative feelings evolving from negative emotions such as anger, guilt, shame, depression, and anxiety among filicide mothers incarcerated in Nyarugenge Prison in Rwanda, (b) identify the impact of experienced negative feelings on their personal wellbeing, and (c) explore their coping strategies.

METHODS

This study adopted a phenomenology research design and face-to-face in-depth interviews to explore the problem among twenty filicide mothers selected from Nyarugenge prison. Data were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, organized, and analysed by using ATLAS.ti 8 Windows.

RESULTS

Anxious and depressed participants experienced both physical and emotional negative feelings. Social withdrawal and cognitive problems were expressed by anxious participants, while avoidance behaviours were particularly experienced by depressed participants. Intolerance created anger, while self-blame, regret, and acute stress created guilt. In addition, avoidance behaviours and poor self-judgment emerged from shame. Participants felt disconnected from their community and worried about a variety of issues because of their negative feelings. To cope with negative feelings, participants reported that they used abnormal defense, surrender and support from community resources.

DISCUSSION

Our findings highlight the overall negative feelings of incarcerated filicide mothers, which can guide mental health professionals and different stakeholders to respond with appropriate interventions.

German Version of the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale: Psychometric Parameters

A German translation of the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale, written originally in Arabic, was prepared. A sample of 207 men and women German college students was recruited. Coefficient alpha was .88, whereas the item-remainder correlations ranged from .21 to .63, denoting good internal consistency. The correlation of the scale with the German form of the Trait Anxiety Scale was .76, indicating high criterion-related validity. Three factors were identified: General, Somatic, and Cognitive/Affective Anxiety. German students scored lower (less anxious) than students from the U.S. and 18 Arab countries. The sex difference was not significant for the German sample.

Reliability and validity of the Arabic Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) in a clinical sample

This study aimed at investigating the reliability and validity of the Arabic Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) as a first child and adolescent anxiety screening tool in the Arab World. The English parent (SCARED-P) and child (SCARED-C) versions were translated into Arabic and administered along with the Arabic Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) to 77 parents and 67 children attending a Psychiatry clinic. DSM-IV-TR diagnoses were made by a psychiatrist without knowledge of the scale scores. Internal consistency was confirmed by Cronbach's α=0.92 for SCARED-P and 0.91 for SCARED-C. Their subscales had internal consistencies between 0.65 and 0.89. Parent-child agreement was r=0.67, p<0.001. SCARED-P demonstrated good discriminant validity between participants with anxiety disorders and those with other psychiatric disorders (t(72)=3.13, p=0.003). For SCARED-C, this difference was significant when participants with depressive disorders were excluded (t(43)=2.58, p=0.01). Convergent validity was evident through a significant correlation between SCARED-P and the parent SDQ emotional subscale (r=0.70, p<0.001), and SCARED-C and the child SDQ emotional subscale (r=0.70, p<0.001). Divergent validity with the SDQ hyperactivity subscale was observed as no significant correlation was found. Overall, the Arabic SCARED demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties in a clinical sample in Lebanon.

Depressive symptoms among Jordanian youth: results of a national survey

This study examines level of depression and factors associated with depression among female and male youth in Jordan. The study uses data from a cross-sectional survey conducted among a national sample of 14-25 year old youth attending educational institutions in Jordan (N = 8,129). On average, respondents reported frequently experiencing feelings of sadness (66 %), loss of joy (49 %) and loss of hope in living (43 %). Regression models demonstrated that higher levels of depressive symptoms were observed among females and among youth exposed to violence. Better parent-child relationships were associated with lower depression score. Among males depressive symptoms were associated with poor economic status, low assertiveness and a higher likelihood of alcohol use and smoking. There is a need for mental health prevention programs for youth in Jordan that enhance youth's social and emotional skills, strengthen parent-child relationships, and reduce violence in school, home and in the community.

OPTIMISM AND PESSIMISM IN KUWAITI AND OMANI UNDERGRADUATES

In this study we investigated cultural differences and correlates of optimism and pessimism in Kuwaiti (n = 600) and Omani (n = 600) undergraduates. All respondents completed the Arabic Scale of Optimism and Pessimism (ASOP; Abdel-Khalek & Alansari, 1995), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II; Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996), and the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale (KUAS; Abdel-Khalek, 2000). The ASOP displayed good internal consistency, a meaningful factorial structure and interpretable factors in both countries. It was found that optimism correlated negatively with the above scales, while the correlations of pessimism were positive, indicating the convergent validity of the ASOP. The Kuwaiti mean score on optimism was significantly lower than the mean of their Omani counterparts, and no significant cultural differences were found for pessimism.

A CONFIRMATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS OF THE KUWAIT UNIVERSITY ANXIETY SCALE

A sample of 2,754 male and female undergraduate students from 9 different Arab countries responded to the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale (KUAS: Abdel-Khalek, 2000). This study extends the exploratory factor analyses performed in previous studies, using confirmatory factor analysis to test four models derived from Kuwaiti, Saudi, German and American samples. Four measures were used to assess the goodness of fit as follows: the Comparative Fit Index (Hu & Bentler, 1999), the Root Mean Square Errors of Approximation (Gao et al., 2004), the Normed Fit Index, and the Goodness of Fit (Sanders et al., 2005). In applying these measures, it was found that the Saudi three-factor model is an optimal model. It is particularly noteworthy that the Saudi factorial pattern was based on a large sample size (N = 9,031). By and large, the present results confirmed that the best fitted model on the KUAS was the threefactor model, namely, Cognitive/affective, Tension/nervousness, and Somatic anxiety.