Correlation and interaction between the social phobia and test anxiety

Introduction: A considerable number of students, who experience high rates of test anxiety, are faced with problems before or during test/exam situations. Anxious behaviour creates barriers to learning and taking exams, contributes to low test performances and makes students leave their studies. This leads to students' negative self-evaluation and possible disruption of their lives. The Aim: The aim of the present research is to establish potential connections between a social phobia and test anxiety with polled students in order to make them susceptible to more appropriate treatment and enable them to lead normal lives. Preventive measures taken with younger generations could inhibit the development of anxiety at early stage and comorbid anxiety disorders as a consequence. Material and Methods: The research involved 120 students of the first and fourth years of studies. To determine the level of the social phobia we used Social Phobia Inventory - SPIN, and The Test Anxiety Inventory - TAI to estimate the degree of test anxiety. Results: The results confirmed connections between a social phobia and test anxiety with a certain number of students in respect to their average mark during the studies as well as to their parents expectations and their loss of self-confidence. We did not establish the connection with students' economic position or with anxiety connection in terms of gender, because the female student population was much higher than the male population, so the results would not be valid. Conclusion: The results we have obtained show that there is statistically significant evidence of connection between a social phobia and test anxiety with the polled students, the fact which can facilitate their treatment and prevention with younger generations

Connection of depression, anxiety and impulsivity with the way of using modern mobile phones among students

Introduction: There is growing evidence that confirms the addictive nature of using a smartphone. Also, there is evidence that shows the correlation between different psychopathological manifestations and tendencies with the addictive usage of smartphones. Aim: Within this research we are investigating effects of anxiety, depression and impulsivity in relation to addictive usage of smartphones. This research has three goals: 1) Researching the level of correlation between these personality characteristics, individual anxiety, depression and impulsivity and addictive usage of smartphones; 2) Detecting the ways in which anxiety, depression, and impulsiveness predict the addictive usage of smartphones. 3) Researching the total effect of these personality characteristics in relation to addictive usage of smartphones. Material and methods: Sample is composed of 482 students from University of Belgrade, 55.4% female. The research method is correlating and non-experimental. The data was collected by questionnaire method. For the anxiety was used questionnaire STAI-Y, for the depression - DL, for the impulsivity - BIS11 and for the addictive usage of smartphones -SABAS. Results: 1) All three personality characteristics are correlating on a statistically significant level with the addictive usage of smartphones, correlation ranging from 0.30 to 0.32; 2) Depression and impulsivity appeared as significant and independent predictors of addictive usage of smartphones, while the anxiety showed the redundant effect on prediction. Correlation between the anxiety and addictive usage is completely explained by the connection of two other predictors with criteria variable. 3) The research showed that the subjects who simultaneously have two or more enhanced characteristics are more inclined to addictive usage of smartphone. Conclusion: The research results implicate that the depression and impulsiveness represent significant predisposing factors for addictive usage of smartphones. More research is needed within the given subject with the goal of determining the causes and ways the given personality characteristics correlate

Psychometric Properties of the Serbian Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (SABAS) and Validation of the English Version Among Non-native English Speakers

The present study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Serbian Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (SABAS) and the original English version of the same scale administered to a Serbian-speaking sample. In Study 1, 599 participants completed Serbian SABAS, with 189 having both test and retest data. Results suggested good internal consistency ( α = .81) and test–retest reliability ( ICC = .795, p < .001, 95% CI [.731, .844], r test-retest = .803) of the scale. Convergent validity of the SABAS was evaluated through correlations with the Smartphone Addiction Scale–Short Version (SAS-SV), as well as with anxiety, depression, worry, duration, and purpose of smartphone use. Divergent validity of the SABAS was evaluated through comparing the correlations with entertainment and productive smartphone use. The modified CFA model showed an acceptable fit ( χ 2 (8) = 25.53, p = .001, CFI = .961, TLI = .926, RMSEA = .096, SRMR = .042), confirming the unidimensionality of the SABAS. In the second study, the English SABAS, completed by 335 non-native speakers from Serbia, also showed a good fit of the single-factor model ( χ 2 (9) = 12.56, p = .184, CFI = .990, TLI = .984, RMSEA = .036, SRMR = 0.026), and good psychometric features. Based on the study’s findings, the Serbian version of SABAS is a reliable and valid measure for screening the risk of smartphone addiction. Moreover, the English version can be used among non-native Serbian English speakers

PSYCHIATRISTS’ PSYCHOTROPIC DRUG PRESCRIPTION PREFERENCES FOR THEMSELVES OR THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS

Background: Psychiatrists\u27 preference for certain medications is not only determined by their efficacy and side effect profile but may also depend on the psychiatrists\u27 beliefs about specific therapeutic effects based on their own observation and experience. We aimed to evaluate which antipsychotic or antidepressant drugs psychiatrists would prefer for themselves, their partners and children in case of a mental illness. Subjects and methods: The study was conducted among psychiatrists in Serbia. The sample consisted of 90 psychiatrists who were asked to complete the questionnaire about their drug selection in hypothetical situations of becoming ill with schizophrenia or depression or these conditions occurring in their partners and children. Results: In case of schizophrenia, risperidone was the first choice made by most psychiatrists for themselves, their partners or children, followed by clozapine, haloperidol and olanzapine. In case of depression, SSRIs and SNRIs were generally favored, with sertraline and escitalopram being the preferred medications for psychiatrists, partners and their children. With regards to depression, 82.3% of participants would opt for an antidepressant as monotherapy or in combination, but 13.3% would opt for anxiolytic monotherapy. The preferred doses were slightly lower than the recommended ones, especially for antipsychotic agents. Conclusions: Most psychiatrists would take or administer atypical antipsychotics or SSRIs as the first choice for themselves, their partners or children. These preferences are mostly in accordance with current treatment guidelines, but there is still room to narrow the gap between guideline recommendations and psychiatrists\u27 medication choices in personally meaningful situations

Serbian translation of the 20-item Toronto alexithymia scale: Psychometric properties and the new methodological approach in translating scales

Introduction Since inception of the alexithymia construct in 1970's, there has been a continuous effort to improve both its theoretical postulates and the clinical utility through development, standardization and validation of assessment scales. Objective The aim of this study was to validate the Serbian translation of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and to propose a new method of translation of scales with a property of temporal stability. Methods The scale was expertly translated by bilingual medical professionals and a linguist, and given to a sample of bilingual participants from the general population who completed both the English and the Serbian version of the scale one week apart. Results The findings showed that the Serbian version of the TAS-20 had a good internal consistency reliability regarding total scale (α=0.86), and acceptable reliability of the three factors (α=0.71-0.79). Conclusion The analysis confirmed the validity and consistency of the Serbian translation of the scale, with observed weakness of the factorial structure consistent with studies in other languages. The results also showed that the method of utilizing a self-control bilingual subject is a useful alternative to the back-translation method, particularly in cases of linguistically and structurally sensitive scales, or in cases where a larger sample is not available. This method, dubbed as 'forth-translation', could be used to translate psychometric scales measuring properties which have temporal stability over the period of at least several weeks

Kvalitet života povezan sa zdravstvenim stanjem studenata medicine - komparativna studija

Background/Aim. Previous studies on medical students' subjective perception of health and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) showed inconclusive results. Moreover, there are no published studies to compare HRQoL of medical students to non-medical university students. The aim of the study was to assess subjective perception of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in medical students' sample, to compare it with non-medical university stu-dents and to ascertain predictors of better perception of HRQoL in medical students. Methods. Scores of all domains on the Mental and Physical Component Summary subscales and total score of the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), used for assessment of HRQoL in samples of 561 medical and 332 non-medical university students were assessed and compared. In addition, linear regression to identify predictors of better perception of mental and physical components of HRQoL and overall HRQoL in the sample of medical students was used. The dependant variables were subscores and total score with the SF- 36, and independent variables were certain sociodemographic and academic characteristics of the students. Results. Medical students had statistically significantly higher scores on the Mental Component Summary and total SF-36 score compared to non-medical students. Linear regression analysis demonstrated that higher scores of Physical Component Summary were associated with age, male sex and the year of studies. The Mental Component Summary were associated with age, male sex, the year of studies and marital status. The total SF-36 score was associated with age, male sex and the year of studies. Conclusion. Medical students perceive their health much better than other university students do, but female, older and second grade medical students have worse perception of their HRQoL. Those points should be potential target areas for specific prevention and treatment in order to achieve better HRQoL.Uvod/Cilj. Dosadašnje studije subjektivne percepcije zdravlja i kvaliteta života povezanog sa zdravstvenim stanjem (HRQoL) studenata medicine pokazale su kontradiktorne rezultate. Štaviše, ne postoje objavljene studije koje su poredile HRQoL studenata medicine i studenata ne- medicinskih fakulteta. Cilj ove studije bio je da se proceni subjektivna percepcija HRQoL na uzorku studenata medicine, da se uporedi sa percepcijom HRQoL studenata ne- medicinskih fakulteta i da se utvrde prediktori bolje percepcije HRQoL kod studenata medicine. Metode. Uzorak za istraživanje obuhvatio je 561 studenta medicine i 332 studenta ne-medicinskih fakulteta Univerziteta u Beogradu. Istraživanje je obavljeno uz pomoć Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) upitnika koji procenjuje mentalnu i fizičku komponentu, kao i ukupan skor subjektivne procene kvaliteta života vezanog za zdravstveno stanje. Upoređeni su skorovi sa zbirne skale i supskala dve grupe studenata. Pored toga, korišćena je i linearna regresija da bi se procenili prediktori boljeg sagledavanja ukupnog skora i mentalne i fizičke komponente HRQoL na uzorku studenata medicine. Zavisne varijable bile su supskorovi i ukupan skor sa SF- 36 upitnika, a nezavisne varijable sociodemografske i akademske karakteristike ispitanika. Rezultati. Studenti medicine imali su statistički značajno više skorove na supskali mentalnog zdravlja i na ukupnom skoru SF-36 upitnika u odnosu na studente ne-medicinskih fakulteta. Linearna regresija pokazala je da su viši skorovi fizičke komponente povezani sa godinama starosti, muškim polom i godinom studija; viši skorovi mentalne komponente povezani sa godinama starosti, muškim polom, godinom studija i bračnim statusom. Ukupan SF-36 skor povezan je sa godinama starosti, muškim polom i godinom studija. Zaključak. Studenti medicine gledaju na svoje zdravstveno stanje mnogo bolje nego studenti ne-medicinskih fakulteta. Ipak, devojke, stariji studenti i studenti druge godine medicine imaju lošiju percepciju svog kvaliteta života koji se vezuje za zdravlje. Ovo bi trebalo da budu fokusi za specifičnu prevenciju i eventualnu terapiju u cilju postizanja boljeg kvaliteta života studenata medicine

Are Cyberchondria and Intolerance of Uncertainty Related to Smartphone Addiction?

Smartphones are a medium for performing online activities, and one such activity could be the compulsive online health information search — cyberchondria. This study aimed to test whether cyberchondria and intolerance of uncertainty (IU) positively predict smartphone addiction (SA), adjusted for age, gender, daily use duration, the reason for using smartphones, and symptoms of anxiety and depression. The sample consisted of 471 adults (55.2% women) from the general population without chronic diseases ( M age = 38.67). Regression analysis showed that IU was a positive predictor of SA ( β = .17, p < .001), as well as cyberchondria ( β = .14, p < .001), which had a unique contribution to the explanation of SA, relative to IU. Other significant predictors were average daily smartphone use and entertainment use, the latter being the strongest predictor in the model. These results revealed cyberchondria as a unique predictor of SA

THE SEXUALITY OF SEX WORKERS: SEXUAL AROUSABILITY AND THE SEXUAL PROFILE OF WOMEN ENGAGED IN PROSTITUTION IN SERBIA

Background: In a view of sex work being a sexual behavioural activity, the main objective of our research was to explore the sexuality of sex workers in Serbia regarding to intensity of their sexual arousability. Subjects and methods: The research was conducted on 30 sex workers and 30 controls of randomly selected social and demographic characteristics, without any signs of psychiatric morbidity. For the evaluation of the intensity of sexual arousability, SAI (Sexual Arousability Index) questionnaire was used. Results: The analysis of the main total scores of the SAI for the sex workers and control participants showed no statistically significant difference in the overall intensity of arousability (p>0.05). However, item by item analysis of the questionnaire showed qualitative difference in sexuality between sex workers and controls, related to certain aspects of sexuality. Conclusions: These findings allow the space for further research in the way of identifying origins of qualitative issues in the sexual profile of sex workers, in correlation to women who are not sex workers, i.e. whether they had been result of potential biological, specific psychodynamic factors, or have been formed as a result of the direct influence of the sex work

Opšta psihopatologija i impulsivnost kao pokazatelji potencijalnog ishoda medicinske nutritivne terapije kod predgojaznih i gojaznih žena

Background/Aim. Obesity is the chronic disease and health threatening condition. The number of obese people in the world has taken epidemic conditions. Medical nutritional therapy is the first choice in the treatment of obesity, but it is also accompanied with a great percentage of attrition and a significant weight regain. The aim of our study was to evaluate if psychiatric and specific psychological factors (impulsivity) could be the predictors of successful weight loss. Methods. A study sample consisted of 84 consecutive overweight/obesity women, 20 to 40 years old, who were willing to adhere to the medical nutrition therapy after the initial anthropometric measurements were performed. All participants received a personalized nutritional counseling and a daily diet treatment with 20% caloric restriction from estimated daily energy requirement. At the beginning of the study, the 90-item Symptom Check-list (SCL-90) and the 30-item Barratt Impulsiveness scale (BIS11) were administrated. At the end of six months of caloric restriction, the conventional diet therapy and control weight measurement, the patients were divided into two groups: the group I - 40 participants (48%) who lost ≥ 10% of their initial body weight (successful group) and the group II - 44 participants (52%) who lost lt 10% of their initial weight (unsuccessful). Results. There were no significant differences between groups in the demographic data (age, education level, employment, marital status), baseline anthropometric measurements, and in the general psychopathology total score. Groups I and II were significantly different in the total BIS-11 score (p lt 0.001) and in Factor II (motor impulsivity) (p lt 0.05). Conclusion. Even though the successful and unsuccessful diet responded participants did not differ in the general psychopathology and symptom dimensions, our results pointed out impulsivity as a discriminative factor between them. The total impulsivity and Factor II (motor impulsivity) as an indicator of binge eating were higher in the unsuccessfully responding overweight/obese women on the conventional diet treatment. A focus on impulsivity in a psychotherapeutic work might lead to better outcomes in the medical nutrition therapy.Uvod/Cilj. Gojaznost je hronično oboljenje sa značajnim nepovoljnim efektima na zdravlje, a broj gojaznih osoba u svetu dostigao je epidemijske razmere. Medicinska nutritivna terapija je terapija izbora, ali je njena uspešnost ograničena zbog značajnog procenta odustajanja, kao i ponovnog dobijanja na težini koje je prate. Cilj ove studije je bio da se proceni da li psihijatrijski i specifični psihološki faktori (impulsivnost) mogu biti pokazatelji pozitivnog ishoda lečenja. Metode. Studijom je bilo obuhvaćeno ukupno 84 predgojaznih i gojaznih žena životnog doba 20-40 godina, koje su bile motivisane za medicinsku nutritivnu terapiju. Sve ispitanice su prošle individualno savetovanje i dobile dnevni plan ishrane koji je podrazumevao kalorijsku restrikciju od 20% u odnosu na procenjene dnevne energetske potrebe. Na početku studije sprovedeno je antropometrijsko merenje i primenjene su Lista simptoma od 90 pitanja (90item Symptom Check-list) i Baratova skala impulsivnosti (Barratt Impulsiveness scale (BIS-11)). Nakon šest meseci primene kalorijski restriktivnog načina ishrane ponovljena su antropometrijska merenja. Ispitanice su podeljene u dve grupe: 40 ispitanica (48%) koje su izgubile ≥ 10% od početne telesne mase (uspešne) i 44 ispitanice (52%) koje su izgubile lt 10% od početne telesne mase (neuspešne). Rezultati. Nije bilo značajne razlike između grupa ispitanica u odnosu na demografske karakteristike (godine života, stepen obrazovanja, zaposlenost, bračni status) i antropometrijske parametre na početku studije, kao i na skor opšte psihopatologije i dimenzije simptoma. Statistički značajna razlika između uspešnih i neuspešnih predgojaznih/gojaznih ispitanica dobijena je za ukupni BIS-11 skor (p lt 0.001) i za Faktor II (motorna impulsivnost) (p lt 0.05). Zaključak. Ispitanice sa ponovljenim lošim odgovorom nisu se razlikovale po opštoj psihopatologiji od onih sa uspešnim odgovorom na nutritivnu terapiju. Naši rezultati ukazuju na impulsivnost kao mogući pokazatelj ishoda lečenja. Ukupna impulsivnost i motorna impulsivnost kao indikator povremenog impulsivnog prejedanja bili su viši u grupi predgojazih/gojaznih ispitanica koje nisu postigle terapijski cilj. Psihoterapijski rad na impulsivnosti možda bi mogao doprineti boljem ishodu medicinske nutritivne terapije