Syndromes of self-reported psychopathology for ages 18-59 in 29 societies

This study tested the multi-society generalizability of an eight-syndrome assessment model derived from factor analyses of American adults' self-ratings of 120 behavioral, emotional, and social problems. The Adult Self-Report (ASR; Achenbach and Rescorla 2003) was completed by 17,152 18-59-year-olds in 29 societies. Confirmatory factor analyses tested the fit of self-ratings in each sample to the eight-syndrome model. The primary model fit index (Root Mean Square Error of Approximation) showed good model fit for all samples, while secondary indices showed acceptable to good fit. Only 5 (0.06%) of the 8,598 estimated parameters were outside the admissible parameter space. Confidence intervals indicated that sampling fluctuations could account for the deviant parameters. Results thus supported the tested model in societies differing widely in social, political, and economic systems, languages, ethnicities, religions, and geographical regions. Although other items, societies, and analytic methods might yield different results, the findings indicate that adults in very diverse societies were willing and able to rate themselves on the same standardized set of 120 problem items. Moreover, their self-ratings fit an eight-syndrome model previously derived from self-ratings by American adults. The support for the statistically derived syndrome model is consistent with previous findings for parent, teacher, and self-ratings of 11/2-18-year-olds in many societies. The ASR and its parallel collateral-report instrument, the Adult Behavior Checklist (ABCL), may offer mental health professionals practical tools for the multi-informant assessment of clinical constructs of adult psychopathology that appear to be meaningful across diverse societies

International comparisons of behavioral and emotional problems in preschool children: parents’ reports from 24 societies

International comparisons were conducted of preschool children’s behavioral and emotional problems as reported on the Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 1½–5 by parents in 24 societies (N¼19,850). Item ratings were aggregated into scores on syndromes; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders–oriented scales; a Stress Problems scale; and Internalizing, Externalizing, and Total Problems scales. Effect sizes for scale score differences among the 24 societies ranged from small to medium (3–12%). Although societies differed greatly in language, culture, and other characteristics, Total Problems scores for 18 of the 24 societies were within 7.1 points of the omnicultural mean of 33.3 (on a scale of 0–198). Gender and age differences, as well as gender and age interactions with society, were all very small (effect sizes<1%). Across all pairs of societies, correlations between mean item ratings averaged .78, and correlations between internal consistency alphas for the scales averaged .92, indicating that the rank orders of mean item ratings and internal consistencies of scales were very similar across diverse societies

Gender differences in the evaluation of school safety indicators according to adolescents in higher secondary schools in Prizren

This study investigated the differences in the evaluation of school safety indicators according to adolescents in higher secondary schools in Prizren city. The sample consisted of 1050 subjects/students within an MA = 15 years (SD = 1.8). Gender distribution among the students was 52.9% female students and 47.1% male students. The participants were selected through multistage cluster sampling. To evaluate student's perceptions of school safety indicators, the survey was translated and validated into the Albanian language. The results of our research showed a relatively high value in some of the elements that reflect the safety in the school. In most of them, our results showed that boys are more at risk of being threatened in the school environment than girls

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Kosovo Veterans

Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at veterans 8 years after war, to find out relation of PTSD with other demographic and health related variables and discover the impact of depression and trauma on PTSD on 687 veterans from six municipalities in Kosovo. Method: Participants were 687 war veterans selected from six regions of Kosovo during 2008. The Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ-40), was administered to measure PTSD and Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL-25) for depression and anxiety. Pearson chi-square, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and multiple regressions were used to analyze the data. Results : Results indicated that 11.2 % of veterans even 8 years after the war ended were suffering from PTSD. Six percent of veterans with PTSD did not seek medical help. They reported to have had emotional problems and physical problems, but they did not seek medical help. The findings suggest that self-medication may be one way of veterans dealing with PTSD symptoms. Veterans with PTSD symptoms were more concerned with “family issues” than those without PTSD symptoms. Conclusions: The study found that 8 years after the war the veterans of the war in Kosovo suffer PTSD symptoms and that a good number of them do not seek help for this problem. The establishment of adequate services by the state would transform these veterans’ dealing with PTSD not into a moral challenge but into a fundamental right to equal and high-quality services

Anxiety predictors among college students in Kosovo

This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the prevalence and anxiety predictors among college students in Kosovo. Participants were 676 randomly sampled college students (M = 21.54, SD = 4.44), selected from three universities (two private) in the 2015/2016 academic year. Pearson chi-square, t-Test, ANOVA, linear and multiple regressions were used. The prevalence of anxiety was 33.6%. The symptoms were significantly related to gender (p = .00), study year (p = .00), family income (p = .00), group age (p = .00) and father’s employment (p = .00). Female students, students living in extended family, first-year students, students whose mothers did not work, showed statistically higher levels of anxiety. Anxiety was predicted by gender, study year, previous study academic achievement and family income. Study findings stress the importance of understanding the relationship of psychosocial factors and anxiety, for the purpose of determining the necessary and adequate interventions and programs

The Correlation between affective Temperaments and Internalizing Problems Reported by Adolescents of Age 14-18 Years

Internalizing problems are characterized by anxiety, depressed mood, social withdrawal, and somatic complaints. Childhood internalizing problems are a concerning mental health issue due to their continuity into adolescence and associated functional impairment. This study focused on studying the relation between affective temperaments and internalizing problems, in a sample of adolescents in the community. There has been very little research in mental health problems in children and adolescents in Kosovo. The aim of this study was to identify the link between affective temperaments with youth psychopathology, by measuring both temperament with Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego (TEMPS) and youth psychopathology with Youth Self Report (YSR) in the Kosovo sample. Our study found that depressive, cyclothymic, anxious, and irritiative temperaments were more displayed in female respondents. Meanwhile, hyperthermic temperament was not found to be reported as interrelated to gender. However, gender related differences were significant on the YSR scales, with female respondents reporting higher values on those scales. The study found that there is a significant difference between the groups with normal scores on Depressive Temperament with group with high scores for all scales of Internalizing problems. More scores in Depressive Temperament more scores in Internalizing Scales. The same tendencies were found for Cyclothimic Temperament and Anxious temperament. Hyperthermic temperament was not found to have significant effect on Anxious/ Depressed, Withdrawn, Somatic Complaints, and Social Problem. Irritative temperament was found to have significant effect only in Anxious/ Depressed F (2) = 13.1, p<.01, η2= .03. The higher scores in Anxious/ Depressed scores were found in the group with high scores in Irritative Temperament. The study concluded that temperament may only be one of several factors contributing to the development of psychopathology. This study found that the temperament, which is influenced by environment and biology, is a significant predictor for internalizing problems