Maintaining Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Network Analysis of Well-Being Responses from British Youth

COVID-19 has significant impacts on young peoples’ lives and emotions. Understanding how young people maintain well-being in the face of challenges can inform future mental health intervention development. Here we applied network analysis to well-being data gathered from 2532 young people (12-25 years) residing in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic to identify the structure across well-being and crucially, its central defining features. Gender and age differences in networks were also investigated. Across all participants, items emerged in two clusters: 1) optimism, positive self-perception, and social connectedness, and 2) processing problems and ideas. The two central features of well-being were: “I’ve been dealing with problems well” and “I’ve been thinking clearly”. There were minimal age and gender differences. Our findings suggest that the perception of being able to process problems and ideas efficiently could be a hallmark of well-being, particularly in the face of challenging circumstances. These findings contrast with pre-pandemic studies that point to positive affect as central aspects of well-being networks. Future interventions that encourage problem-solving and mental flexibility could be useful in helping young people maintain well-being during times of stress and uncertainty

Does prospective mental imagery predict symptoms of negative affect and anhedonia in young people?

Adolescent depression is associated with unhelpful emotional mental imagery. Here, we investigated whether vividness of negative and positive prospective mental imagery predict negative affect and anhedonia in adolescents. 111 people from Israel completed measures of prospective mental imagery, negative affect, and anhedonia at two time-points approximately three months apart. Using three cross-lagged panel models, we showed once ‘concurrent’ (across-variable, within-time) and ‘stability’ paths (across-time, within-variable) were estimated, there were no significant cross-lag paths between: i) T1 prospective negative mental imagery and T8 negative affect (i.e., increased vividness of negative future imagery at Time 1 did not predict increased negative affect at Time 8); ii) T1 prospective positive mental imagery and T8 negative affect (i.e., reduced vividness of positive future imagery at Time 1 did not predict increased negative affect at Time 8); and iii) T1 prospective positive mental imagery and T8 anhedonia (i.e., reduced vividness of positive future imagery at Time 1 did not predict increased anhedonia at Time 8). Given high levels of attrition, future research should aim to explore these associations in a larger, more diverse population, as such data could inform on whether modifying earlier prospective mental imagery may influence later time/context-specific effects of prospective mental imagery on negative affect and anhedonia

A period prevalence study of being a parent in a secure psychiatric hospital and a description of the parents, the children and the impact of admission on parent-child contact

Background Most secure psychiatric hospital patients are of childbearing age, but their parental status is minimally researched. Aim The aim of the study is to describe the parent patients in one regional secure hospital and explore post‐admission child–parent contact. Methods A 9‐year records survey of a complete secure hospital admissions cohort was conducted. Results Nearly half of the cohort of 165 patients (46%) were parents. Parent patients were less likely than childless patients to have diagnostic co‐morbidity or to have received childhood mental health care but were more likely to have committed a homicide/life‐threatening index offence with family or friend victims. Men, whether fathers or not, and childless women were unlikely ever to have harmed a child, but it was more likely than not that mother patients had. Records indicated minimal discussion about childlessness. Ninety‐four (60%) of the 157 children involved were under 18 years on parental admission. Adult children who had been living with the parent patient before the parent's admission invariably maintained contact with them afterwards, but nearly half (48%) of such under 18‐year‐olds lost all contact. The only characteristic related to such loss was the index offence victim having been a nuclear family member. Conclusions As the discrepancy in whether or not parent patients and their children continued contact with each other after the parent's admission seemed to depend mainly on the child's age and his or her resultant freedom to choose, acquisition of accurate data about affected children's perspective on visiting seems essential. Given that parent patients had experienced relative stability in interpersonal relationships and had rarely had childhood disorders, parenting support in conjunction with treatment seems appropriat

Aspirin and cardiovascular primary prevention in non-endstage chronic kidney disease: A meta-analysis

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Chronic kidney disease is a strong independent predictor of cardiovascular disease. No published meta-analyses on the use of aspirin for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in chronic kidney disease exist. We therefore performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of this subject. METHODS: We used a pre-defined and registered protocol (PROSPERO identification CRD42014008860). We searched Medline and Embase between 1996 and July 2015. Inclusion criteria were adult subjects with non-endstage chronic kidney disease (CKD) and no history of cardiovascular disease. The co-primary outcomes were major cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality. Secondary outcomes included bleeding-related events. We used a random effects model to pool data. RESULTS: Three trials were identified and two of these provided previously unpublished data. The studies included 4468 participants and 16,740 person-years of follow-up. There were no statistically significant reductions in the risk of major cardiovascular events (RR 0.92, 95% CI 0.49 to 1.73, p = 0.79, I(2) 71%) or mortality (RR 0.74, 95% CI 0.55 to 1.00, p = 0.05, I(2) 0%) with aspirin compared to the control group. Major bleeding events were increased with aspirin though (RR 1.98, 95% CI 1.11 to 3.52, p = 0.02, I(2) 0%). CONCLUSIONS: There is no clear benefit of aspirin for the primary prevention of cardiovascular events in CKD and no statistically significant reduction in mortality. Aspirin is likely to increase the risk of major bleeding events. Currently, insufficient randomised control trial data exists to recommend universal use or avoidance of aspirin for primary prevention of cardiovascular events in CKD

Does prospective mental imagery predict symptoms of negative affect and anhedonia in young people?

Adolescent depression is associated with unhelpful emotional mental imagery. Here, we investigated whether vividness of negative and positive prospective mental imagery predict negative affect and anhedonia in adolescents. 111 people from Israel completed measures of prospective mental imagery, negative affect, and anhedonia at two time-points approximately three months apart. Using three cross-lagged panel models, we showed once ‘concurrent’ (across-variable, within-time) and ‘stability’ paths (across-time, within-variable) were estimated, there were no significant cross-lag paths between: i) T1 prospective negative mental imagery and T8 negative affect (i.e., increased vividness of negative future imagery at Time 1 did not predict increased negative affect at Time 8); ii) T1 prospective positive mental imagery and T8 negative affect (i.e., reduced vividness of positive future imagery at Time 1 did not predict increased negative affect at Time 8); and iii) T1 prospective positive mental imagery and T8 anhedonia (i.e., reduced vividness of positive future imagery at Time 1 did not predict increased anhedonia at Time 8). Given high levels of attrition, future research should aim to explore these associations in a larger, more diverse population, as such data could inform on whether modifying earlier prospective mental imagery may influence later time/context-specific effects of prospective mental imagery on negative affect and anhedonia

The Youth Loneliness Scale (YLS)

Repository for a UKRI-funded project developing a new loneliness scale for young people aged 10-24 year

Young people's recommended coping strategies to manage social isolation: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in the UK

Loneliness is common in young people, yet there are few evidence-based interventions to manage youth loneliness. Understanding the ways in which young people cope with social isolation may inform the development of targeted loneliness programmes for young people. During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic when social restrictions were at a peak, 2500 young people aged 12–25 years were asked to report freely on coping strategies that they would recommend to peers to manage isolation and loneliness. The coding of qualitative responses suggested that young people recommended a range of different coping strategies, which we grouped into categories: contact seeking, approach, distraction, self-care, self-talk, self-compassion, and gratitude. Regression analyses showed that age, sex and socioeconomic background were associated with recommendation of some of the coping strategies. Paradoxically, recommendation of self-compassion was associated with higher levels of loneliness, while recommendation of approach and self-talk was associated with higher levels of wellbeing. This study highlights the importance of exploring how young people manage loneliness, a complex process that involves various strategies and is associated with an individual's demographic characteristics