Substance use among youths: roles of psychoticism, social alienation, thriving and religious commitment

The rising levels of drug abuse among youths in the world require evidence-based, cost effective and research-informed intervention strategies. These strategies will need to be formulated around observed socio-demographic and psychosocial characteristics of youths who abuse drugs. This paper presents reports of two studies which investigated the roles of psychoticism, social alienation, religious commitment, and thriving in drug abuse among secondary school students (n = 293, 53% males) and undergraduates (n = 300, 76% males) students in southeastern Nigeria. The emerging psychoactive substances of abuse among the students were also explored. Participants completed measures of the relevant variables and provided their demographic information. Psychoticism and social alienation were positively significant predictors of substance abuse among secondary school students, while thriving and religious commitment were negatively significant predictors of substance abuse among university undergraduates. It was suggested that psychological factors such as psychoticism, social alienation, thriving and religious commitment be considered in drug use policies and intervention programmes for young persons in Nigeria.Keywords: adolescents, drug abuse, intervention, prevention, psychoticism, thrivin

Negative emotions about climate change are related to insomnia symptoms and mental health : Cross-sectional evidence from 25 countries

Climate change threatens mental health via increasing exposure to the social and economic disruptions created by extreme weather and large-scale climatic events, as well as through the anxiety associated with recognising the existential threat posed by the climate crisis. Considering the growing levels of climate change awareness across the world, negative emotions like anxiety and worry about climate-related risks are a potentially pervasive conduit for the adverse impacts of climate change on mental health. In this study, we examined how negative climate-related emotions relate to sleep and mental health among a diverse non-representative sample of individuals recruited from 25 countries, as well as a Norwegian nationally-representative sample. Overall, we found that negative climate-related emotions are positively associated with insomnia symptoms and negatively related to self-rated mental health in most countries. Our findings suggest that climate-related psychological stressors are significantly linked with mental health in many countries and draw attention to the need for cross-disciplinary research aimed at achieving rigorous empirical assessments of the unique challenge posed to mental health by negative emotional responses to climate change.Peer reviewe

Climate anxiety, wellbeing and pro-environmental action: correlates of negative emotional responses to climate change in 32 countries

This study explored the correlates of climate anxiety in a diverse range of national contexts. We analysed cross-sectional data gathered in 32 countries (N = 12,246). Our results show that climate anxiety is positively related to rate of exposure to information about climate change impacts, the amount of attention people pay to climate change information, and perceived descriptive norms about emotional responding to climate change. Climate anxiety was also positively linked to pro-environmental behaviours and negatively linked to mental wellbeing. Notably, climate anxiety had a significant inverse association with mental wellbeing in 31 out of 32 countries. In contrast, it had a significant association with pro-environmental behaviour in 24 countries, and with environmental activism in 12 countries. Our findings highlight contextual boundaries to engagement in environmental action as an antidote to climate anxiety, and the broad international significance of considering negative climate-related emotions as a plausible threat to wellbeing.publishedVersio

Climate anxiety, wellbeing and pro-environmental action : correlates of negative emotional responses to climate change in 32 countries

Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The AuthorsThis study explored the correlates of climate anxiety in a diverse range of national contexts. We analysed cross-sectional data gathered in 32 countries (N = 12,246). Our results show that climate anxiety is positively related to rate of exposure to information about climate change impacts, the amount of attention people pay to climate change information, and perceived descriptive norms about emotional responding to climate change. Climate anxiety was also positively linked to pro-environmental behaviours and negatively linked to mental wellbeing. Notably, climate anxiety had a significant inverse association with mental wellbeing in 31 out of 32 countries. In contrast, it had a significant association with pro-environmental behaviour in 24 countries, and with environmental activism in 12 countries. Our findings highlight contextual boundaries to engagement in environmental action as an antidote to climate anxiety, and the broad international significance of considering negative climate-related emotions as a plausible threat to wellbeing.Peer reviewe

Negative emotions about climate change are related to insomnia symptoms and mental health: Cross-sectional evidence from 25 countries

Climate change threatens mental health via increasing exposure to the social and economic disruptions created by extreme weather and large-scale climatic events, as well as through the anxiety associated with recognising the existential threat posed by the climate crisis. Considering the growing levels of climate change awareness across the world, negative emotions like anxiety and worry about climate-related risks are a potentially pervasive conduit for the adverse impacts of climate change on mental health. In this study, we examined how negative climate-related emotions relate to sleep and mental health among a diverse non-representative sample of individuals recruited from 25 countries, as well as a Norwegian nationally-representative sample. Overall, we found that negative climate-related emotions are positively associated with insomnia symptoms and negatively related to self-rated mental health in most countries. Our findings suggest that climate-related psychological stressors are significantly linked with mental health in many countries and draw attention to the need for cross-disciplinary research aimed at achieving rigorous empirical assessments of the unique challenge posed to mental health by negative emotional responses to climate change

Climate anxiety, wellbeing and pro-environmental action: Correlates of negative emotional responses to climate change in 32 countries

This study explored the correlates of climate anxiety in a diverse range of national contexts. We analysed cross-sectional data gathered in 32 countries (N = 12,246). Our results show that climate anxiety is positively related to rate of exposure to information about climate change impacts, the amount of attention people pay to climate change information, and perceived descriptive norms about emotional responding to climate change. Climate anxiety was also positively linked to pro-environmental behaviours and negatively linked to mental wellbeing. Notably, climate anxiety had a significant inverse association with mental wellbeing in 31 out of 32 countries. In contrast, it had a significant association with pro-environmental behaviour in 24 countries, and with environmental activism in 12 countries. Our findings highlight contextual boundaries to engagement in environmental action as an antidote to climate anxiety, and the broad international significance of considering negative climate-related emotions as a plausible threat to wellbeing

An International Study on Psychological Coping During COVID-19: Towards a Meaning-Centered Coping Style

Background/Objective This study examined the role of different psychological coping mechanisms in mental and physical health during the initial phases of the COVID-19 crisis with an emphasis on meaning-centered coping. Method A total of 11,227 people from 30 countries across all continents participated in the study and completed measures of psychological distress (depression, stress, and anxiety), loneliness, well-being, and physical health, together with measures of problem-focused and emotion-focused coping, and a measure called the Meaning-centered Coping Scale (MCCS) that was developed in the present study. Validation analyses of the MCCS were performed in all countries, and data were assessed by multilevel modeling (MLM). Results The MCCS showed a robust one-factor structure in 30 countries with good test-retest, concurrent and divergent validity results. MLM analyses showed mixed results regarding emotion and problem-focused coping strategies. However, the MCCS was the strongest positive predictor of physical and mental health among all coping strategies, independently of demographic characteristics and country-level variables. Conclusions The findings suggest that the MCCS is a valid measure to assess meaning-centered coping. The results also call for policies promoting effective coping to mitigate collective suffering during the pandemic

International Journal of Research in Arts and Social Sciences

Influence of perceived stress reactivity, gender and age on neuroticism in a sample of Nigerian university undergraduates Rev. Fr. Prof. Chuka Mike Ifeagwazi JohnBosco Chika Chukwuorji Oluchi Grace Kalu Abstract In view of the plasticity perspective of personality dynamics in adulthood, influence of stress reactivity, age and gender on neuroticism was examined in this study. Participants were 221 students of Department of Botany, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. They comprised 111 (50.23%) males and 110 (49.77%) females; and age range was 16-30 years with a mean age of 22.60 years. Data were collected using two instruments, namely, Perceived Stress Reactivity Scale and Neuroticism scale of the Symptoms Distress Checklist. Results of a 3-way ANOVA indicated main effects of stress reactivity, gender and age on neuroticism. The effect sizes of the contributions to neuroticism by stress reactivity, gender and age were 2%, 11% and 40% respectively. It was suggested that mental health initiatives which are geared towards preventing or reducing neurotic difficulties among students in higher institutions may benefit from consideration of differential stress reactivity and adopt age/genderspecific approaches in intervention

Roles of employment status and emotion regulation in death anxiety among people living with HIV/AIDS

Death anxiety is one of the most commonly observed mental health sequelae of HIV/AIDS. However, there is limited research on contributions of employment status and emotion regulation strategies in death anxiety. This study examined the role of employment status and contributions of emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) in multidimensional death anxiety among people living with HIV (PLWHA). The dimensions of death anxiety consisted of four facets, namely, death acceptance, externally generated death anxiety, death finality, and thoughts about death. Participants were 186 PLWHA (Mage = 34.16 years, 56.5% women) from the HIV/AIDS care unit of a tertiary healthcare institution in south-eastern Nigeria. Data was collected using self-report measures of the variables, namely, Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and Death Anxiety Inventory - Revised (DAI-R). Participants also provided some demographic information including their employment status.  We found that employed persons reported lower death anxiety. Cognitive reappraisal did not significantly predict any of the dimensions of death anxiety. Expressive suppression predicted reduced anxiety about death in the dimensions of death acceptance and death finality. The emotion regulation strategies failed to moderate the association between employment status and death anxiety, such that the impact of employment status on death anxiety did not vary as a function of deployment of specific emotion regulation strategies.  Findings underscore the benefits of formal employment, and how interventions can help to improve the employment situation of PLWHA. &nbsp

Evidence for Motivated Control? Climate Change Related Distress is Positively Associated with Domain-specific Self-Efficacy and Climate Action

Hanss D, Ogunbode CA, Doran R, et al. Evidence for Motivated Control? Climate Change Related Distress is Positively Associated with Domain-specific Self-Efficacy and Climate Action. 2024.Recent cross-sectional and experimental research has found measures of climate change related distress to be positively associated with measures of self-efficacy. Authors of some of these studies have interpreted this finding in terms of motivated control, that is, people who experience climate change related distress are motivated to believe that they can help mitigate climate change. We extend this notion of motivated control by assuming that efficacy beliefs flowing from climate change related distress play a role in encouraging climate action. In two cross-sectional studies, we investigate this assumption: Study 1 used data from a multi-country study and found that negative emotions regarding climate change were positively associated with climate action and both individual and collective self-efficacy. Furthermore, we found evidence for an indirect effect of negative emotions on climate action via self-efficacy (individual and collective). Study 2 conceptually replicated this mediation effect, using data from a sample of citizens in Germany and a different measure of distress, focusing on climate change worry. Additional exploratory analyses revealed that associations with self-efficacy and climate action were stronger for more adaptive forms of climate change worry, compared to less adaptive forms. We conclude that our findings provide correlational support for motivated control being one of the psychological processes – and self-efficacy being one of the person-level factors – that account for adaptive behavioral reactions to climate change related distress. Experimental and longitudinal studies are needed to further substantiate this conclusion