Sleep quality and mental health during COVID-19: the role of distress tolerance.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has negatively impacted psychological health for many. This study aimed to investigate if distress tolerance, an individual's perceived or actual 'capacity to withstand negative psychological states', helps to explain the relationship between sleep and mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. College students (N = 187) completed questionnaires using an online survey platform between 6 April 2020, and 6 June 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to examine the indirect effect of distress tolerance on the relationship between sleep quality and mental health. Distress tolerance partially accounted for the relationship between sleep quality and perceived stress but did not help to explain the association between sleep quality and depression or anxiety. Two components of distress tolerance, absorption and appraisal, helped to explain the relationship between sleep quality and all mental health outcomes. These findings help explain how distress tolerance relates to mental health when sleep is negatively impacted. Prospective designs replicating these findings are needed and future research may inform how psychological interventions could target distress tolerance in the context of poor sleep, especially during major stressors.

Distress and Prevention Behaviors During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among College Students: the Moderating Role of Resilience.

BACKGROUND: Pandemics can generate considerable distress, which can affect prevention behaviors. Resilience may buffer the negative effects of distress on engagement in relevant prevention behaviors, which may also hold true for COVID-19 prevention behaviors. The objective of the current study was to evaluate whether resilience moderated the relationship between distress and COVID-19 prevention behaviors early in the pandemic. METHODS: Data were collected via surveys in which all students at a large midwestern university were emailed invitations beginning March 18, 2020. Surveys were completed by 5,530 individuals. In addition to demographic questions and items about COVID-19 prevention behaviors, distress was assessed using the K6 Distress Scale and resilience using the Brief Resilience Scale. Data were analyzed using moderator regression analysis. RESULTS: Resilience moderates the effects from distress to prevention behaviors, such that the relationship was stronger for individuals with higher resilience than for individuals with lower resilience. When resilience was one standard deviation below the mean, at the mean value of resilience, and when resilience was one standard deviation above the mean, there was a significant positive relationship between distress and COVID-19 prevention behaviors. However, the relationship was strongest for those with high resilience, and lowest for those with low resilience. CONCLUSIONS: In the current sample, resilience appeared to influence the strength of the relationship between distress and COVID-19 prevention behaviors. Having higher resilience may promote positive adaptation to distress, leading individuals to engage in a greater number of disease-related prevention behaviors. Future research should examine this relationship longitudinally and in relation to differing constructs of resilience.

Gender diverse college students exhibit higher psychological distress than male and female peers during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

The ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic may be the greatest global biopsychosocial stressor in living memory, and there is widespread anticipation of a "mental health pandemic." Hardly mentioned, if ever, during the current COVID-19 pandemic is the effect on gender diverse (GD) populations. Using a novel approach, we address this gap in the current literature by comparing resilience, psychological distress, and perceived risk in a sample of college students at a public, R1, 4-year university. The survey included demographic questions, the Brief Resilience Scale, the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, and self-reported risk of contracting COVID-19. GD individuals (n = 83) were matched with male (n = 83) and female (n = 83) peers on survey cohort (1, 2, or 3), White versus Non-White, age category, and student status (undergraduate vs. graduate). GD individuals reported lower psychological resilience (M = 2.88, SD = 0.93) than both male (M = 3.57, SD = 0.81) and female (M = 3.37, SD = 0.83) students, higher psychological distress (M = 12.33, SD = 6.04) than both males (M = 6.7, SD = 5.76) and females (M = 8.70, SD = 6.57), and similar perceived risk (p = .54). Nearly half (48.2%) of GD individuals were above the cutoff for severe psychological distress. During the unprecedented events of the novel coronavirus pandemic, students in higher education settings are facing tremendous biopsychosocial stress. GD students had very high levels of psychological distress relative to their male and female peers during the pandemic and may need additional support and expanded access to treatment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved) Impact Statement Findings of a university community survey conducted during the novel coronavirus pandemic indicated that gender diverse (GD) students had very high levels of psychological distress. As the pandemic unfolded, GD students' distress was higher than that of their male and female peers, which was partly due to lower psychological resilience. As students begin returning to campuses for the Fall 2020 semester, GD students may be at increased risk of mental disorders and may need additional mental health support. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)