Problematic smartphone use and affective temperaments among Lebanese young adults: scale validation and mediating role of self-esteem.

BACKGROUND: Adults all over the world face serious issues from problematic smartphone use (PSU). It influences them negatively on a cognitive, behavioral, and emotional level, as well as on their tendencies and well-being. In Lebanon, the prevalence of PSU was shown to be 20.2% within the adult population, specifically with young adults (18-34 years old). This study investigates the validity and reliability of the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS) Arabic version. In addition, this study evaluates the association between PSU and affective temperaments and the mediating role of self-esteem in this association. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was carried out between August and September 2020, using a sample of community-dwelling participants aged 18 to 29 years. The Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version was used to evaluate smartphone addiction among adolescents and adults. The five different temperaments of the patients were assessed by using the Affective temperament Scale (TEMPS-A). The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale was used to evaluate self-esteem. RESULTS: 461 participants were included in this study. All items of the SAS were extracted and yielded a one-factor solution with Eigenvalues > 1 (variance explained = 49.96%; αCronbach = 0.886). The confirmatory analysis results consolidated those obtained from the factor analysis. Higher depressive temperament (B = 0.46) was significantly associated with more smartphone addiction, whereas higher self-esteem (B = - 0.28) was significantly associated with less smartphone addiction. Self-esteem was found to mediate the association between depressive and hyperthymic temperaments with smartphone addiction. CONCLUSION: This study added a better understanding of the high smartphone addiction rate among adults in Lebanon. It confirms the association between affective temperaments and PSU through the mediating effect of self-esteem on Lebanese adults.

Resilience and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Resilience is a process that allows recovery from or adaptation to adversities. The aim of this study was to evaluate state resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic in psychiatric patients (PP), unaffected relatives (UR) and community controls (CC). METHODS: This study is part of the Barcelona ResIlience Survey for Mental Health COVID-19 (BRIS-MHC) project. Logistic regression models were performed to identify mental health outcomes associated with bad state resilience and predictors of good state resilience. The association between state resilience and specific affective temperaments as well as their influence on the association between depressive symptoms and state resilience were verified. RESULTS: The study recruited 898 participants that took part in the survey. The presence of depressive symptoms was a predictor of bad state resilience in PP (ß=0.110, OR=1.117, p=0.028). No specific mental health outcome was associated with bad state resilience in UR and CC. Predictors of good state resilience in PP were having pursued hobbies/conducted home tasks (ß=1.261, OR=3.528, p=0.044) and level of organization in the family (ß=0.986, OR=2.682, p=0.008). Having a controlling family was inversely associated with good state resilience in CC (ß=-1.004, OR=0.367, p=0.012). The association between bad state resilience and depressive symptoms was partially mediated by affective temperaments. LIMITATIONS: Participants self-reported their psychiatric diagnoses, their relatives' diagnoses or the absence of a psychiatric disorder, as well as their psychiatric symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Enhancing resilience and coping strategies in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic might have important implications in terms of mental health outcomes.

Psychological Distress After Covid-19 Recovery: Reciprocal Effects With Temperament and Emotional Dysregulation. An Exploratory Study of Patients Over 60 Years of Age Assessed in a Post-acute Care Service.

To study the long-term psychological effects of Covid-19 disease, we recruited 61 patients older than 60 years of age and administered the Kessler questionnaire K10 to assess psychological distress and classify them according to mental health risk groups. Patients' affective temperaments were assessed with the 39-item form of the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris, and San Diego (TEMPS-A-39) and emotional dysregulation with the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). Patients were divided in two samples according to their scores on the K10, i.e., a high likelihood of psychological distress group (N = 18) and a low likelihood of psychological distress group (N = 43). The two groups differed on their gender composition, in that more women (N = 11) were in the former and more men in the latter (N = 29) (χ2 = 4.28; p = 0.039). The high likelihood of psychological distress group scored higher on the Cyclothymic (3.39 ± 3.45 vs. 0.93 ± 1.08, p < 0.001) and the Depressive (2.28 ± 2.82 vs. 0.65 ± 1.09, p = 0.01) affective temperaments of the TEMPS and on the lack of Impulse control (12.67 ± 4.04 vs. 9.63 ± 3.14, p = 0.003) and lack of Clarity (15.00 ± 5.56 vs. 9.85 ± 4.67, p = 0.004) scales of the DERS. Our results show that having had Covid-19 may be related with high likelihood for psychological distress in advanced-age people and this may in turn be associated with impaired emotional regulation and higher scores on depressive and cyclothymic temperaments.