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Kałwak W, Weziak-Bialowolska D, Wendołowska A, Bonarska K, Sitnik-Warchulska K, Bańbura A, Czyżowska D, Gruszka A, Opoczyńska-Morasiewicz M, Izydorczyk B. Young adults from disadvantaged groups experience more stress and deterioration in mental health associated with polycrisis. Sci Rep 2024; 14:8757. [PMID: 38627525 PMCID: PMC11021532 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-59325-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2023] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
The recent polycrisis (COVID-19, Ukraine war, climate change, economic crisis) has been associated with mental health through cumulative stress, with young people being particularly vulnerable. We surveyed 403 college students from Poland to examine their psychological responses to the experienced crises. The results showed that polycrisis was associated with worse mental health of college students from disadvantaged groups (based on gender, sexual orientation, and financial situation) compared to other college students, in four areas: sense of proximity to the crises, stress caused by the crises, sense of responsibility for mitigating the crises, and experiencing everyday moral dilemmas regarding the crises. These young adults also suffered more in terms of negative affectivity, depressive symptoms, and subjective physical and mental health. Our findings suggest that when discussing public mental health perspectives, it is important to consider consequences of cumulative stress and its greater impact on young people from disadvantaged groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weronika Kałwak
- Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, ul. Romana Ingardena 6, 30-060, Kraków, Poland.
| | - Dorota Weziak-Bialowolska
- Department of Quantitative Methods and Information Technology, Kozminski University, ul. Jagiellonska 57/59, 03-301, Warsaw, Poland
- Human Flourishing Program, Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University, 12 Arrow St, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
| | - Anna Wendołowska
- Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, ul. Romana Ingardena 6, 30-060, Kraków, Poland
| | - Karolina Bonarska
- Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, ul. Romana Ingardena 6, 30-060, Kraków, Poland
| | - Katarzyna Sitnik-Warchulska
- Institute of Applied Psychology, Faculty of Management and Social Communication, Jagiellonian University, ul. Prof. Stefana Łojasiewicza 4, 30-348, Kraków, Poland
| | - Anna Bańbura
- Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, ul. Romana Ingardena 6, 30-060, Kraków, Poland
| | - Dorota Czyżowska
- Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, ul. Romana Ingardena 6, 30-060, Kraków, Poland
| | - Aleksandra Gruszka
- Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, ul. Romana Ingardena 6, 30-060, Kraków, Poland
| | | | - Bernadetta Izydorczyk
- Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, ul. Romana Ingardena 6, 30-060, Kraków, Poland
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Mays VM, Gareeb M, Zhang X, Nguyen V, Rosenberg J, Lin Y, Arseniev-Koehler A, Eliav A, Foster JG, Baumgardner M, Cochran SD. Identifying Witnessed Suicides in National Violent Death Reporting System Narratives. Healthcare (Basel) 2024; 12:209. [PMID: 38255097 PMCID: PMC10815175 DOI: 10.3390/healthcare12020209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2023] [Revised: 01/09/2024] [Accepted: 01/09/2024] [Indexed: 01/24/2024] Open
Abstract
There is increasing attention to suicides that occur in view of others, as these deaths can cause significant psychological impact on witnesses. This study illuminates characteristics of witnessed suicides and compares characteristics of these deaths to non-witnessed suicides. We develop a codable definition of what constitutes witnessed (vs. non-witnessed) suicide. Our data include a sample of 1200 suicide descriptions from the 2003-2017 National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). We first developed criteria to identify probable cases of witnessed suicide. The coding scheme achieved 94.5% agreement and identified approximately 10% (n = 125) of suicides as witnessed. Next, we examined differences between witnessed and non-witnessed suicides in demographics, manner of death, and social/environmental factors using bivariate Chi-squared tests, multivariate logistic regression, and ANOVA. Witnessed suicide decedents were significantly more likely than non-witnessed suicide decedents to be male, younger, and members of a sexual minority, and to have died in living spaces by means of a firearm. Two thirds of witnesses were strangers to the decedents, while 23.2% were romantic partners or ex-partners of the decedents. Our coding method offers a reliable approach to identify witnessed suicides. While witnessed suicides are relatively infrequent, these deaths have profound impact on witnesses. Articulating the features of witnessed suicides may contribute to identifying potential risk mitigation strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vickie M. Mays
- Department of Health Policy and Management, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA;
- UCLA BRITE Center for Science, Research and Policy, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA; (M.G.); (V.N.); (Y.L.); (A.A.-K.); (A.E.); (J.G.F.); (S.D.C.)
| | - Mikaela Gareeb
- UCLA BRITE Center for Science, Research and Policy, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA; (M.G.); (V.N.); (Y.L.); (A.A.-K.); (A.E.); (J.G.F.); (S.D.C.)
| | - Xingruo Zhang
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA;
| | - Vivian Nguyen
- UCLA BRITE Center for Science, Research and Policy, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA; (M.G.); (V.N.); (Y.L.); (A.A.-K.); (A.E.); (J.G.F.); (S.D.C.)
| | - Joelle Rosenberg
- Department of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA;
| | - Yuri Lin
- UCLA BRITE Center for Science, Research and Policy, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA; (M.G.); (V.N.); (Y.L.); (A.A.-K.); (A.E.); (J.G.F.); (S.D.C.)
| | - Alina Arseniev-Koehler
- UCLA BRITE Center for Science, Research and Policy, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA; (M.G.); (V.N.); (Y.L.); (A.A.-K.); (A.E.); (J.G.F.); (S.D.C.)
- Department of Sociology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of California, San Diego (UCSD), San Diego, CA 92093, USA
| | - Adam Eliav
- UCLA BRITE Center for Science, Research and Policy, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA; (M.G.); (V.N.); (Y.L.); (A.A.-K.); (A.E.); (J.G.F.); (S.D.C.)
| | - Jacob Gates Foster
- UCLA BRITE Center for Science, Research and Policy, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA; (M.G.); (V.N.); (Y.L.); (A.A.-K.); (A.E.); (J.G.F.); (S.D.C.)
- Department of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA;
| | - Mika Baumgardner
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA;
- UCLA BRITE Center for Science, Research and Policy, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA; (M.G.); (V.N.); (Y.L.); (A.A.-K.); (A.E.); (J.G.F.); (S.D.C.)
| | - Susan D. Cochran
- UCLA BRITE Center for Science, Research and Policy, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA; (M.G.); (V.N.); (Y.L.); (A.A.-K.); (A.E.); (J.G.F.); (S.D.C.)
- Department of Epidemiology, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Department of Statistics, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
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