A study to assess the effect of stressful life events on psychological distress levels of participants living in an urban area

Gender Differences in Negative Life Events, Present-Moment Awareness, Problem-Solving, and Perceived Stress Among Rural Adolescents

Drawing on the stressor-perception-coping-response model of stress, this study examined the associations between negative life events, present-moment awareness, problem-solving, and perceived stress among rural adolescents, focusing specifically on gender differences. Using a cross-sectional design, 3519 Chinese rural adolescents completed measures assessing negative life events, present-moment awareness, problem-solving, and perceived stress. Structural equation modeling was employed to examine the hypothesized serial mediation model. The results revealed a positive association between negative life events and perceived stress in rural adolescents, which was serially mediated by present-moment awareness and problem-solving. Furthermore, significant gender differences were observed. Specifically, girls exhibited larger effects than boys in the overall effect of negative life events on perceived stress, the indirect effect of present-moment awareness, and the serial mediating effect. These findings suggest that present-moment awareness and problem-solving may serve as crucial mechanisms for understanding rural adolescents' perceived stress in response to negative life events, particularly among female rural adolescents.

Burnout among high school students is linked to their telomere length and relatedness with peers

School burnout is a serious concern, as it impairs students' health and academic success. According to the Conservation of Resources Theory, burnout results from the depletion of personal coping resources and can be counteracted by supportive social relationships. However, it is not yet clear how students' relatedness with their peers is linked to their burnout. Next to students' self-reported fatigue, biomarkers such as telomere length (TL), which presents an indicator of aging, complement stress research. To identify school-related factors that may prevent students from experiencing burnout and to link TL to students' self-reported burnout, the current study investigated how relatedness with peers as well as TL at the beginning of the school year explained students' burnout at the end of the school year. The sample included 78 students (Mage = 13.7 ± 0.7 years; 48% girls). Results of multilevel analysis in Mplus indicate that, over the school year, students with higher TL and those who experienced relatedness with their peers reported lower levels of burnout. Moreover, students who felt related to their peers exhibited a longer TL. The study implies that students' relatedness with their peers may be a promising setscrew to prevent students' burnout and support their physical health. This is one of the first studies to link TL with school-related variables such as burnout and relatedness to peers in a non-clinical student sample, providing a baseline for interventions and future interdisciplinary studies in the field of education and stress.

Understanding the Psychological Well-Being of International Arrivals in a Purpose-Designed Australian COVID-19 Quarantine Facility

Equivocal evidence suggests that mandatory supervised quarantine can negatively affect psychological well-being in some settings. It was unclear if COVID-19 supervised quarantine was associated with psychological distress in Australia. The sociodemographic characteristics associated with distress and the lived experiences of quarantine are also poorly understood. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the mental well-being of international arrivals undergoing supervised COVID quarantine in a purpose designed facility in the Northern Territory, Australia. We conducted a concurrent triangulation mixed-methods study comprising of an observational cross-sectional survey (n = 117) and individual qualitative interviews (n = 26). The results revealed that several factors were associated with distress, including significantly higher levels of depression for those who smoked, drank alcohol, had pre-existing mental health conditions and had no social networks in quarantine. Levels of psychological distress were also related to waiting time for re-entry (the time between applying to repatriate and returning to Australia) and flight origin. Qualitative data showed that despite quarantine being viewed as necessary, unclear communication and a perception of lack of control were affecting emotional well-being. This information is useful to inform the further development of models to identify those at most risk and support psychological well-being in quarantine settings.

Assessing the validity, reliability and efficacy of the Cross-Cultural Stress Scale (CCSS) for psychosomatic studies

OBJECTIVE

The impact of stressful life events (SLEs) on health has been empirically studied with significant correlations documented. We developed a comprehensive stress rating toolkit, the Cross-Cultural Stress Scale (CCSS) from a triangulated qualitative research study. This article describes our pilot test of the scale to explore demographic-specific patterns of SLE scores and evaluate the scale's aptitude in assessing the stress-health correlation.

METHODS

The face and content-validated CCSS was shared via a web-based survey to diverse individuals grouped by: (a) gender, (b) age, (c) race and ethnicity, (d) native, foreign-born or first-generation, (e) educational attainment, and (f) income. Participants from the Amazon crowdsourcing marketplace MTurk (N = 216) first indicated perceived stress intensities assuming experiences of all the SLEs in the CCSS. They then selected SLEs they had personally experienced in the last 12 months (N = 176). Multivariable analyses were conducted on perceived intensities. Correlations of experienced SLEs with self-reported health based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Health Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) indicators measured by the Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System (BRFSS) were analyzed.

RESULTS

We validated the CCSS and obtained a high internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha >0.9). We found significant differences in stress rating by and within demographics. We also correlated stress to perceived health using the HRQOL and presence of a chronic disease ascertaining the stress-health hypothesis.

LIMITATION

Sampling limitations observed include data drawn from a convenience sample.

CONCLUSION

Despite sampling limitations, our research highlights demographic-specific stressors and offers an updated methodology in the stress-health correlation.