Childhood adversities and suicidal thoughts and behaviors among first-year college students: results from the WMH-ICS initiative

The contribution of childhood adversities to the persistence of severe role impairment among college students: a follow-up study

PURPOSE

While the association between childhood adversities (CAs) and negative mental health outcomes is robustly supported throughout the epidemiological literature, little is known about their contribution to the persistence of role impairment. The present study aims to investigate the association of three facets of CAs with the persistence of severe role impairment among college students using a follow-up design.

METHODS

Data were drawn from the French portion of the World Mental Health International College Student Initiative. Students who completed both the baseline and 1-year follow-up surveys were included (n = 1,188). Exposure to 12 types of CAs before the age of 18 was assessed at baseline, and 12-month role impairment and 12-month mental disorders were assessed at baseline and follow-up. Logistic regressions estimated associations by jointly using types, number of types, and cumulative frequency of exposure to CAs as predictors.

RESULTS

At baseline, 27.6% of students reported any severe role impairment. Among them, 47.5% reported the persistence of any impairment at one year. In models adjusted for 12-month mental disorders, only the frequency of CAs was associated with the persistence of impairment, namely college-related and other work impairment (aOR = 1.17, 95% CI [1.01, 1.35]).

CONCLUSION

Role impairment is prevalent among college students, and studies are needed to better understand its persistence. Beyond the primary prevention of early stressors, screening for and treating mental health problems during college may help reduce the impact of CAs on the persistence of role impairment.

Ecological Momentary Assessment of Mental Health Problems Among University Students: Data Quality Evaluation Study

BACKGROUND

The use of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) designs has been on the rise in mental health epidemiology. However, there is a lack of knowledge of the determinants of participation in and compliance with EMA studies, reliability of measures, and underreporting of methodological details and data quality indicators.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to evaluate the quality of EMA data in a large sample of university students by estimating participation rate and mean compliance, identifying predictors of individual-level participation and compliance, evaluating between- and within-person reliability of measures of negative and positive affect, and identifying potential careless responding.

METHODS

A total of 1259 university students were invited to participate in a 15-day EMA study on mental health problems. Logistic and Poisson regressions were used to investigate the associations between sociodemographic factors, lifetime adverse experiences, stressful events in the previous 12 months, and mental disorder screens and EMA participation and compliance. Multilevel reliability and intraclass correlation coefficients were obtained for positive and negative affect measures. Careless responders were identified based on low compliance or individual reliability coefficients.

RESULTS

Of those invited, 62.1% (782/1259) participated in the EMA study, with a mean compliance of 76.9% (SD 27.7%). Participation was higher among female individuals (odds ratio [OR] 1.41, 95% CI 1.06-1.87) and lower among those aged ≥30 years (OR 0.20, 95% CI 0.08-0.43 vs those aged 18-21 years) and those who had experienced the death of a friend or family member in the previous 12 months (OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.57-0.94) or had a suicide attempt in the previous 12 months (OR 0.26, 95% CI 0.10-0.64). Compliance was particularly low among those exposed to sexual abuse before the age of 18 years (exponential of β=0.87) or to sexual assault or rape in the previous year (exponential of β=0.80) and among those with 12-month positive alcohol use disorder screens (exponential of β=0.89). Between-person reliability of negative and positive affect was strong (RkRn>0.97), whereas within-person reliability was fair to moderate (Rcn>0.43). Of all answered assessments, 0.86% (291/33,626) were flagged as careless responses because the response time per item was <1 second or the participants gave the same response to all items. Of the participants, 17.5% (137/782) could be considered careless responders due to low compliance (<25/56, 45%) or very low to null individual reliability (raw Cronbach α<0.11) for either negative or positive affect.

CONCLUSIONS

Data quality assessments should be carried out in EMA studies in a standardized manner to provide robust conclusions to advance the field. Future EMA research should implement strategies to mitigate nonresponse bias as well as conduct sensitivity analyses to assess possible exclusion of careless responders.

Life stress and suicidality mediated by insomnia and depressive symptoms in adolescents: a three-wave longitudinal study

STUDY OBJECTIVES

Little empirical work has investigated the associations between life stress (LS), insomnia, depression, and suicidality in multi-wave longitudinal studies. With three waves of data collection 1-year apart, this longitudinal study with a large sample of adolescents examined the predicting effects of LS on suicidality 1-year later and 2 years later and the mediating roles of insomnia and depression in the LS-suicidality link.

METHODS

A total of 6995 adolescents (mean age = 14.86 years, 51.4% male) participated in a three-wave longitudinal study of behavior and health in Shandong, China. A self-administered structured questionnaire and standardized scales were used to assess suicidality (including suicidal thought [ST], suicide plan [SP], and suicide attempt [SA]), LS, insomnia, and depression in 2015 (T1), 1-year later (T2), and 2 years later (T3). Mediation effects were examined with path models.

RESULTS

The overall prevalence rates of past-year suicidality were 13.4% at T1, 10.0% at T2, and 9.5% at T3, respectively. The prevalence rates of suicidality across T1-T3 significantly increased with elevated levels of baseline LS, insomnia, and depression (p < .001). Path models indicated that the relationship between baseline LS and suicidal ideation (i.e., ST/SP) 2 years later was significantly mediated by both insomnia and depression. Depression was also a significant mediator between LS and SA.

CONCLUSIONS

LS is a significant predictor of suicidality 1-2 years later in adolescents. Depression mediates the association between LS and suicidal ideation and suicide attempt while insomnia appears to be a mediator for suicidal ideation rather than suicide attempt.

Familial and Bullying Victimisation: The Impact of Early Adversity Within the Home and Peer Settings on Late Adolescence and Adult Psychopathology

BACKGROUND

Awareness of adverse childhood experiences and their impact on adult psychopathology primarily focuses on adversities within the home. There is limited insight into the impact of adversities across peer environments.

OBJECTIVE

This study investigates 19 items related to adverse experiences across the home, school and peer environments and their relationship to 12-month and lifetime psychopathology.

DATA

Secondary analysis of the Ulster University Student Well-being Study. The dataset included completed responses across all selected variables for 729 participants.

METHOD AND RESULTS

Latent profile analysis identified a low adversity profile, bullying adversity profile and higher prevalence adversity profile. Regression analysis of the three profiles and demographics variables indicated their impact on adult psychopathology lifetime and 12-month prevalence rates.

CONCLUSION

Schools and HE institutions should acknowledge the impact of childhood adversities. In doing so, it is important to consider the deeper impact of bullying due to its links with psychopathology across the lifespan. Educational institutions should take appropriate steps to mitigate continued exposure as students' progress through the education system.

Suicidal Thoughts, Depression, Post-Traumatic Stress, and Harmful Alcohol Use Associated with Intimate Partner Violence and Rape Exposures among Female Students in South Africa

While ample evidence from high-income country settings indicates the prevalence and risk factors for multiple mental ill-health symptoms in student populations, evidence from low- and middle-income higher education settings remains limited. We determined the frequency, associations, and structural pathways between mental health outcomes and possible risk factors among a sample of 1292 predominantly Black African and female students ages 18-30 years, enrolled at nine purposefully selected public universities and Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) campuses. We measured and created a mental ill-health latent outcome consisting of depressive symptoms, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and suicidal thoughts. We also measured traumatic exposures including childhood trauma, recent intimate partner violence (IPV), non-partner rape, and other life traumatic events. We used structural equation modelling to analyse data. We found that 50% of the surveyed students binge drank, 43% reported depressive symptoms, 9% reported PTSD symptoms, and 21% had suicidal thoughts. Students' experiences of childhood trauma, food insecurity, other traumatic events, non-partner rape, and IPV impacted the mental ill-health latent. IPV experiences mediated the relationships between experiences of childhood trauma or other trauma and the mental ill-health latent, and the relationship between binge drinking and other life traumatic events. Non-partner rape mediated the relationship between food insecurity and the mental ill-health latent. Binge drinking directly impacted non-partner rape experience. The findings substantiate the need for campus-based mental health promotion, psychosocial services and treatments, and implementation of combined interventions that address the intersections of violence against women and mental health among students in South Africa.