Increases in Anxiety and Depression During COVID-19: A Large Longitudinal Study From China

System-justifying beliefs buffer against psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a detrimental effect on people's mental health. Drawing on the palliative function of ideologies, we suggest that people rely on system-justifying beliefs to mitigate psychological distress during the pandemic. We conducted three studies with correlational and experimental designs to examine whether and how system-justifying beliefs can buffer against psychological distress during COVID-19, and whether this effect may vary across social classes. The results indicated that (a) system-justifying beliefs alleviated psychological distress during the pandemic, (b) personal control mediated this relationship and (c) this effect was consistent across all social classes. This study provides robust evidence for the palliative function of system-justifying beliefs during a massive global health crisis (i.e. COVID-19).

Mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic and first lockdown in Lebanon: Risk factors and daily life difficulties in a multiple-crises setting

INTRODUCTION

Research from around the world shows important differences in the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns on mental health. This study examined the extent of mental health challenges (depressive and anxiety symptoms and daily life difficulties) and their associations with pandemic- and response-related factors during the first lockdown in Lebanon, which happened amid a severe economic crisis and socio-political turmoil.

METHODS

Data come from a cross-sectional internet-based survey (May-June 2020). Association of depressive (Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)) and anxiety symptoms (Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7)) with outbreak-related worries and knowledge, information sources, and confidence and satisfaction in response measures were estimated using logistic regression adjusted for sociodemographic and socioeconomic indicators.

RESULTS

Among 510 participants (mean age 36.1±11.3; 69.4% women), 32.3% had elevated depressive and 27.3% had elevated anxiety symptoms; younger age, unemployment, loss of employment, and lower income were related to more mental health symptoms. Most prevalent daily life challenges were feelings of uncertainty (74.5%) and financial (52.2%) and emotional (42.2%) difficulties; these and all other daily life difficulties (work-related, caregiving, and online learning) were significantly higher among participants with higher depressive and anxiety symptoms. Higher outbreak-related worries were associated with higher depressive (OR = 1.36, 95% CI = 1.20,1.53) and anxiety symptoms (OR = 1.47, 95% CI = 1.30,1.67). Higher pandemic-related knowledge, reliance on and trust in local health agencies and professionals' information, and satisfaction and confidence regarding governmental and health institutions' response were all related to lower mental health symptoms.

CONCLUSION

Results show that mental health burden in Lebanon during the first lockdown (when the COVID-19 outbreak was still minimal) is among the highest reported worldwide and highlight elevated emotional and financial tolls and widespread impact on daily life. In this high-burden and multiple-challenges context, results suggest an important role for the healthcare body, knowledge, and trust in the institutions managing the response.

Time for You: A process evaluation of the rapid implementation of a multi-level mental health support intervention for frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic had wide-ranging negative impacts on mental health. The pandemic also placed extraordinary strain on frontline workers who were required to continue working and putting themselves at risk to provide essential services at a time when their normal support mechanisms may not have been available. This paper presents an evaluation of the Time for You service, a rapidly developed and implemented intervention aimed at providing frontline workers with quick access to flexible online mental health support. Time for You provided service users with three service options: self-guided online cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) resources; guided engagement with online CBT resources; 1-1 psychological therapy with trainee sport and exercise psychologists and trainee health psychologists. A process evaluation informed by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research considered service fidelity, adaptations, perceived impact, reach, barriers, and facilitators. Interviews with project managers (n = 5), delivery staff (n = 10), and service users (n = 14) explored perceptions of the service implementation and outcomes, supported by data regarding engagement with the online CBT platform (n = 217). Findings indicated that service users valued the flexibility of the service and the speed with which they were able to access support. The support offered by Trainee Psychologists was perceived to be of high quality, and the service was perceived by service users to have improved mental health and wellbeing. The rapid implementation contributed to issues regarding appropriate service user screening that led to trainee psychologists being unable to provide the service users with the support they needed as the presenting issues were outside of trainees' competencies. Overall, the findings suggest that interventions offering flexible, online psychological support to frontline workers can be an effective model for future interventions. Trainee psychologists are also able to play an important role in delivering such services when clear screening processes are in place.

Emotion regulation moderates the association between COVID-19 stress and mental distress: findings on buffering, exacerbation, and gender differences in a cross-sectional study from Norway

Background

Maintaining good mental health is important during a crisis. However, little attention has been given to how people achieve this, or how they evaluate emotions associated with stressors, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to (1) investigate whether emotion regulation, in particular cognitive reappraisal and suppression, moderates the relationship between COVID-19 stress and general mental distress and (2) examine gender differences in the interrelations between COVID-19 stress, emotion regulation, and mental distress.

Methods

Data from a population in Norway (n = 1.225) were collected using a cross-sectional survey during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Emotion regulation was measured using the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire Scale (ERQ), COVID-19 stress with the COVID-19 Stress Scale, and mental distress with the Patient Health Questionnaire 4 (PHQ-4). Moderation analyses were conducted using the PROCESS macro for SPSS.

Results

There was a strong association between COVID-19 stress and general mental distress (r = 0.61). The moderation analyses showed substantial moderation effects of cognitive reappraisal and suppression on the relationship between COVID-19 stress and mental distress. Cognitive reappraisal served as a buffer (p = 0.001) and suppression (p = 0.002) exacerbated the relation between COVID-19 stress and mental distress. Men had higher scores of suppression (p < 0.001), and women had higher scores of cognitive reappraisal (p = 0.025). The buffering effect of cognitive reappraisal presented itself only in women (p < 0.001), while the exacerbation effect of suppression appeared only in men (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

The current study suggests that COVID-19 pandemic-related stress is easier to deal with for those who have the tendency to cognitively reappraise. In contrast, suppression is associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety. The prevention of mental distress can be supported by guiding people about the importance of using healthy emotion regulation strategies, as well as helping them to become more aware of the way they interpret and regulate their emotions. Gender differences in emotion regulation suggest gender awareness, e.g., tailored programs for men and women.

Mental health state and its determinants in German university students across the COVID-19 pandemic: findings from three repeated cross-sectional surveys between 2019 and 2021

Background

Students were at an increased risk for elevated mental symptoms during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to pre-pandemic levels. As universities remained closed much longer than anticipated, the mental burden was expected to persist through the second year of the pandemic. The current study aimed to investigate the prevalence of mental distress from 2019 through 2021 and identify risk factors for elevated mental burden, focusing on gender.

Methods

We analyzed three cross-sectional online surveys among students at the University of Mainz, conducted in 2019 (n = 4,351), 2020 (n = 3,066), and 2021 (n = 1,438). Changes in the prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and loneliness were calculated using Pearson's chi-square tests and analyses of variance. Multiple linear regressions yielded associated risk factors.

Results

The proportion of students with clinically relevant depressive symptoms was significantly higher during the pandemic (38.9% in 2020, and 40.7% in 2021), compared to pre-pandemic (29.0% in 2019). Similarly, more students reported suicidal ideation and generalized anxiety during the pandemic with a peak in the second pandemic year (2021). The level of loneliness was significantly higher in 2020, compared to 2019, and remained at a high level in 2021 (p < 0.001, η p 2 = 0.142). Female and diverse/open gender, being single, living alone, and being a first-year student were identified as risk factors associated with mental burden during the pandemic.

Discussion

Mental burdens remained elevated among students through the second year of the pandemic and were associated with socio-demographic risk factors and pandemic-related concerns. Future research should monitor recovery and evaluate the need for psychosocial support.

A model for green-resilient supplier selection: fuzzy best-worst multi-criteria decision-making method and its applications

Supplier selection is regarded as the primary goal of supply chain management (SCM) because it affects its performance, productivity, pleasure, flexibility, and system speed in lockdown. A new method is proposed based on a multi-stage fuzzy sustainable supplier index (FSSI). Experts can use the triple bottom line (TBL) criteria to select the best supplier. In addition, the worst method is proposed based on trapezoidal membership and fuzzy membership functions, which can cover uncertainties and ambiguous environments. Because it collects the related criteria and sub-criteria and uses a direct fuzzy methodology, this research has impacted the SCM literature because it helps solve previous expert methods' computational difficulties. In addition, an ordered mean integration representation method has been implemented to prioritize the selection of the best supplier (SS) based on the sustainability performance of the best supplier, which improves the selection accuracy compared to the previous ranking method. This study can be used as a benchmark to determine which supplier is the best in sustainability. To provide the superiority and broad applicability of the proposed model, a practical case study was completed. On the other hand, the COVID-19 pandemic harms productivity, company performance, and selecting the best suppliers based on sustainability performance. The lockdown situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic hurts company performance and management.

Impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on China's tourism economy and green finance efficiency

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, production costs have grown, while human and economic resources have been reduced. COVID-19 epidemic costs can be reduced by implementing green financial policies, including carbon pricing, transferable green certificates, and green credit. In addition, China's tourist industry is a significant source of revenue for the government. Coronavirus has been found in 30 Chinese regions, and a study is being conducted to determine its influence on the tourism business and green financial efficiency. Econometric strategies that are capable of dealing with the most complex issues are employed in this study. According to the GMM system, the breakout of Covid-19 had a negative effect on the tourism business and the efficiency of green financing. Aside from that, the effects of gross capital creation, infrastructural expansion, and renewable energy consumption are all good. The influence of per capita income on the tourism industry is beneficial but detrimental to the efficiency of green finance. Due to the current pandemic condition, this report presents a number of critical recommendations for boosting tourism and green financial efficiency.

The prevalence and risk factors of mental problems in medical students during COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

This meta-analysis and systematic review aimed to evaluate the global prevalence and risk factors of mental problems (i.e., depression, anxiety, stress, sleep disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), burnout, psychological distress, and suicidal ideation) among medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHOD

We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, psycARTICLES, PsycINFO, CNKI, and Wan Fang for studies on the prevalence of mental problems among medical students from January 1, 2020, to April 1, 2022. The pooled prevalence was calculated by random-effect models. We performed a narrative review to identify the risk factors.

RESULTS

The meta-analysis included 201 studies (N = 198,000). The prevalence of depression (41 %, 95 % CI, 37-45 %,), anxiety (38 %,95 % CI, 34 %-42 %), stress (34 %, 95 % CI, 27 %-42 %), sleep disorder (52 %, 95 % CI, 44 %-60 %), psychological distress (58 %, 95 % CI, 51 %-65 %), PTSD (34 %, 95 % CI, 22 %-46 %), suicidal ideation (15 %, 95 % CI, 11 %-18 %) and burnout (38 %, 95 % CI, 25 %-50 %) was high. The major risk factors were being female, being junior or preclinical students, exposure to COVID-19, academic stress, psychiatric or physical disorders history, economic trouble, fear of education impairment, online learning trouble, fear of infection, loneliness, low physical activity, low social support, problematic internet or smartphone use, and young age.

LIMITATIONS

Most studies were cross-sectional. Few studies provided a reasonable response rate, suggesting potential selection bias.

CONCLUSIONS

The study demonstrated a high prevalence and risk factors for mental problems during COVID-19, calling for mental health services. Our findings are valuable for college and health authorities to identify high-risk students and provide targeted intervention.

Exploring mental health challenges and coping strategies in university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: A case study in Dhaka city, Bangladesh

Background

Mental health challenges have emerged worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. University students experienced changes in their lifestyles, academic life, family relationships, earning capacity, and support systems. This study explores the common mental health challenges in university students and their coping strategies using social support in the first wave of lockdowns in Dhaka city in 2020. By learning from young people's impacts and coping responses, we can help build an improved strategy for future events of this magnitude.

Methods

A qualitative study design was employed to conduct 20 in-depth interviews and two focus group discussions with students from purposively selected three public and three private universities in Dhaka city and five key informant interviews with different stakeholders. We used inductive reflexive thematic analysis and applied six phases of the thematic analysis. Codes retrieved from two differently prepared codebooks were merged and compared to identify themes for a fair interpretation of the underlying data. Data were manually indexed, summarized, and interpreted to categorize codes into sub-themes leading to themes.

Results

Financial constraints, academic pressure, learning resources shortages, losing confidence, relationship breakup, excessive internet dependency, and traumatic experiences challenged the mental health conditions of the students unevenly across universities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Expressed mental health well-being impacts ranged from anxiety, stress, and depression to self-harm and suicidal ideation. Family bonding and social networking appeared as robust social support mechanisms to allow students to cope with anxiety, stress, and depression. Partial financial subsidies, soft loans to purchase electronic resources, faculty members' counseling, and sessional health counseling contributed to minimizing the mental health impacts of COVID-19.

Conclusion

Mental health is still not a resourced area of health and well-being in Bangladesh. Concentration on developing strong social support and improving increased financial subsidies, including learning resources, can be effective in assisting students in coping with the common mental health burdens during pandemic periods. A national intervention plan should be immediately designed and implemented by engaging different stakeholders including healthcare professionals and establishing effective mental healthcare support centers at universities to avoid immediate and prolonged negative mental health impacts.

The evolution of research on depression during COVID-19: A visual analysis using Co-Occurrence and VOSviewer

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to public health problems, including depression. There has been a significant increase in research on depression during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, little attention has been paid to the overall trend in this field based on bibliometric analyses.

Methods

Co-Occurrence (COOC) and VOSviewer bibliometric methods were utilized to analyze depression in COVID-19 literature in the core collection of the Web of Science (WOS). The overall characteristics of depression during COVID-19 were summarized by analyzing the number of published studies, keywords, institutions, and countries.

Results

A total of 9,694 English original research articles and reviews on depression during COVID-19 were included in this study. The United States, China, and the United Kingdom were the countries with the largest number of publications and had close cooperation with each other. Research institutions in each country were dominated by universities, with the University of Toronto being the most productive institution in the world. The most frequently published author was Ligang Zhang. Visualization analysis showed that influencing factors, adverse effects, and coping strategies were hotspots for research.

Conclusion

The results shed light on the burgeoning research on depression during COVID-19, particularly the relationship between depression and public health. In addition, future research on depression during COVID-19 should focus more on special groups and those at potential risk of depression in the general population, use more quantitative and qualitative studies combined with more attention to scale updates, and conduct longitudinal follow-ups of the outcomes of interventions. In conclusion, this study contributes to a more comprehensive view of the development of depression during COVID-19 and suggests a theoretical basis for future research on public health.

Longitudinal trajectories of coronavirus anxiety and health behavior use before and after the U.S. 2020 presidential election: The effects of political orientation

Although heightened anxiety and health behavior use (i.e., masking, hand washing) may be viewed as an adaptive response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, it is unclear how the politicization of the pandemic has influenced the trajectory of such responses. Accordingly, the present study examined differences between those that identify as more conservative or liberal in the trajectory of anxiety and health behaviors during the pandemic. This study also examines shifts in this trajectory before and after the presidential election. As part of a larger study, participants (N = 374) completed a symptom survey starting on May 27, 2020 every 2 weeks for a total of 15 timepoints over 30 weeks. The findings showed that more conservative participants reported lower levels of COVID-19 anxiety and less health behavior use compared to more liberal participants. In fact, anxiety levels increased slightly for more liberal participants and decreased slightly for more conservative participants during the pre-election time frame. Health behavior use also decreased more rapidly for conservative participants than for liberal participants during the pre-election time frame. However, COVID-19 anxiety and health behavior use rose sharply and similarly for both liberal and conservative individuals after the election. Importantly, these patterns were independent of state level variability in COVID-19 positivity and death rates. Subsequent analysis also revealed significant relations between COVID-19 anxiety and health behavior use that was slightly stronger among conservatives. Implications of these findings for navigating the influence of political ideology on anxiety-related responses during a public health emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic are discussed.

COVID-19 pandemic and adolescent mental health in China: Micro evidence and socioeconomic mechanisms

Although the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescent mental health has received sufficient attention in the medical and public health fields, analysis from the social science perspective is still lacking. By regarding the shock of COVID-19 pandemic as a quasi-natural experiment, this study adopts the Difference-in-Differences (DID) model and large microdata from Shandong Province, China, to identify the causal effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of senior high school students. We find that the COVID-19 pandemic results in an increase of 2.5677 points in adolescent psychological problem scores, equivalent to an average decrease of 29.93% in mental health. Furthermore, results of mechanism tests show that this negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescent mental health can be explained by a reduction in social trust, as well as widening inequalities caused by the digital divide and family income gap. Moreover, the estimates suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic has a greater negative influence on the mental health of boys and urban adolescents. Our study complements the research field on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescent mental health and the potential socioeconomic mechanisms from a new perspective. These findings provide insights into how to safeguard adolescent mental health in China and other countries in the pandemic prevention and post-pandemic era.

How Health-Related Misinformation Spreads Across the Internet: Evidence for the "Typhoon Eye" Effect

Online health-related misinformation has become a major problem in society and in-depth research is needed to understand its propagation patterns and underlying mechanisms. This study proposes a psychological typhoon eye effect to understand how health-related misinformation spreads during the pandemic using two national studies. In Study 1, we collected online search data from the United States and China to explore the relationship between the physical distance from the epicenter and the spread of health-related misinformation. Two common pieces of health-related misinformation were examined: "Microwaves kill coronavirus" in the United States and "Taking a hot bath can prevent against COVID-19" in China. Our results indicated a "typhoon eye effect" in the spread of two actual pieces of health-related misinformation using online data from the United States and China. In Study 2, we fabricated a piece of health-related misinformation, "Wash Clothes with Salt Water to Block Infection," and measured the spread behavior and perceived credibility of the misinformation. Again, we observed a typhoon eye effect on the spread behavior as well as the perceived credibility of health-related misinformation among people with limited education. In addition, based on the stimulus-organism-response theory, perceived credibility could serve as a mediator in the relationship between physical distance from the epicenter and the spread of health-related misinformation. Our results highlight the importance of psychological approaches to understanding the propagation patterns of health-related misinformation. The present findings provide a new perspective for development of prevention and control strategies to reduce the spread of health-related misinformation during pandemics.

Longitudinal survey of depressive symptoms among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan

While changes in response to the different stages of the pandemic remain unknown, this study investigated the longitudinal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on depressive symptoms in Japanese university students and identified factors associated with new onset of depression and suicidal ideation. Two surveys were conducted at one university in Akita, Japan, during the first COVID-19 outbreak period (T1: May–June 2020) and 1 year later (T2: March–May 2021). Moderate depressive symptoms were defined as a Patient Health Questionnaire-9 score ≥ 10 and suicide-related ideation score ≥ 1 on question 9 of the questionnaire. Among 985 students who completed surveys in T1 and T2, participants with moderate depressive symptoms and suicide-related ideation increased from 11 to 17% and from 5.8 to 11.8%, respectively. Among 872 students at risk after excluding those with moderate depressive symptoms at T1, 103 students (11.8%) developed moderate depressive symptoms at T2. Among the 928 students at risk, after excluding those who had suicidal ideation at T1, 79 (8.5%) developed suicidal ideation. Multivariate logistic modeling revealed financial insecurity and academic performance as risk factors (ps < 0.01), while having someone to consult about worries was a coping factor for depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation (ps < 0.001). Our findings demonstrated that socioenvironmental factors may determine depressive symptoms of university students.

A fast online questionnaire for screening mental illness symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused massive effects on the situation of public mental health. A fast online questionnaire for screening and evaluating mental symptoms is urgent. In this work, we developed a new 19-item self-assessment Fast Screen Questionnaire for Mental Illness Symptoms (FSQ-MIS) to quickly identify mental illness symptoms. The FSQ-MIS was validated on a total of 3828 young adult mental disorder patients and 984 healthy controls. We applied principal component analysis (PCA), receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and general log-linear analysis (GLA) to evaluate the construct and parallel validity. Results demonstrate that the proposed FSQ-MIS shows high test-retest reliability (0.852) and split-half reliability (0.844). Six factors obtained using PCA explained 54.3% of the variance and showed high correlations with other widely used scales. The ROC results (0.716-0.983) revealed high criterion validity of FSQ-MIS. GLA demonstrated the advantage of FSQ-MIS in predicting anxiety and depression prevalence in COVID-19, supporting the efficiency of FSQ-MIS as a tool for research and clinical practice.

Significance of the Expression of TC and TG Levels in the Initial Diagnosis and Treatment of SCLC Patients and Their Tie-In with Prognosis

The article examines the expression of TC and TG levels in the initial diagnosis and treatment of SCLC patients and their tie-in with prognosis. Patients with SCLC are included in the case set, who are initially treated in the tumor center of our hospital from January 2020 to January 2021 and are confirmed by histopathology or cytology as the research subjects. 80 healthy volunteers are included in the control set, who received physical examination. All the enrolled patients received the first-line standard treatment plan, and the clinical data of all SCLC patients are inquired through the medical record file system of the hospital. At the initial diagnosis and treatment, the TG and TC levels of all patients and healthy persons are measured and recorded by blood biochemistry. For SCLC patients, the risk factors affecting the prognosis of patients with progression-free survival include newly diagnosed TC, TG levels, and tumor stage. Combined TC and TG detection can be used as indicators to predict the prognosis of the patients. TC and TG are significantly correlated with the prognosis of the patients with progression-free survival time. It is worthy of clinical application.

Servant Leadership Behavior at Workplace and Knowledge Hoarding: A Moderation Mediation Examination

Servant leadership practice honesty, stewardship, and high moral standards while prioritizing the needs of subordinates. The moral concern of a servant leadership is to support others and put the needs of others first. We investigated the relationship between servant leadership, psychological safety, and knowledge hoarding in accordance with social learning theory in a survey of 347 workers across 56 teams. The results of this study illustrate that servant leadership is negatively associated with knowledge hoarding and positively associated with psychological safety. We also found that a mastery climate moderated the relationship between servant leadership and knowledge hoarding. This study highlights the theoretical and practical implications that contribute to the body of knowledge. It helps organizations that the presence of servant leadership may discourage knowledge hoarding by providing a psychologically safe mastery climate.

Characterizing the Relationship Between the COVID-19 Pandemic and U.S. Classical Musicians' Wellbeing

The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the economic and social wellbeing of communities worldwide. Certain groups have been disproportionately impacted by the strain of the pandemic, such as classical musicians. The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly harmed the classical music industry, silencing the world's concert halls and theaters. In an industry characterized by instability, a shock as great as COVID-19 may bring negative effects that far outlast the pandemic itself. This study investigates the wellbeing of classical musicians during the COVID-19 pandemic. 68 professional classical musicians completed a questionnaire composed of validated measures of future time horizons, emotional experience, social relationships, and life satisfaction. Findings show that feelings of loneliness had a significant negative association with other measures of wellbeing and were significantly mediated by increased social integration and perceived social support from colleagues, friends, and family. These findings help to characterize the present psychological, emotional, and social wellness of classical musicians in the United States, the first step toward mitigating the hazardous impacts of COVID-19 on this vulnerable group's mental health and wellness.

Predicting Student Engagement: The Role of Academic Belonging, Social Integration, and Resilience During COVID-19 Emergency Remote Teaching

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced higher education (HE) to shift to emergency remote teaching (ERT), subsequently influencing academic belonging and social integration, as well as challenging students' engagement with their studies.

Aims

This study investigated influences on student engagement during ERT, based on student resilience. Serial mediation analyses were used to test the predictive effects between resilience, academic belonging, social integration, and engagement.

Methods

The Student Well-being Monitor (SWM 2021) was completed by 1332 HE students studying at Inholland University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. Predictive models were compared among students with low, normal, or high resilience using SPSS extension Macro PROCESS.

Results

A significant serial mediation model was found among all HE students, including positive mediating effects of academic belonging and social integration. More so, independent partial predictive effects of academic belonging and social integration on engagement were also present. Assessment of student resilience profiles revealed substantial differences between predictive models. For low resilience students, serial mediation was present and included the largest partial predictive effect from social integration compared to other groups. For highly resilient students, mediation via academic belonging was found, including the strongest partial and indirect effects compared to other groups.

Conclusions

Overall, academic belonging and social integration positively mediate the effect of resilience on engagement in addition to demonstrating independent positive predictive effects. Inspection of resilience profiles reveals substantial model fit differences, suggesting use of different engagement strategies between student groups. Findings contribute to understanding of HE student engagement during ERT in the Netherlands and provide novel insight on the mechanisms between resilience and engagement. While ERT continues to be required, engagement may be enhanced by stimulating academic belonging for all students generally, but low resilience students could be best served by additionally targeting social integration and resilience.

Changing Social Mentality among University Students in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Five-Wave Longitudinal Study in China

(1) Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant shifts in university students’ lives, which could be displayed by social mentality, a psychosocial conception at the individual and social levels. This five-wave longitudinal study aims to evaluate the changing social mentality of university students during the peak and preventive-order phases of the pandemic in China and investigate the trends and differences in social-demographic variables. (2) Methods: The Bi-Dimensional Structure Questionnaire of Social Mentality (B-DSMQ) was used to collect data from March 2020 to January 2021. Five-wave surveys were administered to 1319 students from five universities using online questionnaires. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the changes in social mentality over time and covariate groups. Linear mixed models were used to explore the associations of overall social mentality with time and covariates. Post hoc analysis was implemented within subgroups, including university, major, grade, parenting style, and the harmonious degree of parents. (3) Results: Students’ social mentality changed significantly from Waves 1 to 5 (p < 0.001). It fell to its lowest in the third survey, increased in the fourth survey, and peaked in the fifth survey. In all of the subgroups, the changing social mentality differed significantly over time (p < 0.001). The p-values between groups suggested that changing social mentality was significantly different regarding gender, residence, university, major, grade, student cadre, graduates, nuclear family, economic status, parenting styles, and the harmonious degree of parents’ relationship (p < 0.001). (4) Conclusions: Social mentality among university students decreased during the peak of the pandemic before increasing in the contained-risk period. It was the lowest in June when students began to return to the pandemic-preventive campus from quarantined homes. Students living in provinces (except for Shandong) who were from high-level universities in 2016 and 2017 and who majored in medicine displayed a more negative social mentality. Students who were female, student cadres, non-graduates, and enjoying high socioeconomic status displayed a more positive social mentality. Further research is needed on the relationship between mental health and social mentality, specifically the associates and interventions for positive social mentality.

Psychometric Properties of the Bangla Version of the Stress and Anxiety to Viral Epidemics-6 Items Scale Among the General Population in Bangladesh

BACKGROUND

Any disease outbreak creates psychological stress and anxiety among the public [e.g., Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)]. There are several scales that assess anxiety specifically related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Stress and Anxiety to Viral Epidemics-6 items (SAVE-6) scale is a reliable and valid tool to assess anxiety in any viral pandemic. The present study aims to validate the SAVE-6 scale in the Bangla language and culture, to assess such anxiety among the general Bangladeshi people.

METHODS

The SAVE-6 scale was translated into Bangla from English using the forward-backward translation procedure. A total of 357 Bangladeshi citizens participated via an online structured questionnaire. The items included questions on personal information, COVID-19 and vaccination, psychiatric history, the Bangla version of the SAVE-6 scale, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 items (GAD-7) scale, and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 items (PHQ-9) scale.

RESULTS

Both exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to explore and confirm the single factor structure of the SAVE-6 scale in Bangla to be the same as that of the SAVE-6 scale. Multigroup CFA revealed invariance across sex, experience of being quarantined, experience of being infected, and presence of depression. Item analysis results showed good discrimination indices and internal consistency and reliability. The graded response model outputs also confirmed the validity and reliability of this scale, which had significant correlations with the GAD-7 and PHQ-9.

CONCLUSION

Overall, the Bangla version of the SAVE-6 is a psychometrically good scale to assess viral pandemic-related anxiety.

Adaptability Protects University Students From Anxiety, Depression, and Insomnia During Remote Learning: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study From China

The longitudinal relationship between students' pre-existing adaptability and subsequent sleep and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic has not been studied. The present study examines the relationship between adaptability and students' anxiety, depression, and insomnia during and after the lockdown related to COVID-19. 5,235 university students participated in a longitudinal study with three time points. Students completed the Adaptability Scale before the outbreak (October 2019; Time 1), the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) both during (April 2020; Time 2) and after lockdown (March 2021; Time 3), the Anxiety and Depression subscales of the SCL-90 (at Time 1 and 3), and the SAS/SDS (at Time 2). The results showed that self-reported adaptability is significantly negatively correlated with anxiety and depression, and that anxiety and depression are positively correlated with insomnia. Furthermore, adaptability protects from insomnia both directly and through its negative relationship with anxiety and depression. This study sheds light on the internal mechanisms mediating the relationship between students' adaptability and experience of insomnia in challenging circumstances. Implications for curtailing the negative effects of stressful events on students' sleep health by improving their adaptability and reducing their anxiety and depression are discussed.

Association between coronavirus disease 2019-related workplace interventions and prevalence of depression and anxiety

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Impact of Academic Support on Anxiety and Depression of Chinese Graduate Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Mediating Role of Academic Performance

INTRODUCTION

The COVID-19 pandemic broke out and has spread globally since 2019. It became a public health concern. This pandemic has brought tremendous changes in students' lives and modes of learning. Graduate students are likely to be more affected as they are a part of a special training program. According to the main-effect model, social support has a positive effect on mental health. The pandemic has exerted a negative impact on the social support of individuals, and as a result, the behavior of a person is more likely to be at risk and has resulted in psychological crisis in people/individuals.

METHODS

A sample of 3137 graduate students responded to the instrument developed to assess the impact of the pandemic on the academic activities and performance, Self-rating Anxiety Scale and Self-rating Depression Scale.

RESULTS

The results showed that: 1) the pandemic impacted the academic support and performance of graduate students in varying degrees, 21% of graduate students experienced anxiety, and 33.9% of graduate students experienced depressive symptoms in varying degrees; 2) academic support variables (ie, academic exchange with mentors and peers) and academic performance variables (ie, data collection and thesis writing) were significantly associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms; 3) the model fitted the data well (RMSEA = 0.029; SRMR = 0.014; TLI = 0.99; CFI = 0.996). The direct effects of academic support on anxiety and depressive symptoms were significant. The impact on academic performance played a mediating role between the impact on academic support, anxiety, and depressive symptoms.

DISCUSSION

Academic support significantly affected academic performance, which in turn affected anxiety and depressive symptoms. So, it implies that, due to the pandemic, the academic support for graduate students had decreased, resulting in deterioration in academic performance, causing anxiety and depressive symptoms.

Learning With a Double-Edged Sword? Beneficial and Detrimental Effects of Learning Tests-Taking a First Look at Linkages Among Tests, Later Learning Outcomes, Stress Perceptions, and Intelligence

It has often been shown that tests as intentionally hindered and difficult learning tasks increase long-term learning compared to easier tasks. Previous work additionally indicated that higher intelligence might serve as a prerequisite for such beneficial effects of tests. Nevertheless, despite their long-term learning effects, tests were also found to be evaluated as more negative and to lead to more stress and anxiety compared to easier control tasks. Stress and anxiety, in turn, often yield detrimental effects on learning outcomes. Hence, we hypothesized that tests increase later learning outcomes but simultaneously also lead to more stress perceptions. Such increased stress was, in turn, hypothesized to reduce later learning outcomes (thus, stress might serve as a mediator of the beneficial effects of tests on learning). All these assumed effects should further be moderated by intelligence, insofar as that higher intelligence should increase beneficial effects of tests on learning, should decrease stress perceptions caused by tests, and should reduce detrimental effects of stress on learning outcomes. Higher intelligence was also assumed to be generally associated with higher learning. We conducted a laboratory study (N=89) to test these hypotheses: Participants underwent an intelligence screening, then worked on either a test or a re-reading control task, and reported their immediate stress perceptions. Later learning outcomes were assessed after 1week. The results supported all assumed main effects but none of the assumed interactions. Thus, participants using tests had higher long-term learning outcomes compared to participants using re-reading tasks. However, participants using tests also perceived more immediate stress compared to participants that only re-read the materials. These stress perceptions in turn diminished the beneficial effects of tests. Stress was also generally related to lower learning, whereas higher intelligence was linked to higher learning and also to lower stress. Hence, our findings again support the often assumed benefits of tests-even when simultaneously considering learners' intelligence and and when considering the by tests caused stress perceptions. Notably, controlling for stress further increases these long-term learning benefits. We then discuss some limitations and boundaries of our work as well as ideas for future studies.