Parent–Child Relationship Quality and Internet Use in a Developing Country: Adolescents’ Perspectives

The Relationship Between Empirical Avoidance, Anxiety, Difficulty Describing Feelings and Internet Addiction Among College Students: A Moderated Mediation Model

With the increasing detection rate of Internet addiction in college students, the correlation between Internet addiction and emotional problems is further strengthened. Therefore, it is crucial to actively investigate the emotional mechanisms underlying college students' internet addiction to foster their healthy development. This study establishes a moderated mediation model based on the relationships among experiential avoidance, internet addiction, anxiety, and difficulty describing feelings to explore the link between experiential avoidance and internet addiction, the mediating role of anxiety, and the moderating effect of difficulty describing feelings. The study collected data from 1,591 Chinese college students across seven provinces (municipalities), utilizing measures such as the Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire, the Internet Addiction Scale, the Anxiety Subscale, and the Difficulty Describing Feelings Scale. A cross-sectional analysis was conducted to further investigate the potential emotional mechanisms behind college students' internet addiction. The results indicated that experiential avoidance significantly predicts internet addiction among college students, with anxiety mediating the relationship between experiential avoidance and internet addiction. Additionally, difficulty describing feelings moderate the relationship between experiential avoidance and anxiety. These findings further suggest that emotional disorders such as experiential avoidance, anxiety, and difficulty describing feelings are potential risk factors behind college students' internet addiction. The study recommends enhancing psychological counseling and other intervention measures in interventions for college students' internet addiction.

Structural Equation Model for Social Support and Quality of Life Among Individuals With Mental Health Disorders During the COVID-19 Pandemic

BACKGROUND

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the distribution of social support for mental health problems has likely become unequal. Family- and community-based social support has been recognized as a promising approach for mental disorders; however, limited global frameworks have been applied to developing countries such as Vietnam.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of life and social support among patients with mental health disorders in Vietnam and to investigate the factors associated with quality of life among these patients.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted on 222 psychiatric patients in Hanoi from 2020 to 2022. A structured questionnaire was developed based on four standardized scales: Mental Well-Being-5 scale, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, EuroQoL-visual analog scale (EQ-VAS), and EuroQoL-5 dimensions-5 levels (EQ-5D-5L) scale. Tobit regression was used to identify factors associated with the EQ-5D-5L and EQ-VAS scores. Structural equation modeling was applied to verify the relationship between quality of life and social support.

RESULTS

The results showed that perceived support from family scored the highest compared to support from friends and significant others. Patients with depression reported the lowest quality of life and perceived social support. Structural equation modeling showed a root mean square error of approximation of 0.055 (90% CI 0.006-0.090), comparative fit index of 0.954, Tucker-Lewis index of 0.892, and standardized root mean squared error of 0.036 (P<.001). The hypothetical model indicated statistically significant correlations between EQ-VAS score and social support (P=.004), EQ-5D-5L and mental well-being (P<.001), and social support and mental well-being (P<.001). Critical deterioration of quality of life and inconsistency in social support for patients with mental illness were also recorded.

CONCLUSIONS

There is a need to enhance social support and service delivery in Vietnam, focusing on occupation and quality of life. The correlations between social support, quality of life, and mental health issues suggest the potential of a clinical-social integrated intervention model of care.

COVID-19 and Parent-Child Interactions: Children's Educational Opportunities and Parental Challenges During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Objectives

The coronavirus disease pandemic affected people's lives in different ways, including child education and parent-child interactions. The present study aimed to identify the educational opportunities of children and challenges of parents during this pandemic.

Methods

This study was conducted using a qualitative and phenomenological method. The participants were 23 parents of children aged 7-12 years, selected by purposive sampling method. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews, which continued until data saturation was reached, and then classified and processed following Strauss and Glasser's approach.

Results

The findings were classified as parenting transformation, attachment challenges, and parenting challenges due to macro-systemic changes. Online education and changes caused by social distancing were the most significant parenting challenges. Moreover, children did not have the necessary space to be independent and self-sufficient.

Conclusion

For many children, adapting to virtual education has been challenging; therefore, parents should change their parenting control and support. The emergence of such challenges has led to the creation of more opportunities in the field of child education.

Determinants of health-seeking behaviors among middle-aged women in Vietnam's rural-urban transition setting

Introduction

The purpose of this study is to identify the health status and healthcare utilization factors associated with middle-aged women in the rapid urbanization context of Vietnam.

Methods

A cross-sectional study with a systematic random sampling technique was conducted in Hung Yen city. A systematic random sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 362 middle-aged women. The collected data included socioeconomic characteristics, health issues, health service utilization, and social support for women in both urban and rural areas. Multivariate regression models were used to determine factors associated with health service utilization and the number of inpatient/outpatient visits.

Results

Among 362 participants, the main chronic diseases were diabetes (12.8%), cardiovascular diseases (11.3%), and migraines (9.5%). The proportion of using inpatient and outpatient services among middle-aged women was relatively high (35.8 and 61%, respectively). Women having more support from family and friends were less likely to seek healthcare. Living in rural areas significantly increased the number of inpatient treatments. Regarding health service utilization, the percentage of people using outpatient treatment services accounted for 61.0%, while using inpatient treatment services was reported as 35.8%. The average number of outpatient and inpatient visits per participant were 1.3 and 0.9, respectively.

Conclusion

This study revealed a relatively high rate of using healthcare services among women at midlife in a rapidly industrializing city in Vietnam. Screening programs should be implemented for early detection and treatment of chronic diseases in middle-aged women, especially for diabetes. Communication strategies should be adapted to raise awareness of rural women about regular health checkups, and counseling services of healthcare providers should be strongly reinforced. Lifestyle interventions and health promotion programs involving social support should be implemented to improve wellbeing and healthcare-seeking behaviors among middle-aged women.

Associations between parental mediation and adolescents' internet addiction: The role of parent-child relationship and adolescents' grades

Introduction

Family factors, such as parental mediation on Internet use and parent-child relationships, have been shown to play a crucial role in preventing adolescents' internet addiction. Previous studies have shown a change in characteristics of online risk during adolescents' development. However, it is still of great interest whether such differences applied in the relationships among parent-child relationships, different types of parental mediation and adolescents' internet addiction level. In this study, we investigated the associations between different types of parental mediators and adolescents' internet addiction level and how the associations were mediated by father-child and mother-child relationships. We further investigated whether mediating effect differs between primary and secondary school children.

Methods

Based on a sample of 3,026 school children aged 9-14 years (M = 11.56, SD = 0.71; 55.25% primary school adolescents, 44.75% secondary school adolescents), a series of Structural Equation Models were applied to investigate the relationships among internet addiction, parental mediation, and parent-child relationship. In addition, a series of multi-group analysis were applied to detect whether there are differences in these relationships between the primary and secondary school group.

Results

The internet addiction level and intensity of parental mediation was higher among primary school adolescents than secondary school adolescents. Parental active mediation and monitoring on internet use were associated with reduced and increased adolescents' internet addiction. Father-child relationship had stronger partial mediating effects on the relationships between parental mediation and adolescents' internet addiction than the mother-child relationship. The relationships among parental mediation, parent-child relationship and internet addiction were more pronounced among primary school adolescents than secondary school adolescents.

Discussion

The findings suggest that good father-child relationships and adequate parental mediation approach, such as active mediation, may contribute to reduction of internet addiction risk in adolescents, especially in primary school adolescents.

Mental wellbeing among urban young adults in a developing country: A Latent Profile Analysis

Introduction

This study aimed to explore the mental wellbeing profiles and their related factors among urban young adults in Vietnam.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted in Hanoi, which is the capital of Vietnam. There were 356 Vietnamese who completed the Mental Health Inventory-5 (MHI-5) questionnaire. The Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was used to identify the subgroups of mental wellbeing through five items of the MHI-5 scale as the continuous variable. Multinomial logistic regression was used to determine factors related to subgroups.

Results

Three classes represented three levels of MHI-5 score, which included “Poor mental health,” “Fair mental health,” and “Good mental health,” were, respectively, 14.3, 46.6, and 39.0%. Compared to a low household economy, participants with an average household economy had 2.11 and 4.79 times higher odds of being in a good mental health class relative to fair and poor mental health classes. Respondents with more than two acute symptoms had 3.85 times higher odds of being in a good mental health class relative to a poor mental health class, as compared to those without acute symptoms. Regarding the measurement of the Perceived Social Support Scale (MSPSS), people having support from their family had 1.80 and 2.23 times higher odds of being in classes of fair and good mental health relative to the poor mental health class; and participants having friend support also had 1.87 times higher odds of being in a good mental health class compared with the fair mental health class, as the MSPSS score increased by 1 unit. People with Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale increased by 1 score, those who had 1.17, 1.26, and 1.47 times higher odds of being in a good compared to fair mental health class, fair compared to poor mental health class, and good compared to poor mental health class, respectively.

Conclusion

Our findings were given to promote a new classification method for mental health screening among the general population. The current findings could be used as evidence to develop policies and plans that focus on encouraging early screening for mental health problems among the general young population in the future.