Possible Avoidant Personality Disorder Magnifies the Association Between Bullying Victimization and Depressive Symptoms Among Chinese University Freshmen

Association between Body Image Flexibility and Intermittent Fasting in Chinese Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

Unhealthy dietary behaviors and body dissatisfaction are becoming increasingly common among college students. Understanding the association between body image flexibility and intermittent fasting is particularly meaningful, especially for medical college students. This study aimed to investigate the association between body image flexibility and intermittent fasting among medical students. We conducted a cross-sectional study with 5138 medical college students at Jitang College of North China University of Science and Technology. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used to evaluate the association between body image flexibility and intermittent fasting. Subgroup analysis and interaction tests were further used to examine the possible interaction between body image flexibility and intermittent fasting. In this study, 1329 (25.87%) students had intermittent fasting behavior. After adjustment for confounding factors, there was a negative association between body image flexibility and intermittent fasting (OR = 0.94, 95%CI = 0.93 to 0.95, p < 0.001). A significant interaction between body image flexibility and intermittent fasting was found in gender, academic year, major, and monthly living expenses (p for interaction < 0.05). E-value analysis suggested there was unlikely to be an unmeasured confounding. This association could contribute to the establishment of personalized health intervention strategies and provide recommendations for promoting the physical and mental health of medical students.

Avoidant Personality Disorder Symptoms and Cardiovascular Reactivity to Psychological Stress Tasks With Increasing Cognitive Demands

Abstract. This study aimed to investigate whether and how avoidant personality disorder symptoms are related to cardiovascular reactivity to stress tasks with different levels of cognitive demands. The revised Chinese edition of the avoidant personality disorder subscale of Personality Diagnosed Questionnaire-4+ (PDQ-4+) was administered to 222 undergraduate students randomly assigned to psychological stress tasks (i.e., mental arithmetic tasks) with low, moderate, or high cognitive demands (manipulated by task difficulty), during which their physiological data were continuously collected. Results showed that avoidant personality disorder symptoms and cognitive demands of tasks interactively predicted systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) reactivity. In specific, avoidant personality disorder symptoms were not associated with SBP reactivity under the low- and moderate-demand conditions and DBP reactivity under the low-demand condition but were associated with blunted SBP reactivity under the high-demand condition and blunted DBP reactivity under the moderate- and high-demand conditions. These findings indicate that the association between avoidant personality disorder symptoms and cardiovascular reactivity to psychological stress is contingent on the cognitive demands of tasks, which have potential implications for physical health.

Sleep disturbance and quality of life among university freshmen in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of China

PURPOSE

University freshmen are particularly vulnerable as they are undergoing the transition from high school to university with a range of changes. Sleep problems among this group in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of China were barely studied. This study aimed to explore sleep disturbance, and its association with quality of life (QoL) and demographic and clinical characteristics among university freshmen in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China.

METHODS

A multistage stratified cluster random sampling method was performed to recruit student participants with a structured questionnaire to collect sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, and lifestyle behaviors. Sleep disturbance including three aspects of sleep disturbance (i.e., difficulty initiating sleep (DIS), difficulty maintaining sleep (DMS), and early morning awakening (EMA)) was assessed using standardized measurement. Multiple logistic regression models were applied to analyze the data.

RESULTS

Among included 2,769 freshmen, the prevalence of sleep disturbance was 14.8% (95% CI: 14.2-15.5%), and corresponding prevalence of DIS, DMS, and EMA was 8.2% (95% CI: 7.7-8.7%), 8.3% (95% CI: 7.8-8.8%), and 4.2% (95% CI: 3.8-4.6%), respectively. Freshmen with sleeping disturbance had significantly lower QoL in physical [F _{(1, 2769)} = 60.23, p < 0.001], psychological [F _{(1, 2769)} = 46.18, p < 0.001], social [F _{(1, 2769)} = 23.04, p < 0.001], and environment [F _{(1, 2769)} = 6.07, p = 0.01] domains. Multiple logistic regression analyses revealed that having breakfast five times a week or less (less than three times, OR = 1.79, 95% CI: 1.34-2.40; 3-5 times, OR = 1.40, 95% CI: 1.09-1.79), self-perceived severe Internet dependence (OR = 1.71, 95% CI: 1.11-2.65), self-perceived poor health status (OR = 3.44, 95% CI: 2.06-5.74), high academic stress (OR = 1.42, 95% CI: 1.13-1.78), poor relationship with classmates (OR = 3.44, 95% CI: 1.53-7.71), and severe ADHD symptoms (OR = 1.08, 95% CI: 1.05-1.12) were positively associated with sleeping disturbance.

CONCLUSION

Sleep disturbance was common among freshmen and is associated with poorer QoL. Prevention and intervention strategies should be developed and implemented, especially among the vulnerable university freshman groups.