Please Stop Rubbing Your Relationship In My Face(book): An Investigation of Online Romantic Social Comparison

It is well-documented that social networking sites such as Facebook set the stage for social comparison. Such comparison has been linked to a number of negative outcomes including envy, negative moods, and lower self-esteem. The present research aims to extend current understanding of online social comparison by investigating how it pertains to romantic relationships. I hypothesized that for individuals high in attachment anxiety (compared to those low in this construct), online romantic social comparison might be related to negative consequences—which, in the current project, was operationalized as lower mood/affect and state self-esteem. Further, I hypothesized that there would be an interaction between attachment anxiety and relationship insecurities on these negative outcomes, such that the expected difference of attachment anxiety would be more pronounced under conditions priming relationship insecurities, relative to a control condition. Two experiments were conducted, one of which focused on single individuals, and the second focusing on individuals who were themselves in dating relationships. The paradigms of each entailed experimental manipulation of a key relationship-related variable (for single individuals, pessimism for future relationships; for dating individuals, the presence or absence of rejection threat), subsequent exposure to romantic content from Facebook, and finally, measures of affect and state self-esteem. I discovered partial support for the hypothesis that some single individuals—particularly those with higher, rather than lower, attachment anxiety—do indeed report feeling more negative moods and lower state self-esteem following exposure to romantic online content, in contrast to single individuals who had instead viewed neutral online content. The association between attachment anxiety and negative outcome was especially pertinent if individuals had been primed to believe that their own future romantic prospects were grim, or if attention had been drawn to their singleness. Among dating individuals, less support for hypotheses was found; however, exploratory post-hoc analyses revealed a promising (albeit weak) trend indicating that reinvestigation of the current hypotheses would be prudent.

Studies of antihypertensive drug persistence and adherence in the Glasgow Blood Pressure Clinic

Hypertension (HTN) is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases including stroke, coronary heart disease (CHD), chronic renal failure, peripheral vascular disease, myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure and premature death. The prevalence of HTN in Scotland is very high and although a high proportion of the patients receive antihypertensive medications, blood pressure (BP) control is very low. Recommendations for starting a specific antihypertensive class have been debated between various guidelines over the years. Some guidelines and HTN studies have preferred to start with a combination of an antihypertensive class instead of using a single therapy, and they have found greater BP reductions with combination therapies than with monotherapy. However, it has been shown in several clinical trials that 20% to 35% of hypertensive patients could not achieve the target BP, even though they received more than three antihypertensive medications. Several factors were found to affect BP control. Adherence and persistence were considered as the factors contributing the most to uncontrolled hypertension. Other factors such as age, sex, body mass index (BMI), alcohol intake, baseline systolic BP (SBP), and the communication between physicians and patients have been shown to be associated with uncontrolled BP and resistant hypertension. Persistence, adherence and compliance are interchangeable terms and have been used in the literature to describe a patient’s behaviour with their antihypertensive drugs and prescriptions. The methods used to determine persistence and adherence, as well as the inclusion and exclusion criteria, vary between persistence and adherence studies. The prevalence of persistence and adherence have varied between these studies, and were determined to be high in some studies and low in others. The initiation of a specific antihypertensive class has frequently been associated with an increase or decrease in adherence and persistence. The tolerability and efficacy of the initial antihypertensive class have been the most common methods of explaining this association. There are also many factors that suggest a relationship with adherence and persistence. Some factors in previous studies, such as age, were frequently associated with adherence and persistence. On the other hand, relationships with certain factors have varied between the studies. The associations of age, sex, alcohol use, smoking, baseline systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP), the presence of comorbidities, an increase in the number of pills and the relationship between patients and physicians with adherence and persistence have been the most commonly investigated factors. Most studies have defined persistence in terms of a patient still taking medication after a period of time. A medication possession ratio (MPR) ≥ 80 has been used to define compliance. Either of these terminologies, or both, have been used to estimate adherence. In this study, I used the same definition for persistence to identify patients who have continued with their initial treatment, and used persistence and MPR to define patients who adhered to their initial treatment. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of persistence and adherence in Scotland. Also, factors that could have had an effect on persistence and adherence were studied. The number of antihypertensive drugs taken by patients during the study and factors that led to an increase in patients being on a combination therapy were also evaluated. The prevalence of resistance and BP control were determined by taking the BP after the last drug had been taken by persistent patients during five follow-up studies. The relationship of factors such as age, sex, BMI, alcohol use, smoking, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), and albumin levels with BP reductions for each antihypertensive class were determined. Information Services Division (ISD) data, which includes all antihypertensive drugs, were collected from pharmacies in Scotland and linked to the Glasgow Blood Pressure Clinic (GBPC) database. This database also includes demographic characteristics, BP readings and clinical results for all patients attending the GBPC. The case notes for patients who attended the GBPC were reviewed and all new antihypertensive drugs that were prescribed between visits, BP before and after taking drugs, and any changes in the hypertensive drugs were recorded. A total of 4,232 hypertensive patients were included in the first study. The first study showed that angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) and beta-blockers (BB) were the most prescribed antihypertensive classes between 2004 and 2013. Calcium channel blockers (CCB), thiazide diuretics and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) followed ACEI and BB as the most prescribed drugs during the same period. The prescription trend of the antihypertensive class has changed over the years with an increase in prescriptions for ACEI and ARB and a decrease in prescriptions for BB and diuretics. I observed a difference in antihypertensive class prescriptions by age, sex, SBP and BMI. For example, CCB, thiazide diuretics and alpha-blockers were more likely to be prescribed to older patients, while ACEI, ARB or BB were more commonly prescribed for younger patients. In a second study, 4,232 and 3,149 hypertensive patients were included to investigate the prevalence of persistence in the Scottish population in 1- and 5-year studies, respectively. The prevalence of persistence in the 1-year study was 72.9%, while it was only 62.8% in the 5-year study. Those patients taking ARB and ACEI showed high rates of persistence and those taking diuretics and alpha blockers had low rates of persistence. The association of persistence with clinical characteristics was also investigated. Younger patients were more likely to totally stop their treatment before restarting their treatment with other antihypertensive drugs. Furthermore, patients who had high SBP tended to be non-persistent. In a third study, 3,085 and 1,979 patients who persisted with their treatment were included. In the first part of the study, MPR was calculated, and patients with an MPR ≥ 80 were considered as adherent. Adherence rates were 29.9% and 23.4% in the 1- and 5-year studies, respectively. Patients who initiated the study with ACEI were more likely to adhere to their treatments. However, patients who initiated the study with thiazide diuretics were less likely to adhere to their treatments. Sex, age and BMI were different between the adherence and non-adherence groups. Age was an independent factor affecting adherence rates during both the 1- and 5-year studies with older patients being more likely to be adherent. In the second part of the study, pharmacy databases were checked with patients' case notes to compare antihypertensive drugs that were collected from the pharmacy with the antihypertensive prescription given during the patient’s clinical visit. While 78.6% of the antihypertensive drugs were collected between clinical visits, 21.4% were not collected. Patients who had more days to see the doctor in the subsequent visit were more likely to not collect their prescriptions. In a fourth study, 3,085 and 1,979 persistent patients were included to calculate the number of antihypertensive classes that were added to the initial drug during the 1-year and 5-year studies, respectively. Patients who continued with treatment as a monotherapy and who needed a combination therapy were investigated during the 1- and 5-year studies. In all, 55.8% used antihypertensive drugs as a monotherapy and 44.2% used them as a combination therapy during the 1-year study. While 28.2% of patients continued with treatment without the required additional therapy, 71.8% of the patients needed additional therapy. In all, 20.8% and 46.5% of patients required three different antihypertensive classes or more during the 1-year and 5-year studies, respectively. Patients who started with ACEI, ARB and BB were more likely to continue as monotherapy and less likely to need two more antihypertensive drugs compared with those who started with alpha-blockers, non-thiazide diuretics and CCB. Older ages, high BMI levels, high SBP and high alcohol intake were independent factors that led to an increase in the probability of patients taking combination therapies. In the first part of the final study, BPs were recorded after the last drug had been taken during the 5 year study. There were 815 persistent patients who were assigned for this purpose. Of these, 39% had taken one, two or three antihypertensive classes and had controlled BP (controlled hypertension [HTN]), 29% of them took one or two antihypertensive classes and had uncontrolled BP (uncontrolled HTN), and 32% of the patients took three antihypertensive classes or more and had uncontrolled BP (resistant HTN). The initiation of an antihypertensive drug and the factors affecting BP pressure were compared between the resistant and controlled HTN groups. Patients who initiated the study with ACEI were less likely to be resistant compared with those who started with alpha blockers and non-thiazide diuretics. Older patients, and high BMI tended to result in resistant HTN. In the second part of study, BP responses for patients who initiated the study with ACEI, ARB, BB, CCB and thiazide diuretics were compared. After adjusting for risk factors, patients who initiated the study with ACEI and ARB were more respondent than those who took CCB and thiazide diuretics. In the last part of this study, the association between BP reductions and factors affecting BP were tested for each antihypertensive drug. Older patients responded better to alpha blockers. Younger patients responded better to ACEI and ARB. An increase in BMI led to a decreased reduction in patients on ACEI and diuretics (thiazide and non-thiazide). An increase in albumin levels and a decrease in eGFR led to decreases in BP reductions in patients on thiazide diuretics. An increase in eGFR decreased the BP response with ACEI. In conclusion, although a high percentage of hypertensive patients in Scotland persisted with their initial drug prescription, low adherence rates were found with these patients. Approximately half of these patients required three different antihypertensive classes during the 5 years, and 32% of them had resistant HTN. Although this study was observational in nature, the large sample size in this study represented a real HTN population, and the large pharmacy data represented a real antihypertensive population, which were collected through the support of prescription data from the GBPC database. My findings suggest that ACEI, ARB and BB are less likely to require additional therapy. However, ACEI and ARB were better tolerated than BB in that they were more likely to be persistent than BB. In addition, users of ACEI, and ARB have good BP response and low resistant HTN. Linkage patients who participated in these studies with their morbidity and mortality will provide valuable information concerning the effect of adherence on morbidity and mortality and the potential benefits of using ACEI or ARB over other drugs.

Acceptability of psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy, and self-directed therapies in Australians living with chronic hepatitis C.

Despite the prevalence of psychiatric co-morbidity in chronic hepatitis C (CHC), treatment is under-researched. Patient preferences are likely to affect treatment uptake, adherence, and success. Thus, the acceptability of psychological supports was explored. A postal survey of Australian CHC outpatients of the Royal Adelaide Hospital and online survey of Australians living with CHC was conducted, assessing demographic and disease-related variables, psychosocial characteristics, past experience with psychological support, and psychological support acceptability. The final sample of 156 patients (58 % male) had significantly worse depression, anxiety, stress, and social support than norms. The most acceptable support type was individual psychotherapy (83 %), followed by bibliotherapy (61 %), pharmacotherapy (56 %), online therapy (45 %), and group psychotherapy (37 %). The most prominent predictor of support acceptability was satisfaction with past use. While individual psychotherapy acceptability was encouragingly high, potentially less costly modalities including group psychotherapy or online therapy may be hampered by low acceptability, the reasons for which need to be further explored.

Development of the benefit finding in multiple sclerosis (MS) caregiving scale: A longitudinal study of relations between benefit finding and adjustment

Benefit finding is a meaning making construct that has been shown to be related to adjustment in people with MS and their carers. This study investigated the dimensions, stability and potency of benefit finding in predicting adjustment over a 12 month interval using a newly developed Benefit Finding in Multiple Sclerosis Scale (BFiMSS). Usable data from 388 persons with MS and 232 carers was obtained from questionnaires completed at Time 1 and 12 months later (Time 2). Factor analysis of the BFiMSS revealed seven psychometrically sound factors: Compassion/Empathy, Spiritual Growth, Mindfulness, Family Relations Growth, Life Style Gains, Personal Growth, New Opportunities. BFiMSS total and factors showed satisfactory internal and retest reliability coefficients, and convergent, criterion and external validity. Results of regression analyses indicated that the Time 1 BFiMSS factors accounted for significant amounts of variance in each of the Time 2 adjustment outcomes (positive states of mind, positive affect, anxiety, depression) after controlling for Time 1 adjustment, and relevant demographic and illness variables. Findings delineate the dimensional structure of benefit finding in MS, the differential links between benefit finding dimensions and adjustment and the temporal unfolding of benefit finding in chronic illness.

Substance use disorders

Substance use disorders involve alcohol and a range of other legal and illicit drugs, and are characterised by a preoccupation with or craving for the substance, a greater priority to substance use than other goals, and/or a difficulty controlling consumption. Use of the substance may continue despite negative impacts on other activities, roles, relationships, and physical and mental health. Increased physical tolerance to the substance and withdrawal symptoms may also occur. Broad impacts on social and cognitive functioning and on physical and mental health emerge with increasing problem severity. Diffuse cognitive impairment may persist for up to 12 months post-detoxification in alcohol dependence. Psychological comorbidity is common, particularly mood and anxiety disorders. A quarter of all Australians will have a substance use disorder in their lifetime. One in five will consume alcohol at a level that puts them at risk of harm from an alcohol-related disease or injury over their lifetime. Australians aged 18 to 29 years are at higher risk than other age groups.

Psychometric validation of the Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX)

This study reported on the validation of the psychometric properties, the factorability, validity, and sensitivity of the Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX) in 3 clinical and nonclinical samples. A mixed sample of 997 participants—community (n = 663), psychiatric (depressed [n = 92] and anxious [n = 122]), and neurologically impaired (n = 120)—completed self-report questionnaires assessing executive dysfunction, depression, anxiety, stress, general self-efficacy, and satisfaction with life. Before analyses the data were randomly split into 2 subsets (A and B). Exploratory factor analysis performed on Subset A produced a 3-factor model (Factor 1: Inhibition, Factor 2: Volition, and Factor 3: Social Regulation) in which 15 of the original 20 items provided a revised factor structure that was superior to all other structures. A series of confirmatory factor analyses performed on Subset B confirmed that this revised factor structure was valid and reliable. The revised structure, labeled the DEX-R, was found to be a reliable and valid tool for assessing behavioral symptoms of dysexecutive functioning in mixed community, psychiatric, and neurological samples.

Psychosocial functioning in patients with alcohol-related liver disease post liver transplantation

Emotional and role functioning difficulties are associated with chronic alcohol use and liver disease. Little is known about prospective changes in psychological and psychosocial functioning following orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) amongst patients with alcoholic liver disease (ALD). We aimed to assess the functioning of this patient group post liver transplantation. Comprehensive psychosocial assessment of depression (Beck Depression Inventory [BDI]), anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Form X [STAI]) and psychosocial adjustment (Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale-Self-Report version [PAIS-SR]) was conducted with 42 ALD patients available for pre and post OLT testing. Dependence severity was assessed by the Brief Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (bMAST). Significant reductions in average anxiety and depression symptoms were observed 12-months post-OLT. Significant improvements in psychosocial adjustment to illness were also reported. Patients with higher levels of alcohol dependence severity pre transplant assessment improved comparably to those with lower levels of dependence. In summary, the study found that OLT contributed to reducing overall levels of mood and anxiety symptoms in ALD patients, approximating general (non-clinical) population norms. Psychosocial adjustment also improved significantly post liver transplantation.

A Continuation of the Happiness Success Story: Does Happiness Impact Service Quality?

A Continuation of the Happiness Success Story: Does Happiness Impact Service Quality? The effects of long-term happiness on various outcomes for the individual and society have been studied extensively in psychology but the concept has so far received limited research attention in marketing. Happiness is defined as a summary judgment of one’s life. Previous research has shown that happiness is a relatively stable perception of happiness in one’s life. Thus, happiness in this thesis is long-term and more global as a phenomenon than in the marketing literature, where happiness is commonly conceptualized as an emotion, feeling or momentary state of happiness. Although there is plenty of research on consumer affect and its impact on service responses, there are no studies on the effect of long-term happiness on service evaluation. As empirical evidence suggests that happy people perceive smaller and bigger events in life more positively than less happy people and that happy people are more prone to experience positive feelings and less of negative feelings it was hypothesized that happiness affects service quality directly but also indirectly through mood. Therefore, in this thesis, it was set out to explore if happiness affects customer-perceived service quality. A survey method was adopted to study the relationship between happiness, mood and service quality. Two studies were conducted with a total of 17 investigated services. Out of the 17 different investigated cases, happiness was found to positively affect service quality in only four cases. The results from the two studies also provide weak support for a positive relationship between mood and service quality. Out of the 17 cases, mood was found to positively affect service quality in only three cases and the results provide additional evidence for the stream of literature arguing that affect plays no or only a minimal role in service quality. Based on the collective results in this study, it can be concluded that the evidence for a positive relationship between happiness, mood and service quality is weak. However, in this thesis, it was recognized that the happiness concept is relevant for marketers and serve potential to explain marketing related phenomena. Marketing researchers who are interested in studying happiness are advised to focus research attention on consumer well-being.

Análisis y valoración de las relaciones entre el estado de ánimo y la ansiedad en relación al resultado en jóvenes futbolistas

368 p.

La comorbidité chez les joueurs pathologiques en traitement

Plusieurs études telles que le NESARC ont démontré la comorbidité chez les joueurs pathologiques dans la population générale et dans des échantillons cliniques. Le jeu pathologique se présente souvent avec des troubles comorbides tels que les toxicomanies, les troubles de l’humeur, les troubles anxieux et les troubles de la personnalité. Cette étude a été réalisée auprès de 40 joueurs pathologiques admis en traitement au Centre Dollard-Cormier, Institut universitaire sur les dépendances à Montréal. Les objectifs étaient d’évaluer : la consommation d’alcool et de drogues, la présence d’une détresse psychologique caractérisée par des symptômes et des syndromes cliniques ainsi que par des troubles de la personnalité et la prévalence du trouble de l’ÉSPT dans l’échantillon. L’ICJE a été utilisé pour évaluer la gravité du jeu. Les autres troubles ont été mesurés à travers l’IGT, l’AUDIT, le MCMI-III, le QÉT et l’ÉMST. Les résultats montrent que 65 % des participants présentent une consommation problématique d’alcool (25 % actuellement, 40 % dans le passé), 27,5 % une consommation problématique de drogues; 52,5 %, un diagnostic probable d’au moins un syndrome clinique (surtout anxiété et dépression), 55 %, un diagnostic probable d’au moins un trouble de la personnalité; 30 %, des symptômes du trouble d’ÉSPT et 17,5 %, un diagnostic probable du trouble. Alors, la comorbidité est présente chez les joueurs pathologiques de l’échantillon. Il est essentiel de l’identifier pour mieux répondre aux besoins particuliers de l’individu et l’aider avec les symptômes qui aggravent le problème de jeu et augmentent le risque de récidive.

Impact of the ego-dystonic nature of obsessions on treatment outcome in eating disorders

Il s'agit d'une hypothèse largement répandue que l’égo-dystonie et l’égo-syntonie caractérisent les obsessions dans les troubles des conduites alimentaires (TCA) et que ces facteurs sont cliniquement pertinents pour la conceptualisation et le traitement des TCA. Cependant, les résultats empiriques sur ce sujet sont rares. Compte tenu du chevauchement reconnu entre les TCA, notamment l'anorexie et la boulimie (BN), et le trouble obsessionnel-compulsif (TOC) dans la phénoménologie et les caractéristiques psychologiques, un programme de thérapie cognitive basée sur les inférences (TBI) de 24 semaines, démontré efficace dans le traitement des TOC, a été adapté pour traiter les TCA. La recherche sur le TOC suggère que la transformation des pensées intrusives en obsessions est liée à la mesure dans laquelle les pensées intrusives menacent des perceptions fondamentales du soi et de l’identité. Cette thèse a pour objectif d'examiner le lien entre l’égo-dystonie et les TCA. Pour se faire, nous avons exploré le lien entre la nature égo-dystone des obsessions chez les patients souffrant d'un TCA et la peur de l'image de soi. Nous avons également étudié la relation entre la sévérité des symptômes TCA et l’égo-dystonie dans les obsessions. En outre, nous avons investigué les différences dans la présence de pensées égo-dystones et de peur face à son identité entre des sujets non-cliniques et des personnes atteintes d’un TCA. Enfin, nous avons comparé le degré d’égo-dystonie dans les pensées de personnes atteintes d’un TCA à celui dans les pensées d’individus souffrant d’un TOC. L’égo-dystonie dans les pensées a été mesurée par l'Ego Dystonicity Questionnaire (EDQ) et le degré de peur face à l’identité a été mesuré par le Fear of Self Questionnaire (FSQ) d’une part dans un échantillon de femmes souffrant d’un TCA (n = 57) et d’autre part dans un échantillon de participantes non-cliniques (n = 45). Les résultats révèlent que l’égo-dystonie et la peur face à l’identité étaient fortement corrélées à la fois dans l’échantillon clinique et non-clinique. Les scores de l’EDQ n’étaient pas significativement corrélés à la sévérité des symptômes TCA à l'exception de la sous-échelle d’irrationalité de l’EDQ qui était fortement associée à la sévérité des comportements compulsifs compensatoires. Les participantes souffrant d'un TCA avaient des scores significativement plus élevés à l’EDQ et au FSQ que les sujets non-cliniques. Ensuite, une étude de cas décrit l’application du programme de thérapie cognitive TBI pour une femme de 35 ans avec un diagnostic de BN. La pathologie TCA s’est significativement améliorée au cours de la TBI et six mois suivant la thérapie. Cette étude de cas met en évidence l'importance de cibler les idées surévaluées, les doutes et le raisonnement face au soi et à l’identité dans le traitement psychologique pour les TCA. Enfin, l’objectif final de cette thèse était d’examiner les changements au niveau (1) des symptômes TCA, (2) du degré d’égo-syntonie dans les obsessions, et (3) des mesures de peur face à l’identité, de motivation, d’humeur et d’anxiété au cours de la TBI et au suivi post six mois. L’égo-dystonie, la peur face à l’identité, les symptômes TCA et le stade motivationnel ont été mesurés chez 15 femmes souffrant de BN au cours du traitement et six mois après la TBI. Quatre vingt pourcent de l’échantillon, soit 12 des 15 participantes, ont démontré une diminution cliniquement significative des symptômes TCA et 53% ont cessé leurs comportements compensatoires au suivi post six mois. Les retombées cliniques relatives au traitement des TCA sont discutées.

Befriending carers of people with dementia: randomised controlled trial

Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of a voluntary sector based befriending scheme in improving psychological wellbeing and quality of life for family carers of people with dementia. Design Single blind randomised controlled trial. Setting Community settings in East Anglia and London. Participants 236 family carers of people with primary progressive dementia. Intervention Contact with a befriender facilitator and offer of match with a trained lay volunteer befriender compared with no befriender facilitator contact; all participants continued to receive “usual care.” Main outcome measures Carers’ mood (hospital anxiety and depression scale—depression) and health related quality of life (EuroQoL) at 15 months post-randomisation. Results The intention to treat analysis showed no benefit for the intervention “access to a befriender facilitator” on the primary outcome measure or on any of the secondary outcome measures. Conclusions In common with many carers’ services, befriending schemes are not taken up by all carers, and providing access to a befriending scheme is not effective in improving wellbeing.

Altered engagement of autobiographical memory networks in adult offspring of postnatally depressed mothers

Maternal depression is associated with increased risk for offspring mood and anxiety disorders. One possible impact of maternal depression during offspring development is on the emotional autobiographical memory system. We investigated the neural mechanisms of emotional autobiographical memory in adult offspring of mothers with postnatal depression (N = 16) compared to controls (N = 21). During fMRI, recordings of participants describing one pleasant and one unpleasant situation with their mother and with a companion, were used as prompts to re-live the situations. Compared to controls we predicted the PND offspring would show: greater activation in medial and posterior brain regions implicated in autobiographical memory and rumination; and decreased activation in lateral prefrontal cortex and decreased connectivity between lateral prefrontal and posterior regions, reflecting reduced control of autobiographical recall. For negative situations, we found no group differences. For positive situations with their mothers, PND offspring showed higher activation than controls in left lateral prefrontal cortex, right frontal pole, cingulate cortex and precuneus, and lower connectivity of right middle frontal gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus, thalamus and lingual gyrus with the posterior cingulate. Our results are consistent with adult offspring of PND mothers having less efficient prefrontal regulation of personally relevant pleasant autobiographical memories.

Managing the transition from school to university: a challenging or stressful experience?

Times of transition are stressful for most people. In this study, the aim was to investigate the stress reported by students as they commenced university, and to investigate whether stress levels, use of coping strategies, the availability of social support, and mood and anxiety differed among students who had moved house to commence university and those who had not. Results from 551 students indicate that 88% of them rated the level of commencing stress above the mid-point on a 5-pt Likert scale but there was no difference between students living at home and those not so, neither did these groups differ on their perceptions of available social support nor their use of coping strategies to deal with commencing university. There were however, gender differences on the use of appraisal of the stressor with females utilizing appraisal more so than males. Students who changed residence to study reported higher levels of depressive symptoms but not of anxiety symptoms. The strain of moving house and a deterioration in living conditions predicted scores on the stress of commencing university. These results are discussed in tenns of student welfare.

Longitudinal evaluation of a risk-factor model for adolescent suicidality

This research developed two best-fitting structural equation models of risk factors for adolescent depression and suicidality: a core model, which included parenting factors, gender, depression, and suicidality, and an extended model, which also encompassed personality traits (Introversion and Impulsivity) and mood factors (Anxiety and Anger). Further, this research investigated the consistency of model fit across time (Le., 1 month & 12 months) and samples, and explored the effectiveness of the ReachOut! Internet site as a psychoeducational prevention strategy for adolescent depression and suicidality. Gender, age, and location differences were also explored. Participants were 185 Year-9 students and 93 Year-10 students aged 14 - 16 years, from seven secondary schools in regional and rural Victoria. Students were given a survey which included the Parental Bonding Instrument (Parker, Tupling, & Brown, 1979), the Millon Adolescent Personality Inventory (Millon, Green, & Meagher, 1982), the Profile of Mood States Inventory (McNair & Lorr, 1964), items on suicidal behaviour including some questions from the Revised Adolescent Suicide Questionnaire (Pearce & Martin, 1994), and questions on loss and general demographics. Results supported an indirect model of risk factors, with family factors directly influencing personality factors, which in turn influenced mood factors, including depression, which then influenced suicidality. At the theoretical level, results supported Attachment Theory (Bowlby, 1969), demonstrating that perceived parenting styles that are warm and not overly controlling are more conducive to an adolescent's emotional well-being than are parenting styles that are cold and controlling. Further, results supported Millon's theory of personality (1981), demonstrating that parenting style influences a child's personality. Short-term intervention effects from the internet site were a decrease in Introversion for the full sample, and decreased Inhibition and Suicidality for a high-risk subgroup. Long-term age effects were decreased Inhibition and increased Anxiety for the fall sample. There was also a probable intervention effect for Depression for the high-risk subgroup. No location differences for the risk factors were found between regional and rural areas.