Search Results (31)

Bullying is a significant social issue, yet research often relies on quantitative methods. Our study aimed to gain a deeper insight by giving students a voice in expressing their experiences and perceptions, focusing on how youth define and perceive bullying, the different roles involved, and the coping strategies they identify. We conducted 16 focus groups with 220 Italian students, using the Consensus Qualitative Research method. Seven key domains emerged, with core ideas classified by frequency: general (>75%), typical (25–75%), and variant (≤25%). In “Characteristics of bullying,” power imbalance was general, intentionality was typical, and repetition was variant. In “Bullying behaviors,” physical and verbal bullying were general; relational bullying was variant. Regarding “The bully,” moral disengagement and compensation were general, retaliation was typical, and intimidation was variant. For “The victim,” perceived weakness and well-being were general, ethnic victimization was typical, and victim blaming was variant. In “Other roles,” pro-bullies and passive bystanders were typical; defenders were variant. “Victim’s coping strategies” included nonchalance, distancing, and seeking social support as general; retaliation as typical; and talking with the bully as variant. Finally, “Bystanders’ coping strategies” included protecting the victim (typical) and self-protection (variant). These findings offer a nuanced perspective on bullying and inform more targeted interventions. Full article

In informal economic contexts, migrant entrepreneurs have been extolled as highly resilient and adaptable. This study critically investigates the adverse psychological foundations inherent in such enterprises, focusing on how dark triad personality traits emerge in the leadership orientations of marginal migrant entrepreneurs. Following a qualitative ethnographic approach, this research engaged 10–15 migrant employees through participant observation, field notes, and semi-structured interviews in an informal economic context. Thematic analysis revealed five dominant patterns: narcissistic leadership with entitlement and emotional disrespect; Machiavellian behavior of manipulation and deception; psychopathic detachment in emotional callousness; absence of light triad actions such as empathy, humility, and selflessness; and moral disengagement through rationalizations such as “everyone does it” or system blame. Migrant business owners prefer to rationalize their exploitative acts as being necessary for economic survival, thus legitimizing immoral conduct and suppressing moral self-regulation. The findings indicate that marginality not only drives entrepreneurial innovation, but also has the potential to create exploitative inclinations that are institutionally and morally unchecked. Solving this issue requires not only mere psychological awareness, but also systematic reforms that foster ethical robustness and emotional sensitivity. This study ultimately asserts the need to reframe migrant entrepreneurship discourse, including both ethical and psychological accountability. Full article

(1) Background: Stress is defined as a psychological sensation related to a change in both human physiology and behavior in response to a threat or challenge. As the prevalence of stress is increasing globally, nurses represent a risk group for exposure to stress-related psychological alterations. The aim of this study was to explore how clinical nurses in Lithuania cope with the perceived chronic stress in relation to additional emotional experiences following the death of a patient. (2) Methods: During a four-week period of October 2023, a total of 283 female nurses, aged between 20 and 70 years old, were enrolled in a single cross-sectional study. The PSS-10 (perceived stress scale) and the Brief-COPE (Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced) questionnaires were applied to assess the level of self-perceived stress and the use of coping styles along with the adequate strategies. Furthermore, the nurses’ emotions, evoked following patient death, were classified depending on their valence. Both the multiple linear and logistic regression statistical analyses were conducted to examine the associations between dependent and independent variables. (3) Results: The study identified that more than half of the nurses experienced patient death several times a month. A moderate-to-high level of the symptoms of mental chronic stress were suffered by 76% of caregivers. The psychological arousal following the death of a patient may induce the occurrence of emotional complexity that refers to competitive feelings, namely, helplessness (adjusted odd ratio (AOR) 1.7, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.1; 2.9), disappointment (AOR 1.9, 95% CI 1.1; 3.5), anxiety (AOR 1.9, 95% CI 1.2; 4.2), and guilt (OR_adj 4.7, 95% CI 1.4; 5.7), and can serve as a potential trigger for chronic stress development in clinical nurses. In terms of emotion-focused stress control (β 0.1, 95% CI −0.1; −0.2, R² = 0.12), Lithuanian nurses had low control of the perceived chronic stress. The use of problem-focused coping (β −0.2, 95% CI −0.3; −0.1, R² = 0.09) was also not addressed to an appropriate extent. The use of the avoidance coping style was associated with moderate–high levels of chronic stress perceived by nurses (β 0.5, 95% CI 0.4; 0.7, R² = 0.24). Furthermore, the avoidant coping strategy related to behavioral disengagement was significantly related to resilience to chronic stress in an adverse way. The cognitive process of self-blame was considered as a meaningful maladaptive behavior component for magnifying chronic stress in nurses. (4) Conclusions: The study highlights the need to implement the recommendations for boosting the nurses’ mental health. Hospitals should contribute to psychological assistance along with providing necessary training on stress-coping strategies for clinical nurses. In order to promote the sustainability of mental health through additional social support interventions, it would be useful to upgrade the clinical nurses’ daily routines with mindfulness-based trainings. Full article

Prisoners are exposed to a deprived environment, which triggers mental illness and psychological problems. Abundant research has reported that mental illness problems, suicide, aggression, and violent behaviors occur in incarcerated people. Although the mental healthcare system for incarcerated people is emphasized, little research has been conducted due to their limited environment. In particular, the regulation of negative emotion is significantly associated with mental illness and anti-social and violent behaviors. However, mental healthcare through cognitive emotional regulation based on cognitive behavioral therapy has not been fully investigated. This study identified four different patterns in cognitive strategies for regulating negative emotions. Cognitive emotional regulation strategies (i.e., self-blame, other-blame, rumination, catastrophizing, putting into perspective, positive refocusing, positive reappraisal, acceptance, and refocus on planning) were examined and addressed their vulnerable psychological factors. We analyzed a total of 500 prisoners’ responses to the cognitive emotional regulation questionnaire (CERQ) by latent class profiling analysis. A four-class model was identified based on the responses of CERQ. In addition, the significant effect of depression on classifying the four classes was found. Furthermore, differences in the average number of incarcerations were also shown across four classes. In conclusion, Class 2 (Negative Self-Blamer) uses dysfunctional/negative strategies that may place the group at a high risk of psychological disorder symptoms, including depression and post-traumatic stress. Class 3 (Distorted Positivity) uses positive/functional strategies but seems to utilize the positive strategies in distorted manners to rationalize their convictions. Class 1 (Strong Blamer) and Class 4 (Moderator Blamer) showed similar patterns focused on the “other-blame” strategy for regulating negative emotion, but they are at different levels, indicating that they attribute incarceration to external factors. These findings provide useful information for designing mental healthcare interventions for incarcerated people and psychological therapy programs for clinical and correctional psychologists in forensic settings. Full article

Previous research suggests that parents involved in child-to-parent violence (CPV) experience shame, judgment, and a lack of social support, often accompanied by feelings of self-blame and helplessness as well as a deterioration in their perception of self-efficacy and their parenting skills. All of these factors may impact parents’ mental health. However, there is a research gap concerning the consequences of CPV among parents. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the relationship between CPV and psychological symptoms (i.e., depression, anxiety, hostility, obsessive–compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, and somatization) in parents based on their perceptions of self-efficacy. The sample was composed of 354 participants: 177 parents (83.1% mothers) and their 177 children (53.4% boys; M_age = 13.27). CPV was reported by both parents and their children. In addition, parents reported their self-efficacy beliefs and psychological symptoms. The results showed that CPV was negatively associated with parents’ psychological symptomatology, except for somatization. Moreover, self-efficacy beliefs explain part of the indirect association between CPV behaviors and psychological symptoms in parents. Overall, our findings provide evidence for the potential impact of CPV on mental health in parents and suggest the relevance of reinforcing their self-efficacy beliefs. Full article

This study explores female university students’ attitudes toward and concerns about pornography, based on their experience watching it and on sexual encounters with men. It used a qualitative descriptive design. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 participants between March and April 2020. Thematic data analysis was performed using COREQ reporting guidelines. Three themes emerged from the data: (1) the sexual learning process, (2) the role of pornography in women’s sexuality, and (3) sexual experiences. Participants reported how they learned about sexuality and how pornography influenced sexual experiences. Self-esteem issues and societal norms regarding hair removal and difficulty saying “no” to unwanted or humiliating sexual practices were found. The young women were not comfortable with women’s representations in mainstream pornography. They blamed pornography for negative sexual experiences and claimed it influenced them and young men. Participants usually assumed submissive roles during sex and permitted aggressive sexual behaviors. The study reveals valuable information on how young women learn about sex and their difficulty in refusing unwanted sexual activities and even aggressive practices. Sexual education programs should include assertiveness training to improve sexual health, consent, and well-being. Full article

Background: Feeling out of control during a traumatic event may evoke behavioral self-blame (BSB) to avoid feeling helpless following trauma by restoring one’s sense of control. BSB is a common, persistent, and treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress symptom. The present study investigates the etiology and risk factors of BSB following a traumatic event and the reasons for its persistence over time. Method: Subjects were a group of 546 Israeli ex-combat soldiers (M age = 24.93 ± 5.657) registered in an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) combat reaction clinic. All completed the Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire (PDEQ), the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), and the PTSD Checklist for the DSM-5 (PCL-5). Item 10 of the PCL-5 served to measure BSB. The PDEQ and BSI measured distress and feeling out of control during the event. We used descriptive analyses of the data, t-test, and linear regression analysis to reveal the relationship between the research variables. Results: Feeling out of control during a traumatic event often increases BSB and post-traumatic stress symptoms. A significant correlation emerged between continuing distress characterizing individuals who experience a persistent lack of control and BSB. Female combat soldiers were at a higher risk of BSB than their male counterparts. Conclusion: Loss of control experienced during a traumatic event may result in persistent long-term feelings of lack of control over one’s behavior. Full article

A sample of emerging adult university students completed a survey with the goal of investigating components of “the sexual self” and how these constructs were influenced by romantic relationship status. Three general aspects of the sexual self were considered: sexual self-concept, comfort with sexuality, and past sexual behavior. Sexual self-concept was defined as composed of constructs such as sexual self-schema, self-efficacy, consciousness, optimism, problem self-blame, power/other control, and motivation to avoid risky sex. Sexual comfort, conceptualized as a personality disposition of erotophobia–erotophilia, was assessed using three instruments. This included the Sexual Opinion Survey, the original individual difference measure of erotophobia–erotophilia. Past sexual behavior was assessed with the Derogatis Sexual Functioning Inventory. Findings suggested that individuals in a relationship had more positive sexual self-concepts and were more erotophilic and comfortable with sexuality generally. These differences were modest, based on effect size statistics. Past sexual experience also differed, contingent on relationship status. Some sexual self-concept scales were predictive of sexual satisfaction, while comfort with sexuality was predictive of relational satisfaction. Romantic relationships may have important implications for sexual selfhood, but this is a tentative suggestion, as this was a correlational study and the relationships are likely bidirectional. Full article

We investigated the influence of post-traumatic growth (PTG) and mental health (MH) on multiple sclerosis (MS) caregivers’ uses of coping strategies and identified biopsychosocial predictors of proactive or reactive coping. The Short Form Health Survey (SF-12), General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory (PGI-21), Brief COPE Questionnaire (COPE-28), and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) were used to evaluate 209 caregivers. Higher PTG was related to greater use of emotional support, positive reframing, religion, active coping, instrumental support, planning, denial, self-distraction, self-blaming, and venting. Better MH was associated with greater use of acceptance, while behavioral disengagement and self-distraction were associated with poorer MH. The PTG dimensions relating to others and new possibilities, SF-12 dimensions of physical and emotional roles as well as partnership, not living with the patient, and significant others’ social support were predictors of proactive coping. Reactive coping was positively predicted by the PTG dimension relating to others, depression, vitality, other than partner relation, and physical role, and negatively predicted by mental health level and emotional role. In summary, higher MH was associated with proactive coping strategies, whereas post-traumatic growth was related to the use of a wide range of proactive coping as well as reactive coping strategies. Full article

Introduction: Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic recurrent inflammatory dermatosis with vast psychosocial burden. The objective of this study is to thoroughly analyze satisfaction with life (SWL) and coping strategies of HS patients in relation to the clinical and psychosocial factors. Methods: 114 HS patients (53.1% females; mean age 36.6 ± 13.1 years) were enrolled. Severity of the disease was measured using Hurley staging and International HS Score System (IHS4). Instruments utilized: Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS); Coping-Orientation to Problems-Experienced Inventory (Brief COPE); HS Quality of Life Scale (HiSQoL); Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9); Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7); General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). Results: SWL was low in 31.6% of HS patients. No relation was found between SWL and Hurley staging and IHS4. SWL correlated with GHQ-28 (r = −0.579 p < 0.001), PHQ-9 (r = −0.603 p < 0.001), GAD-7 (r = −0.579 p < 0.001), and HiSQoL (r = −0.449 p < 0.001). Problem-focused coping strategies were most commonly used, followed by emotion-focused coping and avoiding coping strategies. Significant differences were found between the following coping strategies and SWL: self-distraction (p = 0.013), behavioral-disengagement (p = 0.001), denial (p = 0.003), venting (p = 0.019), and self-blame (p = 0.001). Conclusions: HS patients present low SWL which correlates with psychosocial burden. Reducing anxiety–depression comorbidity and encouraging optimal coping strategies may be of great importance in holistic approach to HS patients. Full article

In many countries, the COVID-19 pandemic led to healthcare reorganization limiting access to diagnostic or therapeutic procedures for chronically-ill patients. In this article, we describe the psychological consequences and coping strategies of several groups of chronically-ill patients. During the cross-sectional survey conducted in 2020, we enrolled 398 patients with four different chronic conditions (psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, and patients who have undergone a kidney transplant or received dialysis). The study sample was examined regarding the experienced stress levels (Perceived Stress Scale) and coping strategies (Brief-COPE). All four groups of patients most commonly declared using problem-focused coping strategies and least commonly reported the use of avoidant coping. Higher levels of perceived stress strongly correlated with self-blaming. The participants who declared previous psychiatric treatment or psychotherapy were more likely to use self-blaming, behavioral disengagement, substance use, and avoidant coping, while previous psychotherapy additionally correlated with emotion-focused coping. Group comparison identifies patients with a chronic neurological disease, such as multiple sclerosis, at higher risk of a less beneficial coping profile than kidney transplant recipients. Further focus on education and early interventions in at-risk individuals is needed, and widely targeted mental health programs are indicated in order to improve the mental health of patients suffering from chronic diseases. Full article

We performed a cross-sectional study in order to determine the association between stress coping strategies and stress, depression, and anxiety, in which the Mexican population was invited to answer these variables by an electronic questionnaire. A total of 1283 people were included, of which 64.8% were women. Women presented higher levels of stress, depression, and anxiety than men; likewise, women showed a higher frequency of some maladaptive coping strategies (behavioral disengagement and denial) and lower levels of some adaptive ones (active coping and planning); additionally, maladaptive coping strategies were positively correlated with stress and depression in both sexes: self-blame, behavioral disengagement, denial, substance use, and self-distraction. Likewise, there were negative correlations between stress and depression and the adaptive strategies: planning, active coping, acceptance, and positive reframing. For women, religion presented negative correlations with stress, depression, and anxiety, and humor showed low positive correlations with stress, anxiety, and depression. In conclusion, most adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies are common in both sexes with the exception of religion, which seems to be adaptive in women and neutral in men, and humor, which seems to be adaptive in men and maladaptive in women. In addition, emotional and instrumental support seem to be neutral in both sexes. Full article

Background: Evidence suggests increased anxious-depressive symptoms in the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic, also in its second wave. High symptom variability across individuals suggests that risk and protective factors, including coping strategies, can play a mediating role. Methods: General Anxiety Disorder-7, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and Brief-COPE questionnaires were administered to people attending a COVID-19 point-of-care. Univariate and multivariate methods were used to test the association of symptoms with risk and protective factors. Results: A total of 3509 participants (27.5% with moderate-severe anxiety; 12% with depressive symptoms) were recruited. Sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, including age, sex, sleep, physical activity, psychiatric treatments, parenthood, employment, and religiosity were associated with affective symptoms. Avoidant (self-distraction, venting, behavioral disengagement) and approach (emotional support, self-blame but not positive reframing and acceptance) coping strategies predicted greater anxiety. Avoidant strategies, including venting, denial, behavioral disengagement, substance use, and self-blame, and the humor strategy were associated with more severe depressive symptoms, while the planning predicted the opposite. Conclusions: Coping strategies, in addition to socio-demographic and life-habit factors, could have contributed to modulating anxious and depressive symptoms during the second-wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, thus advocating for interventions aimed at promoting positive coping strategies to reduce the psychosocial toll of the pandemic. Full article

Recovery from substance use disorder requires access to effective coping resources. The most widely self-reported questionnaire used to assess coping responses is the Brief COPE; however, different factorial structures were found in a variety of samples. This study aimed to examine across outpatients with substance use disorders the factor structure of the short dispositional French version of the Brief Coping Orientation to Problem Experienced (COPE) inventory. The French version of the Brief COPE was administered in a sample of 318 outpatients with alcohol or opioid substance use disorder. A clustering analysis on latent variables (CLV) followed by a confirmatory factorial analysis (CFA) was conducted to examine the factor structure of the scale. The internal consistency of the Brief COPE and its subscales were also studied. The analysis revealed a nine-factor structure with a revised 24-item version consisting of functional strategies (four items), problem-solving (four items), denial (two items), substance use (two items), social support seeking (four items), behavioral disengagement (two items), religion (two items), blame (two items), and humor (two items) that demonstrated a good fit to the data. This model explained 53% of the total variance with an overall McDonald’s omega (ω) of 0.96 for the revised scale. The present work offers a robust and valid nine-factor structure for assessing coping strategies in French outpatients with opioid or alcohol substance use disorder. This structure tends to simplify its use and interpretation of results for both clinicians and researchers. Full article

Background: Mental health deterioration in young adults in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic is being increasingly studied. It is clear that the psychological consequences of the pandemic will be evident for many years, especially among the younger generation, who did not have time to acquire adaptive coping strategies before the outbreak of COVID-19. The purpose of this study was to assess the condition of the mental health of students at Polish universities after two years of the pandemic. The types of coping strategies used by the respondents to deal with stress were also evaluated in order to establish which of them could have a beneficial effect on the psyche of young people. Methods: This study included 721 participants (age [years]: M = 25.7, SD = 5.3; 269 (37.2%) males) recruited using snowball sampling from students at two universities in Lodz, Poland, and full-time doctoral students from across Poland (phase I of the study was conducted in March 2019 (N = 352); phase II of the study was conducted in April 2022 (N = 369)). The following tools were used in this study: The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) by D. Goldberg, the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), and the Inventory for Measuring Coping with Stress (Mini-COPE) by Carver et al. Pearson’s chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression were used in the statistical analysis. Results: The results detailing the condition of the mental health of the subjects, as measured using GHQ-28, were significantly worse in the group surveyed after two years of the pandemic than the results of the survey conducted in March 2019 (adjusted odds ratio for GHQ-28 ≥ 5: 3.66, 95%CI 2.12–6.30, p < 0.001). Statistically significant differences were seen for each of the subscales of the GHQ-28 questionnaire. Most often, the subjects complained of anxiety symptoms and sleep disorders, in addition to somatic symptoms. The risk factors for worsening mental health included female (odds ratio 1.70, 95%CI 1.20–2.40, p = 0.003) and professional inactivity (odds ratio 1.55, 95%CI 1.04–2.31, p = 0.031). On the other hand, the ages of the people surveyed, their relationship status, whether they had children, or the type of university they attended all proved to be insignificant. The following coping strategies had a positive impact on the mental health of the respondents: positive reframing (Z = −2.951; p = 0.003) and seeking emotional support (Z = −2.351; p = 0.019). In contrast, strategies such as self-distraction (Z = 2.785; p = 0.005), denial (Z = 2.948; p = 0.003), venting (Z = 2.337; p = 0.019), self-blame (Z = 5.511; p < 0.001) and behavioral disengagement (Z = 4.004; p < 0.001) were associated with poorer mental health among the respondents. Conclusions: 1. Of the students surveyed, 33% reported elevated stress levels after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. 2. The overall mental health of students at Polish universities, as measured by GHQ-28, was significantly worse in the group evaluated after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, mainly in respect of anxiety symptoms and sleep disorders. 3. Female gender and professional inactivity appeared to be risk factors for the students’ worsening mental health, which may be an indication of the need for further research and planning of psychotherapeutic interventions. Full article