Linking loneliness to depression: a dynamic perspective

Mental health problems and influencing factors of parent-child separated children: An umbrella review of meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

An increasing number of parents are forced to part with their children due to the pressures of life or unpredictable circumstances. This forced separation often has a devastating effect on children's minds, leading to a range of mental health problems.

METHODS

We searched five databases (EBSCO, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure) from inception to November 17, 2023, and performed a systematic analysis using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA) 3.0.

RESULTS

We identified 28 eligible meta-analyses with 746,175 participants across 170 outcomes. Parent-child separated (PcS) children were at higher risk for emotional problems (d = 0.22 [95 % CI 0.17-0.28]), cognitive problems (d = 0.20 [95 % CI 0.10-0.29]), behavioral problems (d = 0.21 [95 % CI 0.15-0.27]) and psychosis (d = 0.22 [95 % CI 0.15-0.29]) than non-PcS children. Regarding influencing factors, both personal and social factors were moderately positively correlated with emotional and behavioral problems. Family factors had a moderate positive correlation between emotional problems (z = 0.20, [95CI% 0.12-0.28]), and a low positive correlation with behavioral problems (z = 0.13, [95CI% 0.04-0. 22]). After addressing the issue of overlapping data, there were no significant differences in emotional problems in children with PcS compared to non-PcS children.

LIMITATIONS

The majority of studies included in our umbrella review were from China, which may limit the generalizability of our findings.

CONCLUSION

PcS children suffer more mental health problems than non-PcS children. The community needs to act and intervene proactively to promote the improvement of the mental health of these children.

Workplace loneliness mediates the relationship between perceived organizational support and job performance: Differing by extraversion

This study investigated the mediating role of workplace loneliness relating perceived organizational support to job performance, as well as the moderating role of extraversion in such relationship. 332 full-time Chinese employees from various enterprises voluntarily participated in the two-wave surveys via either paper-and-pencil or online survey conducted at Credamo and Tencent Questionnaire website. Hierarchical regression and bootstrapping analyses were employed to examine the hypotheses. Results indicated that workplace loneliness partially mediates the linkage between perceived organizational support and job performance; extraversion serves as a moderator in the relationship between workplace loneliness and job performance, as well as the mediating role of workplace loneliness linking perceived organizational support to job performance, such that the relationship is stronger when extraversion is high. Supplementary analyses revealed that social companionship, but not emotional deprivation, serves as a mediator in the relationship between perceived organizational support and job performance; extraversion enhanced the direct influence of social companionship on job performance, as well as the indirect influence of perceived organizational support on job performance via social companionship. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Associations Between Workplace Factors and Depression and Anxiety in Australian Heavy Vehicle Truck Drivers

INTRODUCTION

A number of health issues have been identified as prevalent within the Australian heavy vehicle driving population. Mental illnesses, such as depression and anxiety, are among those disorders that have been regularly reported, however, the contributing factors are yet to be elucidated.

METHODS

This study aimed to assess the associations between workplace factors such as years of employment, social interaction and shift length, with depressive and anxious symptomology in a cohort of 60 Australian heavy vehicle drivers.

RESULTS

Significant positive associations were identified between depression and alcohol use (P = 0.044), coffee consumption (P = 0.037), number of accidents during career (P = < 0.004), and number of hours driving per shift (P ≤ 0.001). Anxiety was found to be positively associated with a number of hours driving per week (P ≤ 0.001), and the number of accidents or near misses during a driving career (P = 0.039).

CONCLUSION

Several workplace factors were identified as being correlated to depression or anxiety within this cohort, suggesting potential changes to rostering systems and education regarding alcohol use may benefit the mental health of this driver population.

Impacts of COVID-19 and social isolation on academic staff and students at universities: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

"The impacts of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the shutdown it triggered at universities across the world, led to a great degree of social isolation among university staff and students. The aim of this study was to identify the perceived consequences of this on staff and their work and on students and their studies at universities.

METHOD

The study used a variety of methods, which involved an on-line survey on the influences of social isolation using a non-probability sampling. More specifically, two techniques were used, namely a convenience sampling (i.e. involving members of the academic community, which are easy to reach by the study team), supported by a snow ball sampling (recruiting respondents among acquaintances of the participants). A total of 711 questionnaires from 41 countries were received. Descriptive statistics were deployed to analyse trends and to identify socio-demographic differences. Inferential statistics were used to assess significant differences among the geographical regions, work areas and other socio-demographic factors related to impacts of social isolation of university staff and students.

RESULTS

The study reveals that 90% of the respondents have been affected by the shutdown and unable to perform normal work or studies at their institution for between 1 week to 2 months. While 70% of the respondents perceive negative impacts of COVID 19 on their work or studies, more than 60% of them value the additional time that they have had indoors with families and others. .

CONCLUSIONS

While the majority of the respondents agree that they suffered from the lack of social interaction and communication during the social distancing/isolation, there were significant differences in the reactions to the lockdowns between academic staff and students. There are also differences in the degree of influence of some of the problems, when compared across geographical regions. In addition to policy actions that may be deployed, further research on innovative methods of teaching and communication with students is needed in order to allow staff and students to better cope with social isolation in cases of new or recurring pandemics.

Social isolation: development and validation of measures

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically validate items on social isolation. The comprehensive literature review of existing studies on the measures of social isolation, loneliness and the related construct was conducted. The paper seeks to conceptualize, validate and present items to measure social isolation.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on theoretical and empirical investigation of the measures of social isolation, loneliness and related constructs such as social others, social loneliness and feeling of sociability. The items were generated through theoretical exploration of previous literature and later modified. The author examined the items through exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and further checked for external criterion validity. Data collected from 128 individuals, in India, were examined to design and validate the scale.

Findings

The finding of the paper is a ten-item social isolation scale. Using structural equation modeling, we have found extraversion and well-being significantly associated with final items in the present study, confirming the external quality of the scale.

Practical implications

Organizations may benefit by close examination of the presence of social isolation in employees along with providing support and assistance to employees so as to reduce negative consequences of social isolation and can address the well-being of the employee.

Originality/value

There is a dearth of developed and validated measures of social isolation in the literature. The study reveals the conceptualization and empirical validation of measures of social isolation in the Indian context so that researchers can move forward to develop theories on social isolation.