Psychological Well-Being in Asian and Asian American University Students: Impacts of Discrimination During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to determine what modifiable behavioral and sociological factors were predictive of psychological distress and suicide risk in Asian and Asian American students, the ethnic group with the highest unmet mental health need in collegiate populations. We also compared these relationships in Fall 2019 to Fall 2020 to better understand how the impact of these factors changed during the COVID-19 pandemic and concurrent increase in Anti-Asian discrimination. METHODS: We used factor analysis to extract a wide range of predictor variables from the Fall 2019 and Fall 2020 American College Health Association's National College Health Assessment III. Next, we used structural equation modeling to identify significant drivers of psychological distress (Kessler-6 scale) and suicidality (Suicide Behavior Questionnaire-Revised scale) in Asian and Asian American students (n = 4,681 in 2019 and 1,672 in 2020). RESULTS: When compared to 2019, experiencing discrimination in 2020 had a substantially larger effect on both psychological distress and suicidality among Asian and Asian American university students. Loneliness and depression were also significant drivers of negative mental health outcomes both years, and their effect magnitudes remained largely unchanged. Being well rested had a protective effect against psychological distress both years. DISCUSSION: During the COVID-19 pandemic, discrimination was an important driver of psychological distress and suicidality in Asian and Asian American students. These findings suggest that organizations should enhance culturally competent mental healthcare services, while also working at the systems level to reduce bias and discrimination.

University housing reinforces the negative relationship between interpersonal violence, psychological distress, and suicidality in undergraduates, particularly among gender diverse students.

OBJECTIVE: To compare academic and mental health outcomes across diverse gender identities in the context of interpersonal violence and campus housing. PARTICIPANTS: 45,549 students from 124 self-selected post-secondary institutions. METHODS: Various academic and health measures from the National College Health Assessment Spring 2017 dataset were analyzed for differences across five gender identities (cis women, cis men, transwomen, transmen, and genderqueer students), and two housing categories (university housing and non-university housing). RESULTS: When compared to cisgender peers, gender diverse students reported greater experiences of interpersonal violence and higher levels of negative academic and mental health outcomes. Living in university housing was associated with an increase in these disparities. CONCLUSIONS: University housing, which usually reinforces fixed gender binaries, is associated with worse outcomes for gender diverse students. These data can help higher education institutions better understand and address problems that disproportionately impact transgender and gender diverse students, who represent a growing demographic.

Statistical population reconstruction of moose (Alces alces) in northeastern Minnesota using integrated population models.

Given recent and abrupt declines in the abundance of moose (Alces alces) throughout parts of Minnesota and elsewhere in North America, accurately estimating statewide population trends and demographic parameters is a high priority for their continued management and conservation. Statistical population reconstruction using integrated population models provides a flexible framework for combining information from multiple studies to produce robust estimates of population abundance, recruitment, and survival. We used this framework to combine aerial survey data and survival data from telemetry studies to recreate trends and demographics of moose in northeastern Minnesota, USA, from 2005 to 2020. Statistical population reconstruction confirmed the sharp decline in abundance from an estimated 7,841 (90% CI = 6,702-8,933) in 2009 to 3,386 (90% CI = 2,681-4,243) animals in 2013, but also indicated that abundance has remained relatively stable since then, except for a slight decline to 3,163 (90% CI = 2,403-3,718) in 2020. Subsequent stochastic projection of the population from 2021 to 2030 suggests that this modest decline will continue for the next 10 years. Both annual adult survival and per-capita recruitment (number of calves that survived to 1 year per adult female alive during the previous year) decreased substantially in years 2005 and 2019, from 0.902 (SE = 0.043) to 0.689 (SE = 0.061) and from 0.386 (SE = 0.030) to 0.303 (SE = 0.051), respectively. Sensitivity analysis revealed that moose abundance was more sensitive to fluctuations in adult survival than recruitment; thus, we conclude that the steep decline in 2013 was driven primarily by decreasing adult survival. Our analysis demonstrates the potential utility of using statistical population reconstruction to monitor moose population trends and to identify population declines more quickly. Future studies should focus on providing better estimates of per-capita recruitment, using pregnancy rates and calf survival, which can then be incorporated into reconstruction models to help improve estimates of population change through time.

Sleep quality mediates the relationship between traumatic events, psychological distress, and suicidality in college undergraduates.

Objectives: To determine whether sleep quality mediates the relationship between traumatic life events and psychological wellbeing in college students. Methods: 40,646 undergraduate responses from the Spring 2017 National College Health Assessment II were evaluated for relationships between two predictor variables: satisfactory sleep and traumatic life events, and two outcome variables: psychological distress (a composite of anxiety, exhaustion, feeling overwhelmed, depression, sadness, loneliness, hopelessness, and anger) and suicidality (composite of self-harm behaviors, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts). Linear mediation regression analysis via structural equation modeling was used to test these relationships. Results: Each additional traumatic life event students reported experiencing was associated with a 27.6% - 58.9% increase in the odds of reporting indicators of psychological distress or suicidality. Satisfactory sleep significantly mediated this negative relationship (proportional effects between 10.6 and 12.5%). Conclusions: Healthy sleep mediates the impact of traumatic life events on psychological distress and suicidality.

Native insect herbivory overwhelms context dependence to limit complex invasion dynamics of exotic weeds.

Understanding the role of consumers in density-dependent plant population dynamics is a long-standing goal in ecology. However, the generality of herbivory effects across heterogeneous landscapes is poorly understood due to the pervasive influence of context-dependence. We tested effects of native insect herbivory on the population dynamics of an exotic thistle, Cirsium vulgare, in a field experiment replicated across eight sites in eastern Nebraska. Using hierarchical Bayesian analysis and density-dependent population models, we found potential for explosive low-density population growth (λ > 5) and complex density fluctuations under herbivore exclusion. However, herbivore access drove population decline (λ < 1), suppressing complex fluctuations. While plant-herbivore interaction outcomes are famously context-dependent, we demonstrated that herbivores suppress potentially invasive populations throughout our study region, and this qualitative outcome is insensitive to environmental context. Our novel use of Bayesian demographic modelling shows that native insect herbivores consistently prevent hard-to-predict fluctuations of weeds in environments otherwise susceptible to invasion.