The world is coming to an end! COVID-19, depression, and anxiety among adolescents in Malawi

IntroductionThis paper assessed the effects of Covid-19 on adolescent mental health in Malawi. There is minimal research on adolescent mental health in Africa, Malawi in particular. The study shows a link between the pandemic and mental health. Some factors that may have contributed to this link include; Covid-19 preventive measures, media exposure and the increase in unemployment.MethodsThe study used a mixed methods approach, quantitative and qualitative methods. It was conducted in Malawi's four districts (Blantyre, Mangochi, Lilongwe and Karonga).ResultsOverall 22%, 21%, and 23% of the respondents had depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, respectively. The Chi-square test showed that significantly more adolescents with secondary education (28%) had anxiety than those with primary education (14%). Further, regression analysis revealed that adolescents with anxiety were 18 [95%CI: 9.34, 35.8] times more likely to have depression compared to those who did not have anxiety. The study found no significant differences in the proportions of adolescents with the three outcomes when comparing different groups within the explanatory variable. The ratio of female and male adolescents with depression and anxiety was the same.DiscussionThe adolescents expressed that Covid-19 affected their social, academic, and financial status. These effects had a significant bearing on their mental health in that they led to depression, anxiety, fear of the unknown, and stress. During the Covid-19 pandemic, adolescents' mental health diminished and posed a considerable risk to productivity of adolescents. As a result, adolescents may not fully realize their potential, form and maintain good relationships, contribute to their community and become resilient. These effects have devastating consequences for this young generation without proper coping strategies

How Does Adult Attachment Affect Human Recognition of Love-related and Sex-related Stimuli: An ERP Study

Journal articleThis paper reports the descriptive analysis of a large sample of safety climate survey data (n = 110,014) collected over 10 years from U.S. Naval aircrew using the Command Safety Assessment Survey (CSAS)

Cultural persistence and change in university students' social networking motives and problematic use

This cross-cultural study assessed the problematic use and motivations of social networking sites (SNS) among university students in China, Malawi, and the UK. A sample of 975 students completed the 10-item WeChat Excessive Use Scale and 20-item measure of SNS motivations across friendship, convenience, social support, information, and entertainment dimensions. Results showed that SNS problematic use was significantly lower in the individualistic UK compared to collectivistic China and Malawi. Critical cultural differences also emerged in usage motivations. Chinese and Malawian youth scored higher on social motivations like friendship and support compared to the UK. However, the entertainment motive was associated with the problematic use of SNS across all groups, reflecting the globalised digital culture. While Malawi's collectivism ordinarily emphasises social cohesion, this sample showed weaker associations between problematic SNS use and social support motivations. Material constraints limiting access may reduce online social reliance compared to China. Findings reveal both persisting and evolving cultural dynamics as new technologies spread globally. Uses and gratification theory helps explain these nuances. Ultimately, universal and culturally specific facets of social networking motivations must be considered in addressing the global problematic use of social media

Weibo or WeChat? Assessing Preference for Social Networking Sites and Role of Personality Traits and Psychological Factors

Research trying to understand individual difference in the use of different social networking sites (SNSs) is minimal. In the present study, we collected data from 714 college students in China (273 males) to assess how personality traits and psychological factors relate to excessive use of WeChat and Weibo. We found that excessive use of Weibo and WeChat correlated positively with neuroticism, loneliness, and external locus of control and negatively with agreeableness, social support, and social interaction. Furthermore, people that scored high on loneliness, lack of social support, and poor social interaction skills excessively used Weibo more than WeChat. These results entail that by fulfilling different needs, WeChat and Weibo attract different kinds of people; significant lesson for future development of SNSs

Preparation of Multi-Motive Grid Questionnaire for Social Networking Sites Use.

This study draws on previous studies to develop the Social Networking Sites Use Multi-Motive Grid Questionnaire (SNSU-MMG) and test its reliability and validity. The results show that social networking sites use motivation includes four factors: cognitive motivation, emotional motivation, leisure motivation and herding motivation. Confirmatory factor analysis, reliability and validity tests show that the questionnaire has good structural validity, internal consistency and split-half reliability. The SNSU-MMG can be used as a measurement tool for users' social networking sites use implicit motivation

WeChat Data CFA

Problematic Use of WeChat, Social Interaction and Locus of Control among College Students in China: Confirmatory Factor Analysis of WeChat Problematic Use Scale and Relationship to Locus of Control and Social Interactio

Excessive use of WeChat, social interaction and locus of control among college students in China

<div><p>In China, the number of college students using mobile phone based messaging and social networking applications like WeChat is increasing rapidly. However, there has been minimal research into the addictive nature of these applications and the psychological characteristics associate with their excessive use. There is also no published scale available for assessing excessive use of WeChat and similar applications. In the current study, we collected data from 1,245 college students in China (715 females) and developed the WeChat Excessive Use Scale (WEUS). We then assessed the relationship between excessive use of WeChat and excessive use of a social networking application-Weibo, problematic use of mobile phones, external locus of control, and social interaction skills. Our 10-item scale featured three factors, namely- “mood modification,” “salience” and ‘‘conflict”- critical factors in assessing different forms of addiction. The WEUS was found to be a reliable instrument in assessing excessive use of WeChat as it showed good internal consistency and correlated with other measures of problematic use social networking and mobile phone addiction. Our results showed that excessive users of WeChat are more likely to excessively use Weibo than they are to problematically use mobile phones. Our study also showed that greater excessive use of WeChat is associated with higher external locus of control and greater online social interaction skills. These results reveal that WeChat has unique and strong appeal among college students in China. Further, practitioners should consider dealing with malleable factors like locus of control and real life social skills in treating people with problematic messaging and social networking.</p></div