How Migration Status Shapes Susceptibility of Individuals’ Loneliness to Social Isolation

Objectives: Our research provides competing hypotheses and empirical evidence how associations between objectively social isolation and subjective loneliness differ between host populations, migrants, and refugees.Methods: The analysis uses data of 25,171 participants from a random sample of the German population (SOEP v.35). We estimate regression models for the host population, migrants, and refugees and test five hypotheses on the association between social isolation and loneliness using a Bayesian approach in a multiverse framework.Results: We find the strongest relative support for an increased need for social inclusion among refugees, indicated by a higher Bayes factor compared to the hosts and migrants. However, all theoretically developed hypotheses perform poorly in explaining the major pattern in our data: The association of social isolation and loneliness is persistently lower for migrants (0.15 SD−0.29 SD), with similar sizes of associations for refugees and the host population (0.38 SD−0.67 SD).Conclusion: The migration history must be actively considered in health service provision and support programs to better cater to the needs of the different groups

Challenge Accepted! a Critical Reflection on How to Perform a Health Survey Among University Students—An Example of the Healthy Campus Mainz Project

Background: Universities represent an important setting of everyday life for health promotion. The Healthy Campus Mainz project aims to develop an evidence-based and comprehensive student health management program covering physical, mental, and social health promotion. Hence, an initial health survey was performed in order to identify the students' health concerns and resources. Up until now, it remains unclear which topics to choose in a health survey among university students and which strategies can be recommended to receive an acceptable response rate or representative student sample within a university setting. The present paper contributes to the call for the present research topic “Public Health Promotion in University Students” by describing methods for health assessment. Therefore, the current paper aims to give an empirical example on how to perform a health survey among university students, focusing on (1) choosing topics for the survey and (2) methodological considerations of how to reach the target population.Methods: An online questionnaire including around 270 items was developed covering a comprehensive set of health topics. Participants were recruited via the university email. Mixed channels for survey promotion, such as lecture visits and social media, were used, accompanied by different monetary and non-monetary incentives. Descriptive analyses were performed to describe the sample.Results: A total of 5,006 participants (out of 31,213 registered students) viewed the first page of the questionnaire; of whom, 4,714 continued further. After a manual data cleaning according to the predefined criteria, the final sample was 4,351, demonstrating a response rate of 13.9%. Students from different study disciplines participated. However, some study disciplines showed a low participation rate, hence, making the results not free from some bias.Discussion: This survey is exceptional as it integrates a great variety of health aspects. The incentive strategy demonstrated promising results. Future research should try to improve target-group-specific recruitment strategies for the traditionally underrepresented groups, such as males and specific study disciplines. This would not only include advancing marketing strategies, but also refining the incentive strategy

Anger Makes You Feel Stronger: The Positive Infl uence of Trait Anger in a Real-Life Experiment

Although anger as a negative emotion is associated with unpleasantness, recent research on anger highlights its motivational effect. The present study tested whether individuals experience both, an unpleasant and an activating affect, after real-life provocations. Results revealed that an anger situation evoked not only typical subjective and cardiovascular anger reactions but also a sense of strength, which is a positive affect. A comparison of participants with low versus high anger disposition according to the STAXI-2 at baseline, treatment, and recovery showed that participants with high trait anger consistently scored higher in subjective ratings of feeling strong than their counterparts did. Moreover, we found a larger and longer lasting effect of feeling strong than feeling angry after an anger treatment. Thus, differences in anger disposition infl uence the positive correlation between trait anger and positive affect

How do acculturation strategies and psychosomatic health among Turkish voluntary and involuntary migrants worldwide interplay? A systematic review

Acculturation processes are an important aspect of migration affecting migrants’ mental health and vice versa. Research on Turkish voluntary and involuntary migrants have been studied only to a small extent worldwide. Thus, we systematically reviewed PubMed, PsycINFO, Psyndex, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and PsyArXiv for studies examining the interaction of mental health and acculturation (main outcomes) among Turkish migrants (PROSPERO ID: CRD42021222706). For final evaluation 40 studies were extracted out of initially 339. Among Turkish migrants, internalizing disorders, especially depressive disorders or anxiety disorders, occurred most frequently. Main modifiers besides acculturation strategies were sociodemographic factors, social status, and experienced discrimination in the host country. We identified a lack of longitudinal studies looking at acculturation and mental health simultaneously as outcomes resulting in no evident interaction between acculturation processes and mental health. Additonally, there is a need for studies on externalizing disorders in connection with acculturation processes

Test and Math Anxiety: A Validation of the German Test Anxiety Questionnaire

The present study investigated the construct validity of the Test Anxiety Questionnaire (Prüfungsangstfragebogen PAF; Hodapp, Rohrmann, & Ringeisen, 2011), a revised and shortened version of the German Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI-G), by comparing it with math anxiety. A sample of German fi fth- and sixth-grade students (N = 79; 61 % male) was analyzed. Math anxiety was measured by a German adaptation of the Math Anxiety Questionnaire (Fragebogen für Rechenangst FRA; Krinzinger et al., 2007). A signifi cant but moderate correlation between test anxiety and math anxiety was found. In regression analyses, math anxiety predicted math performance whereas test anxiety explained additional variance for both math and overall performance. It can be concluded that math and test anxiety have overlaps, but do not constitute the same construct. Thus, the results support the construct validity of the PAF indicating its usefulness in practical application

A systematic review on sex- and gender-sensitive research in public mental health during the first wave of the COVID-19 crisis

Background Sex and gender are important modifiers of mental health and behavior in normal times and during crises. We investigated whether they were addressed by empirical, international research which explored the mental health and health behavior ramifications after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods We systematically searched the databases PsyArXiv, PubMed, PsycInfo, Psyndex, PubPsych, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science for studies assessing mental health outcomes (main outcomes) as well as potential risk and protective health behavior (additional outcomes) up to July 2, 2020. Findings Most of the 80 publications fulfilling the selection criteria reflected the static difference perspective treating sex and gender as dichotomous variables. The focus was on internalizing disorders (esp. anxiety and depression) burdening women in particular, while externalizing disorders were neglected. Sex- and gender-specific evaluation of mental health care use has also been lacking. With respect to unfavorable health behavior in terms of adherence to prescribed protective measures, men constitute a risk group. Interpretations Women remain a vulnerable group burdened by multiple stresses and mental health symptoms. The neglect of sex and gender-specific evaluation of aggression-related disorders, substance addiction, and mental health care use in the early stage represents a potentially dangerous oversight

DataSheet1_How Migration Status Shapes Susceptibility of Individuals’ Loneliness to Social Isolation.pdf

Objectives: Our research provides competing hypotheses and empirical evidence how associations between objectively social isolation and subjective loneliness differ between host populations, migrants, and refugees.Methods: The analysis uses data of 25,171 participants from a random sample of the German population (SOEP v.35). We estimate regression models for the host population, migrants, and refugees and test five hypotheses on the association between social isolation and loneliness using a Bayesian approach in a multiverse framework.Results: We find the strongest relative support for an increased need for social inclusion among refugees, indicated by a higher Bayes factor compared to the hosts and migrants. However, all theoretically developed hypotheses perform poorly in explaining the major pattern in our data: The association of social isolation and loneliness is persistently lower for migrants (0.15 SD−0.29 SD), with similar sizes of associations for refugees and the host population (0.38 SD−0.67 SD).Conclusion: The migration history must be actively considered in health service provision and support programs to better cater to the needs of the different groups.</p

DataSheet2_How Migration Status Shapes Susceptibility of Individuals’ Loneliness to Social Isolation.pdf

Objectives: Our research provides competing hypotheses and empirical evidence how associations between objectively social isolation and subjective loneliness differ between host populations, migrants, and refugees.Methods: The analysis uses data of 25,171 participants from a random sample of the German population (SOEP v.35). We estimate regression models for the host population, migrants, and refugees and test five hypotheses on the association between social isolation and loneliness using a Bayesian approach in a multiverse framework.Results: We find the strongest relative support for an increased need for social inclusion among refugees, indicated by a higher Bayes factor compared to the hosts and migrants. However, all theoretically developed hypotheses perform poorly in explaining the major pattern in our data: The association of social isolation and loneliness is persistently lower for migrants (0.15 SD−0.29 SD), with similar sizes of associations for refugees and the host population (0.38 SD−0.67 SD).Conclusion: The migration history must be actively considered in health service provision and support programs to better cater to the needs of the different groups.</p

Psychometric Properties of Two Brief Versions of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist: HSCL-5 and HSCL-10

The Hopkins Symptom Checklist–25 (HSCL-25) is a widely applied measure of depression and anxiety. The present study examines two of its short forms—the HSCL-5 and HSCL-10, which have been proposed by previous research—in a representative sample of the German general population. To this end, we conducted exploratory and confirmatory analysis on two subsamples (n = 1,246 and n = 1,216). Our results suggest that, compared with the HSCL-25, both short forms represent economical ways of assessing depression and anxiety. Model fit was good and correlations with established measures demonstrate convergent validity. Both HSCL short forms are strongly invariant across sex, and we found evidence for partial strong invariance across age groups. Further analyses showed that differences in HSCL can be partially explained by sociodemographic variables. Finally, we report normative values for usage by researchers and clinicians. We recommend the HSCL-5 and HSCL-10 for clinical and research-oriented application

El Inventario de Personalidad Narcisista 8: Validación de una breve medida de personalidad narcisista

The present study was conducted with the aim of constructing and validating a short form of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI). The NPI is the most widely-applied measure for the assessment of narcissistic personality traits and, therefore, it is of great relevance for many research questions in personality and social psychology. To develop the short scale, we first found the optimal eight-item solution among all valid combinations of the NPI-15 items in an exploratory subsample (n = 1,165) of our complete representative sample of the German general population. We then validated this model in a confirmatory subsample (n = 1,126). Additionally, we examined its invariance across age groups and sex, as well as its reliability, &nbsp;as well as construct and predictive validity —comparing it to the NPI-15. Our results indicate that the NPI-8 is a valid and reliable measure of narcissistic personality with minimal losses compared to the 15-item version. Particularly where brevity and an economical assessment are desired, the NPI-8 should be considered.El presente estudio se realizó con el objetivo de construir y validar una forma corta del Inventario de Personalidad Narcisista (NPI). El NPI es la medida más ampliamente aplicada para la evaluación de los rasgos narcisistas de la personalidad y, por lo tanto, es de gran relevancia para muchas preguntas de investigación en personalidad y psicología social. Para desarrollar la escala corta, primero encontramos la solución óptima de ocho ítems entre todas las combinaciones válidas de los ítems NPI-15 en una submuestra exploratoria (n = 1,165) de nuestra muestra representativa completa de la población general alemana. Luego validamos este modelo en una submuestra confirmatoria (n = 1,126). Además, examinamos su invariancia entre grupos de edad y sexo, así como su confiabilidad y validez constructiva y predictiva, comparándola con el NPI-15. Nuestros resultados indican que el NPI-8 es una medida válida y confiable de la personalidad narcisista con pérdidas mínimas en comparación con la versión de 15 ítems. Particularmente donde se desea brevedad y una evaluación económica, se debe considerar el NPI-8