Grit is associated with decreased mental health help-seeking among student veterans

A Cross-Sectional Study Exploring the Role of Social Isolation in the Relationship Between Food Insecurity, Depressive Symptoms, and Resource Use Among Midwestern Rural Veterans in the U.S

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

The study's objective was to determine whether social isolation serves as a mediator in the cross-sectional relationship between food insecurity, both as a short-term and longer-term situation, with resource use and depressive symptoms as outcomes.

METHODS

This cross-sectional design study utilized secondary survey data, including 30-day and 12-month food security measured by the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module. The Baron-Kenny mediation approach was used to determine whether social isolation mediated the relationship between food security, depressive symptoms, and resource use (p ≤ 0.05).

RESULTS

Social isolation mediates the association between both 30-day and 12-month food security with depressive symptoms but not resource use.

CONCLUSIONS

Acknowledging and targeting social isolation, policies, and interventions that integrate peer support and community outreach to promote food security could support rural veterans food security and mental health.

Determinants of Lifestyle Choices Among South Korean College Students: An Experimental Analysis

Purpose

Based on theoretical predictions from human capital theory, the aim of this exploratory study is to analyze the relationship between experimentally elicited, incentivized economic preference parameters, Big Five and Grit personality traits, cognitive ability, and the Alameda Seven lifestyles: smoking, drinking excessively, being overweight or obese, experiencing stress, following a healthy diet, exercising, and sleeping enough. In addition, self-reported general physical and mental health are analyzed.

Materials and Methods

Data collection took place in an incentivized paper-and-pencil experiment. Undergraduate students were recruited as subjects, with the requirement that they be freshmen, but no restrictions based on gender, major, or age. A pre-test and three experimental sessions were conducted in March and in April 2018, with a total of 178 subjects participating. After deleting observations with missing values, a total of n = 138 subjects remained. Regression analysis (multivariate probit models, resulting marginal effects and changes in predicted probabilities of adopting a lifestyle for “ideal types”) was used to analyze and compare the determinants of the Alameda Seven health behaviors.

Results

Findings suggest that preference parameters, a measure of cognitive ability, and Big Five personality traits are statistically significantly estimated in regressions for the determinants of adopting Alameda Seven health behaviors, but the Grit score is only statistically significantly estimated in a regression for the determinants of reported better general mental health.

Conclusion

The findings regarding preference parameters partly lend support to predictions from human capital theory and partly confirm previous findings in health psychology. Those results might be explained by the relatively small sample size and the inclusion of a measure of cognitive ability in addition to personality traits and preferences.