Sense of danger, sense of country's mastery, and sense of personal mastery as concomitants of psychological distress and subjective well-being in a sample of Poles following Russia's invasion of Ukraine: Prospective analyses.

This study investigated psychological toll of the ongoing war in neighboring Ukraine in a sample of adult Poles (N = 1245). Data were collected online in early February and August 2022. Prospective analyses that accounted for psychological health status assessed before the Russian invasion showed that higher levels of sense of danger due to the war predicted higher levels of psychological distress and lower levels of affect balance close to 6 months after Russia attacked Ukraine. Sense of country's mastery (i.e. beliefs that government, its major institutions, and citizens would effectively cope with various emergencies and crises) served as a protective factor. Likewise, Poles who had confidence in their personal mastery (e.g., beliefs in ability to exercise control over life challenges) exhibited less distress and more subjective well-being. These findings emerged after controlling for sociodemographic factors, the presence of stressful experiences associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, and other life events. Wars dramatically reverberate beyond the borders of the countries involved. People's own sense of mastery and their trust in the resilience of their governmental and public institutions are critical in times of coping with existential security threats and wars.

A full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022: Resilience and coping within and beyond Ukraine.

The study examined the resilience and coping of samples from Ukraine and five nearby countries during the war in Ukraine. The research focused on (1) the levels of community and societal resilience of the Ukrainian respondents compared with the populations of five nearby European countries and (2) commonalities and diversities concerning coping indicators (hope, well-being, perceived threats, distress symptoms, and sense of danger) across the examined countries. A cross-sectional study was conducted, based on data collection through Internet panel samples, representing the six countries' adult populations. Ukrainian respondents reported the highest levels of community and societal resilience, hope, and distress symptoms and the lowest level of well-being, compared to the population of the five nearby European countries. Hope was the best predictor of community and societal resilience in all countries. Positive coping variables, most notably hope, but also perceived well-being are instrumental in building resilience. While building resilience on a societal level is a complex, multifaceted task, various dimensions must be considered when planning actions to support these states. It is essential to monitor the levels of resilience, during and following the resolution of the crisis, both in Ukraine and in the neighboring countries.

Self-Control and Digital Media Addiction: The Mediating Role of Media Multitasking and Time Style.

Introduction: As being an initiating actions and resisting short-term temptations, self-control is negatively related to digital media addiction. However, many studies indicate that there are variables that may mediate this relationship. The present study investigated the mediating role of media multitasking and time style in the relationship between self-control and digital media addiction. Methods: The study included N= 2193 participants with a mean age of M = 23.26 (SD = 6.98) from seven countries: Brazil, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Poland, Turkey, and the United States. The authors used the Brief Self-Control Scale, the Media Multitasking Scale, the Time Styles Scale, the Problematic Smartphone Use Scale, the Problematic Internet Use Scale, and the Problematic Facebook Use Scale. Results: Results revealed that self-control was negatively related to all assessed types of problematic digital media use, namely problematic Internet use, problematic smartphone use, and problematic Facebook use. Media multitasking was found to be a significant mediator of the relationship between self-control and problematic digital media use. Discussion: High self-control can be preventative against uncontrolled and automatic social media checking, whereas low self-control fosters the habit of continuously remaining current.

Life stressors and posttraumatic stress symptoms mediate the association between disaster exposure and identity-related distress in emerging adults.

Objective: The current multi-university, multi-disaster study examined the impact of natural disaster exposure on identity-related distress through life stressors and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Participants: Young adult university students (n = 665, 77% female, M = 20.5 years old) participated in Wave (W) 1. Half provided contact information for follow-up, and 136 university students participated in W2. Method: University students in the mainland U.S. and Puerto Rico were asked about disaster exposure, life stressors, PTSS, and identity-related distress at W1 (M = 9.7 months post-disaster) and identity-related distress at W2 (M = 12.4 months after W1). Two serial mediation models assessed the indirect effect of disaster exposure on W1 and W2 identity-related distress through life stressors and PTSS. Results: Disaster exposure impacted identity-related distress concurrently and longitudinally through increasing life stressors since disaster and PTSS. Conclusion: Potential supportive services should address identity-related distress among disaster-exposed young adults with PTSS.

How Does Parenthood Moderate Paths Between Personal and Community Resources and Distress following Collective Trauma?

This study examines the moderating role of parenthood in associations between personal and community resources and psychological distress and somatization following collective exposure to security threats. The research questions were guided by Terror Management Theory that posits that parenthood involves heightened anxiety when children are in danger yet may also provide an existential resource that can reduce the individuals' distress. The study was conducted following the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict and included 1014 Israelis. The participants completed a questionnaire assessing levels of trauma exposure (the predictors), sense of mastery (personal resource), engagement in community activities and trust in leaders (community resources), and psychological distress and somatization (the outcomes). Results indicated that parenthood moderated several associations between trauma exposure and personal and community resources as well as paths between these resources and psychological distress. In almost all these cases, these paths were statistically significant only among parents in two different directions. Parenthood was associated with more psychological distress through lower sense of mastery and greater engagement in community activities. On the other hand, parenthood was related to lower psychological distress through greater trust in local leaders. In addition, only among parents, lower levels of mastery mediated the association between trauma exposure and somatization. These results offer significant implications for practitioners. Although parents and non-parents can be similarly affected by trauma exposure with respect to trauma-related outcomes, the way to assist them to reduce these negative outcomes should be conducted through different paths involving their personal and community resources.

Social cognitive mechanisms in healthcare worker resilience across time during the pandemic.

PURPOSE: Healthcare workers are at increased risk for mental health problems during disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Identifying resilience mechanisms can inform development of interventions for this population. The current study examined pathways that may support healthcare worker resilience, specifically testing enabling (social support enabled self-efficacy) and cultivation (self-efficacy cultivating support) models. METHODS: Healthcare workers (N = 828) in the Rocky Mountain West completed self-report measures at four time points (once per month from April to July of 2020). We estimated structural equation models to explore the potential mediating effects that received social support and coping self-efficacy had (at time 2 and time 3) between traumatic stress symptom severity (at time 1 and time 4). Models included covariates gender, age, minority status, and time lagged co-variations between the proposed mediators (social support and coping self-efficacy). RESULTS: The full model fit the data well, CFI = .993, SRMR = .027, RMSEA = .036 [90% CIs (0.013, 0.057)]. Tests of sequential mediation supported enabling model dynamics. Specifically, the effects of time 1 traumatic stress severity were mediated through received social support at time 2 and time 3 coping self-efficacy, in sequential order to reduce time 4 traumatic stress severity. CONCLUSIONS: Findings show the importance of received social support and coping self-efficacy in mitigating psychopathology risk. Interventions can support mental health by focusing on social resource engagement that facilitates coping empowerment, which may decrease risk for mental health job-related problems among frontline healthcare workers exposed to highly stressful events.

COVID-19: Why Do People Refuse Vaccination? The Role of Social Identities and Conspiracy Beliefs: Evidence from Nationwide Samples of Polish Adults.

In the present research, we focus on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, and empirically examine how different forms of social identity (defensive vs. secure national identity and identification with all humanity) and conspiracy beliefs are associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. In two cross-sectional nationwide surveys (Study 1, n = 432, and Study 2, n = 807), we found that willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 was negatively linked to national narcissism, but positively related to a secure national identification, that is, national identification without the narcissistic component. In both studies, we also found that the relationship between narcissistic (vs. secure) national identity and unwillingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 was mediated by COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy beliefs. These effects were present even when we accounted for basic demographics (Studies 1 and 2) and identification with all humanity (Study 2), which had been found to be a significant predictor of health behaviors during COVID-19. In line with previous research, identification with all humanity was positively associated with the willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19. We discuss the implications for understanding the role of the way in which people identify with their national and supranational groups in antiscience attitudes and (mal)adaptive behaviors during COVID-19 pandemic.

The impact of received social support on posttraumatic growth after disaster: The importance of both support quantity and quality.

OBJECTIVE: Few studies have investigated the relationship between received social support (actual help received) and posttraumatic growth (PTG), and these studies focused only on the quantity of support received. This study examined the joint implications of both the quantity and quality of postdisaster received social support for PTG. METHOD: Data were collected from Lushan earthquake (China, in 2013) survivors at 7 (n = 199) and 31 (n = 161) months after the earthquake. The main effects of quantity and quality of received support, and the interaction between support quantity and support quality, were examined using hierarchical multiple regression analyses controlling for the extent of disaster exposure, postdisaster negative life events, and sociodemographic factors. RESULTS: Neither quantity nor quality of received social support exerted significant main effects on PTG. However, the influence of the amount of received social support on PTG was moderated by the quality of received social support. Among survivors who appraised the postdisaster social support they received as higher in quality, greater amounts of received support were associated with more subsequent PTG. Among those survivors who appraised the postdisaster social support they received as lower in quality, greater quantity of received support was associated with lower levels of reported PTG. CONCLUSION: This study calls attention to the importance of enhancing the quality of help provided to disaster survivors because simply "more" support is not necessarily better. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Mastery, Social Support, and Sense of Community as Protective Resources Against Psychological Distress Among Israelis Exposed to Prolonged Rocket Attacks.

We investigated the psychological toll of exposure to rocket attacks as experienced by residents of central and southern Israel during the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict. Participants completed an online survey assessing their life-threatening experiences, the availability of psychosocial resources, and symptoms of both PTSD (PCL-5) and nonspecific psychological distress (K6) 2-3 months posttrauma. Guided by the conservation of resources theory, we focused on the distress-protective functions of person- and community-oriented resources: mastery, perceived social support, and sense of community. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that elevated exposure to rocket attacks predicted higher levels of PTSD but not psychological distress. All 13 predictors (i.e., sociodemographic factors, trauma exposure, personal and community resources) and three interactions between rocket attack-related trauma exposure and each of the resources accounted for a significant amount of the variance in PTSD, R2 = .251, adjusted R2 = .235, and nonspecific psychological distress, R2 = .280, adjusted R2 = .264. Predictably, higher levels of mastery and perceived social support were associated with lower PCL-5 and K6 scores. Unexpectedly, respondents who reported a higher sense of community exhibited more PTSD symptoms. Supplementary analyses indicated that among individuals with lower levels of mastery, sense of community was related to higher PCL-5 scores. Psychosocial resources are important for coping with community-wide stressors, but their roles are complex. Maintaining a sense of community among individuals who experience shared trauma is undoubtedly critical, yet potential downsides of collective coping among those with lower levels of mastery should be recognized and further investigated.

Personal mastery and community dedication as mediators of the association of trauma exposure with PTSS and PTG.

Objective: The present study, conducted after the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict, was aimed to investigate 2 resources (i.e., personal mastery and community dedication) hypothesized to have a mediating effect on the relationship between trauma exposure and PTSS (posttraumatic stress symptoms) and PTG (posttraumatic growth) in the aftermath of a traumatic event. Method: Israeli civilians (N = 1,014) completed a questionnaire assessing levels of trauma exposure (the predictors), sense of mastery and community dedication (the mediators), and PTSS and PTG (the outcomes). Results: PTSS and PTG were positively related. Sense of mastery mediated the association between trauma exposure and PTSS symptoms and was negatively associated with PTSS and PTG. Community dedication was positively related to PTG and mediated the association of trauma with PTG. Conclusions: People higher in mastery may not need to search for a "silver lining" in coping with psychological consequences of trauma as they believe they are capable of handling it. Conversely, persons with higher levels of coping self-confidence may be denied the benefits of posttraumatic growth in coping with trauma. People's connections to the community in times of coping with collective upheavals may not protect them against PTSS yet community orientation may bring postevent benefits of posttraumatic growth. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

A scoping review of post-disaster social support investigations conducted after disasters that struck the Australia and Oceania continent.

This scoping review provides a summary of research findings on social support dynamics in the wake of disasters that occurred on the continent of Australia and Oceania between 1983 and 2013. Forty-one studies, quantitative and qualitative, were summarised, investigating different facets of post-disaster supportive interactions. All inquiries assessed disasters resulting from natural hazards, with the majority of them conducted following events in Australia and New Zealand. The review revealed similar patterns of post-disaster social support dynamics that routinely unfold after disastrous incidents all over the world. Consistent with the disaster mental health literature, the documentation of social support mobilisation and social support deterioration processes was common. Salutary direct effects of supportive behaviours on post-disaster psychological distress were also highly evident. Most studies, however, posed research questions or hypotheses that lacked empirical or theoretical grounding. In conclusion, the review offers several recommendations on how to advance research on post-disaster social support.

Social support, interpersonal, and community dynamics following disasters caused by natural hazards.

The most essential, and possibly the most reliably present, characteristic of all disasters is that they exert strong impact on social relationships. Two very different, at times conflicting, dynamic processes emerge in their aftermath: the initial outpouring of immense mutual helping and solidarity, followed by a subsequent sense of loss in the quality of interpersonal and community relationships. This review of recent findings in the area of disaster mental health confirmed two major patterns of social support dynamics following disastrous events resulting from natural hazards: a mobilization of received social support and deterioration of perceived social support and sense of community. Social support is a critical resource helping people cope with natural disasters. Its psychologically and socially protective functions for survivors and their communities unfold in a complex matrix of benefits and liabilities.

Social support following a natural disaster: A longitudinal study of survivors of the 2013 Lushan earthquake in China.

The idea that social support post-disaster is beneficial to survivors' mental health is widely accepted by both researchers and practitioners. However previous social support studies are mainly focused on perceived social support, and the limited received social support studies have produced mixed results. In this study we modelled the influence of both quantity and quality of received social support on long-term mental health outcomes in a longitudinal study of 2013 Lushan earthquake survivors in China. Survivors were invited to complete a questionnaire interview 7 months after the earthquake and were followed up 31 months later (n = 161). Hierarchical regression analyses that controlled for disaster exposure variables showed that greater quality of social support received 7 months after disaster predicted lower levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms and psychological distress two years later, however quantity of received social support was not significant in predicting these two outcomes. These results remained robust when controlled for gender, negative life events and family financial status. The findings of this study suggest that what appears to be critical in the process of supporting disaster survivors is the quality, not necessarily the quantity, of support provided.

Factors associated with post-election psychological distress: The case of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

This study, through the lens of Social Cognitive Theory, examined potential risk factors that may intensify election-related psychological distress. Six weeks after the 2016 U.S. election, 772 U.S. adult citizens filled out an online survey that assessed psychological distress along with sociodemographic characteristics, and a set of variables tapping various dimensions of political self-efficacy (i.e., importance of politics in one's life, preferences for different media outlets, political directness, and voting choices). The findings showed that election-related psychological distress was positively associated with young age, greater reliance on new media, greater importance of politics in one's life, higher political directness, and voting for the candidate who did not win the election. Findings should be valuable for health-care providers informing them about potential risk factors intensifying psychological distress in the context of significant political events.

Engagement in community activities and trust in local leaders as concomitants of psychological distress among Israeli civilians exposed to prolonged rocket attacks.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Present study, conducted in the aftermath of the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict, investigated psychological toll of exposure to rockets attacks in a sample of residents of central and southern Israel. Analyses focused on the distress-protective functions of collectively grounded resources: engagement in community activities and trust in local leadership. DESIGN: This cross-sectional study was conducted between 2 and 3 months after the hostilities. METHOD: Participants (N = 764) were recruited by an online survey company that distributed a questionnaire assessing, in addition to focal predictors, sociodemographic factors and prior exposure to trauma. The outcome variables were post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and nonspecific distress symptoms. RESULTS: Conservative regression analyses revealed that greater exposure to rocket attacks was predictive of higher levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms. Higher engagement in community activities exhibited a partial trauma-buffering function. However, higher levels of trust in local leaders appeared to exacerbate, rather than diminish, negative impact of rocket exposure on PTSD. Symptoms of psychological distress were not influenced neither by trauma exposure nor by stressor interactions with resources. Trust in local leadership exerted a beneficial main effect on distress. CONCLUSIONS: Collectively based resources are important for coping in times of community-wide stressors, yet their role is complex.

Psychological distress and prejudice following terror attacks in France.

Terrorist attacks have the capacity to threaten our beliefs about the world, cause distress across populations and promote discrimination towards particular groups. We examined the impact of two different types of attacks in the same city and same year on psychological distress and probable posttraumatic stress symptoms, and the moderating effects of religion or media use on distress/posttraumatic symptoms and inter-group relations. Two panel surveys four weeks after the January 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack (N = 1981) and the November 2015 Bataclan concert hall/restaurant attacks (N = 1878), measured intrinsic religiosity, social and traditional media use, psychological distress (K6), probable posttraumatic stress symptoms (proposed ICD-11), symbolic racism and willingness to interact with Muslims by non-Muslims. Prevalence of serious mental illness (K6 score > 18) was higher after November 2015 attacks (7.0% after the first attack, 10.2% the second, χ2 (1) = 5.67, p < 0.02), as were probable posttraumatic stress symptoms (11.9% vs. 14.1%; χ2 (1) = 4.15, p < 0.04). In structural equation analyses, sex, age, geographic proximity, media use and religiosity were associated with distress, as was the interaction between event and religiosity. Distress was then associated with racism symbolism and willingness to interact with Muslims. Implications are considered for managing psychological trauma across populations, and protecting inter-group harmony.

Revisiting stigma: Exposure to Tourette in an ordinary setting increases stigmatization.

Stigma toward people with mental disorders is frequently studied yet less is known about prejudice toward persons with tic disorders, especially sufferers of Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome (GTS). We examined stigmatizing attributions concerning a GTS patient in an online study with participants randomly assigned to one of two video clip conditions: the experimental group saw to a person with Tourette syndrome; the control group watched a nature scenic footage. Results revealed that participants in the experimental condition exhibited higher scores on a stigma questionnaire. Clinicians should be aware that GTS patients are prone to being stigmatized by general public.