Dai micro-stressor allo stress traumatico: effetti sulla salute mentale e il comportamento

Previous research addressed how stress can influence mental health and behavior with a little focus on specific aspects of stress exposure, thus, this work aimed to provide integrative evidence on how different facets of stress exposure may affect mental health and both positive and negative behaviors by also shedding light on the role of potential specific individual and environmental moderators. In doing so, we conducted several studies exploring the effect of different sources of stress, in terms of type, degree, nature of event (from micro to traumatic) and duration on mental health and behavior considering the moderating role of individual (i.e., emotional intelligence and self-compassion) and environmental factors (i.e., culture, social support). The first set of studies focused on a severe source of traumatic stress that is the recent war in Armenia. Specifically, we investigated the short (immediate) and long-term impact of war on mental health while considering whether and how individual characteristics, like self-compassion and emotional intelligence can work as protective factors at two different phases of post-war adaptation (Study 1). We conducted Study 2 within the same population and aimed to explore the psychological impact of war on civilians by examining the direct and interactive effect of environmental factors like perceived social support and ethnic identity on post-traumatic symptomatology after the war. As a second step we examined the link between different sources of stressful and traumatic life events and their potential effect on behavior. Namely, in Study 3 we examined the relationship between stressful and traumatic events having different durations and maladaptive behaviors, such as alcohol use by considering the potential moderating role of environmental factors like social support. Last, we also investigated (Study 4) the effect of different types of acute laboratory micro stressors. 2 More precisely, we assessed if different types of acute micro sources of stress could impact adaptive behaviors (prosocial behaviors such as donations) once again considering the possible moderating role of specific individual characteristics (i.e., emotional intelligence). These studies allowed us to better understand the war-stress effect on mental health and ethno-cultural aspects (Study 1 and 2), stress-related maladaptive behavior (Study 3) as well as stress-related adaptive behavior (Study 4). In Study 1, we explored the impact of war-related stress on civilians. In particular, we aimed to investigate how the exposure to the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war influenced post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) of Armenian civilians shortly after the event and after six months as the population adjusted to the after-war phase. We further aimed to test whether and how individual characteristics (i.e., emotional intelligence and self-compassion) moderated the war-PTSS link at the two different post-war phases. The results revealed that participants reported significantly greater PTSS shortly after the war as compared to 6 months after the war ended. It was also found that while lower self-compassion was related to more PTSS at the beginning (shortly after the war), lower emotional intelligence was associated with more symptoms 6 months later. In Study 2, we studied the psychological impact of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war on Armenian civilians’ mental health focusing on cultural aspects. In particular, the main goal of this study was to explore the effect of war on civilians by examining the direct and interactive effect of cultural and environmental characteristics such as ethnic identity and perceived social support on post-traumatic stress symptoms following the exposure to war. The results showed that higher social support was directly related to fewer post-traumatic stress symptoms.Previous research addressed how stress can influence mental health and behavior with a little focus on specific aspects of stress exposure, thus, this work aimed to provide integrative evidence on how different facets of stress exposure may affect mental health and both positive and negative behaviors by also shedding light on the role of potential specific individual and environmental moderators. In doing so, we conducted several studies exploring the effect of different sources of stress, in terms of type, degree, nature of event (from micro to traumatic) and duration on mental health and behavior considering the moderating role of individual (i.e., emotional intelligence and self-compassion) and environmental factors (i.e., culture, social support). The first set of studies focused on a severe source of traumatic stress that is the recent war in Armenia. Specifically, we investigated the short (immediate) and long-term impact of war on mental health while considering whether and how individual characteristics, like self-compassion and emotional intelligence can work as protective factors at two different phases of post-war adaptation (Study 1). We conducted Study 2 within the same population and aimed to explore the psychological impact of war on civilians by examining the direct and interactive effect of environmental factors like perceived social support and ethnic identity on post-traumatic symptomatology after the war. As a second step we examined the link between different sources of stressful and traumatic life events and their potential effect on behavior. Namely, in Study 3 we examined the relationship between stressful and traumatic events having different durations and maladaptive behaviors, such as alcohol use by considering the potential moderating role of environmental factors like social support. Last, we also investigated (Study 4) the effect of different types of acute laboratory micro stressors. 2 More precisely, we assessed if different types of acute micro sources of stress could impact adaptive behaviors (prosocial behaviors such as donations) once again considering the possible moderating role of specific individual characteristics (i.e., emotional intelligence). These studies allowed us to better understand the war-stress effect on mental health and ethno-cultural aspects (Study 1 and 2), stress-related maladaptive behavior (Study 3) as well as stress-related adaptive behavior (Study 4). In Study 1, we explored the impact of war-related stress on civilians. In particular, we aimed to investigate how the exposure to the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war influenced post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) of Armenian civilians shortly after the event and after six months as the population adjusted to the after-war phase. We further aimed to test whether and how individual characteristics (i.e., emotional intelligence and self-compassion) moderated the war-PTSS link at the two different post-war phases. The results revealed that participants reported significantly greater PTSS shortly after the war as compared to 6 months after the war ended. It was also found that while lower self-compassion was related to more PTSS at the beginning (shortly after the war), lower emotional intelligence was associated with more symptoms 6 months later. In Study 2, we studied the psychological impact of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war on Armenian civilians’ mental health focusing on cultural aspects. In particular, the main goal of this study was to explore the effect of war on civilians by examining the direct and interactive effect of cultural and environmental characteristics such as ethnic identity and perceived social support on post-traumatic stress symptoms following the exposure to war. The results showed that higher social support was directly related to fewer post-traumatic stress symptoms

Stress and Emotional Intelligence Shape Giving Behavior: Are There Different Effects of Social, Cognitive, and Emotional Stress?

Acute stress has been linked with prosocial behavior, yet it is entirely unexplored how different types of stressors may affect individuals' willingness to help: This is particularly relevant while people is experiencing multiple sources of stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we explore whether different types of stress influence peoples' giving behavior and the moderating role of emotional intelligence (EI). Undergraduate students were exposed to experimentally induced social, cognitive, or emotional stress and were asked to self-report on their willingness to help and donate to a charity raising funds for COVID-19 and flu patients. Results showed that when compared to a control condition, after being exposed to a social stress, participants were more willing to help a person in need. Our results also provide evidence that, after experiencing a social stress, participants with high (vs low) trait EI were more willing to help, and, as a result, donated more. Findings indicate that moderate levels of distress are associated with increased donations. Interestingly, when stress is not too threatening, high EI can regulate it and promote prosocial behaviors

Trends in State Anxiety during the Full Lockdown in Italy: The Role Played by COVID-19 Risk Perception and Trait Emotional Intelligence

The COVID-19 pandemic is associated with mental health outcomes in the general population. This study assessed how state anxiety changed at different time points during the pandemic and how it was influenced by risk perception and trait emotional intelligence (trait EI). The study was conducted online in two data collections, at the beginning (wave 1, N = 1031) and at the end (wave 2, N = 700) of the lockdown. Participants were asked to self-report their state anxiety, risk perception of COVID-19 contagiousness, and trait EI. The interaction between risk perception and wave showed that, in wave 1 (but not in wave 2), anxiety increased as risk perception increased. Further, trait EI by wave interactions showed that effective (vs. ineffective) regulators experienced lower anxiety and this difference was larger in wave 2 than in wave 1. Because of the cross-sectional design of the study and the convenience sample we should be cautious when generalizing the present findings to the entire population. Our findings support the moderating role of trait EI on state anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. This knowledge provides further support for the importance of EI in coping with uncertain and stressful environmental conditions such as those posed by the COVID-19 pandemic

Effects of Socioeconomic Status, Parental Stress, and Family Support on Children’s Physical and Emotional Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic

In the current study, we conduct an exploratory study on children’s emotional and physical health in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The direct and interactive effects of parental stress, family socioeconomic status (SES), and family support on child adjustment were investigated. A total of 116 children of varied socioeconomic and their parents were interviewed. Parents with low household income perceived greater distress related to uncertainty and health worries compared to those with higher household income. However, it was among high-SES families that parental distress was associated with child difficulties. At a multivariate level, children’s health was associated with SES, family support, and parental COVID-19 stress. Among families with low household income, when parents perceived low/average COVID-19 stress, family support worked as a protective factor for children’s adjustment. Understanding how COVID-19 relates with children’s emotional and physical health within families with low and high household income may help to inform recommendations for best practices, for example through family support interventions

Symptom networks of COVID-19-related versus other potentially traumatic events in a global sample

The potential mental health consequences of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic are widely acknowledged; however, limited research exists regarding the nature and patterns of stress responses to COVID-19-related potentially traumatic events (PTEs) and the convergence/divergence with responses to other (non-COVID-19-related) PTEs. Network analysis can provide a useful method for evaluating and comparing these symptom structures. The present study includes 7034 participants from 86 countries who reported on mental health symptoms associated with either a COVID-19-related PTE (n = 1838) or other PTE (n = 5196). Using network analysis, we compared the centrality and connections of symptoms within and between each group. Overall, results show that the COVID-19-related network includes transdiagnostic symptom associations similar to networks tied to PTEs unrelated to the pandemic. Findings provide evidence for a shared centrality of depression across networks and theoretically consistent connections between symptoms. Network differences included stronger connections between avoidance-derealization and hypervigilance-depression in the COVID-19 network. Present findings support the conceptualization of psychological responses to pandemic-related PTEs as a network of highly interconnected symptoms and support the use of a transdiagnostic approach to the assessment and treatment of mental health challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic

Mental health responses to COVID-19 around the worldOpen Data

Background: The mental health impact of the COVID-19 crisis may differ from previously studied stressful events in terms of psychological reactions, specific risk factors, and symptom severity across geographic regions worldwide.Objective: To assess the impact of COVID-19 on a wide range of mental health symptoms, to identify relevant risk factors, to identify the effect of COVID-19 country impact on mental health, and to evaluate regional differences in psychological responses to COVID-19 compared to other stressful events.Method: 7034 respondents (74% female) participated in the worldwide Global Psychotrauma Screen – Cross-Cultural responses to COVID-19 study (GPS-CCC), reporting on mental health symptoms related to COVID-19 (n = 1838) or other stressful events (n = 5196) from April to November 2020.Results: Events related to COVID-19 were associated with more mental health symptoms compared to other stressful events, especially symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and dissociation. Lack of social support, psychiatric history, childhood trauma, additional stressful events in the past month, and low resilience predicted more mental health problems for COVID-19 and other stressful events. Higher COVID-19 country impact was associated with increased mental health impact of both COVID-19 and other stressful events. Analysis of differences across geographic regions revealed that in Latin America more mental health symptoms were reported for COVID-19 related events versus other stressful events, while the opposite pattern was seen in North America.Conclusions: The mental health impact of COVID-19-related stressors covers a wide range of symptoms and is more severe than that of other stressful events. This difference was especially apparent in Latin America. The findings underscore the need for global screening for a wide range of mental health problems as part of a public health approach, allowing for targeted prevention and intervention programs

Symptom networks of COVID-19-related versus other potentially traumatic events in a global sample

The potential mental health consequences of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic are widely acknowledged; however, limited research exists regarding the nature and patterns of stress responses to COVID19-related potentially traumatic events (PTEs) and the convergence/divergence with responses to other (nonCOVID-19-related) PTEs. Network analysis can provide a useful method for evaluating and comparing these symptom structures. The present study includes 7034 participants from 86 countries who reported on mental health symptoms associated with either a COVID-19-related PTE (n = 1838) or other PTE (n = 5196). Using network analysis, we compared the centrality and connections of symptoms within and between each group. Overall, results show that the COVID-19-related network includes transdiagnostic symptom associations similar to networks tied to PTEs unrelated to the pandemic. Findings provide evidence for a shared centrality of depression across networks and theoretically consistent connections between symptoms. Network differences included stronger connections between avoidance-derealization and hypervigilance-depression in the COVID-19 network. Present findings support the conceptualization of psychological responses to pandemic-related PTEs as a network of highly interconnected symptoms and support the use of a transdiagnostic approach to the assessment and treatment of mental health challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic

Mental health responses to COVID-19 around the world

Background: The mental health impact of the COVID-19 crisis may differ from previously studied stressful events in terms of psychological reactions, specific risk factors, and symptom severity across geographic regions worldwide. Objective: To assess the impact of COVID-19 on a wide range of mental health symptoms, to identify relevant risk factors, to identify the effect of COVID-19 country impact on mental health, and to evaluate regional differences in psychological responses to COVID-19 compared to other stressful events. Method: 7034 respondents (74% female) participated in the worldwide Global Psychotrauma Screen - Cross-Cultural responses to COVID-19 study (GPS-CCC), reporting on mental health symptoms related to COVID-19 (n = 1838) or other stressful events (n = 5196) from April to November 2020. Results: Events related to COVID-19 were associated with more mental health symptoms compared to other stressful events, especially symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and dissociation. Lack of social support, psychiatric history, childhood trauma, additional stressful events in the past month, and low resilience predicted more mental health problems for COVID-19 and other stressful events. Higher COVID-19 country impact was associated with increased mental health impact of both COVID-19 and other stressful events. Analysis of differences across geographic regions revealed that in Latin America more mental health symptoms were reported for COVID-19 related events versus other stressful events, while the opposite pattern was seen in North America. Conclusions: The mental health impact of COVID-19-related stressors covers a wide range of symptoms and is more severe than that of other stressful events. This difference was especially apparent in Latin America. The findings underscore the need for global screening for a wide range of mental health problems as part of a public health approach, allowing for targeted prevention and intervention programs

Mental health responses to COVID-19 around the world

Background: The mental health impact of the COVID-19 crisis may differ from previously studied stressful events in terms of psychological reactions, specific risk factors, and symptom severity across geographic regions worldwide.Objective: To assess the impact of COVID-19 on a wide range of mental health symptoms, to identify relevant risk factors, to identify the effect of COVID-19 country impact on mental health, and to evaluate regional differences in psychological responses to COVID-19 compared to other stressful events.Method: 7034 respondents (74% female) participated in the worldwide Global Psychotrauma Screen – Cross-Cultural responses to COVID-19 study (GPS-CCC), reporting on mental health symptoms related to COVID-19 (n = 1838) or other stressful events (n = 5196) from April to November 2020.Results: Events related to COVID-19 were associated with more mental health symptoms compared to other stressful events, especially symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and dissociation. Lack of social support, psychiatric history, childhood trauma, additional stressful events in the past month, and low resilience predicted more mental health problems for COVID-19 and other stressful events. Higher COVID-19 country impact was associated with increased mental health impact of both COVID-19 and other stressful events. Analysis of differences across geographic regions revealed that in Latin America more mental health symptoms were reported for COVID-19 related events versus other stressful events, while the opposite pattern was seen in North America.Conclusions: The mental health impact of COVID-19-related stressors covers a wide range of symptoms and is more severe than that of other stressful events. This difference was especially apparent in Latin America. The findings underscore the need for global screening for a wide range of mental health problems as part of a public health approach, allowing for targeted prevention and intervention programs.publishedVersio