Predictive factors of the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on university students: a study in six Ibero-American countries / Factores predictivos del impacto psicológico de la pandemia de COVID-19 en estudiantes universitarios: un estudio en seis países iberoamericanos

Background/Objective: During Covid-19, high prevalences of anxiety and depression were reported among university students, suggesting that they may be at higher risk than the general population of developing psychological disorders in lockdown situations. This study aimed to analyze how sociocultural factors and individual differences contributed to explaining the psychological impact of the pandemic among Ibero-American university students from Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Spain, Mexico, and Uruguay. Method: The study was carried out on 7601 university students (72% women). Data were collected through an online questionnaire that measured anxiety (GAD-2), depression (PHQ-2), somatic symptoms (SSQ-5), post-traumatic growth (PTGI), loneliness (UCLS), personality (NEO-FFI), Resilience (CD-RISC-2), Perceived Competences (PCS) and sociodemographic data. Descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression model were performed. Results: Analysis indicated a high prevalence (46.15%) of distress among university students, regardless of country and significantly higher than in the general population (28.27%). Greater feelings of loneliness and greater neuroticism were significantly associated with anxiety, depression, and somatization. Likewise, male gender and higher levels of resilience were found to be protective factors, while post-traumatic growth was also higher in men and was associated with higher levels of resilience, perceived competence, and responsibility. Conclusions: The results suggest the need to consider individual risk factors such as being a woman, presenting higher levels of neuroticism and loneliness in understanding the psychological impact of the pandemic on university students. It is concluded that universities should offer specific interventions to address mental health problems and manage the added complications of crisis events on the health of students.(AU)

Antecedentes/Objetivo: Durante el Covid-19, se informaron altas prevalencias de ansiedad y depresión entre estudiantes universitarios, lo que sugiere que pueden tener un mayor riesgo que la población general de desarrollar trastornos psicológicos en situaciones de encierro. Este estudio tuvo como objetivo analizar cómo los factores socioculturales y las diferencias individuales contribuyeron a explicar el impacto psicológico de la pandemia entre estudiantes universitarios iberoamericanos de Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, España, México y Uruguay. Método: El estudio se realizó en 7601 estudiantes universitarios (72% mujeres). Los datos fueron recolectados a través de un cuestionario en línea que midió ansiedad (GAD-2), depresión (PHQ-2), síntomas somáticos (SSQ-5), crecimiento postraumático (PTGI), soledad (UCLS), personalidad (NEO-FFI), Resiliencia (CD-RISC-2), Competencia Percibida (PCS) y datos sociodemográficos. Se realizó estadística descriptiva y modelo de regresión lineal múltiple. Resultados: Los análisis indicaron una alta prevalencia (46,15%) de angustia entre los estudiantes universitarios, independientemente del país y significativamente mayor que en la población general (28,27%). Mayores sentimientos de soledad y mayor neuroticismo se asociaron significativamente con ansiedad, depresión y somatización. Asimismo, el género masculino y mayores niveles de resiliencia resultaron ser factores protectores, mientras que el crecimiento postraumático también fue mayor en los hombres y se asoció con mayores niveles de resiliencia, competencia percibida y responsabilidad. Conclusiones: Los resultados sugieren la necesidad de considerar factores de riesgo individuales como ser mujer, presentar mayores niveles de neuroticismo y soledad en la comprensión del impacto psicológico de la pandemia en estudiantes universitarios. Se concluye que las universidades deben ofrecer intervenciones específicas para abordar los problemas de salud mental y manejar las complicaciones añadidas de los eventos de crisis sobre la salud de los estudiantes.(AU)

Describing Callous Unemotional Traits and Stressful Life Event Trajectories: Differences on Risk Factors and Mental Health Outcomes from the Age of 3 to 10.

Callous Unemotional (CU) traits are associated with different environmental risk factors, such as negative stressful life events (SLE). The most common studied SLE associated with CU trait has been childhood maltreatment, but less is known about how other SLE impact the development of CU traits. Therefore, this work examines risk factors, personal factors (executive functioning), and mental health outcomes associated with the trajectories of Callous Unemotional (CU) traits and Stressful Life Events (SLE) in a community sample of children. A cohort of 377 preschoolers were followed up between ages 3 and 10. Several risk factors and outcomes for three trajectory groups (high CU/SLE; high CU/low SLE; and the reference group with low CU/SLE) were analyzed by using multiple post-hoc comparisons. We hypothesized that children with high CU/SLE would face more contextual risk factors, more executive functioning difficulties and more mental health problems than children with high CU/low SLE or the reference group. At the age of 3, children who showed high CU/SLE faced more early contextual adversity, including socioeconomic difficulties and maternal antisocial behavior than the other groups of children. At the age of 10, children with high CU/SLE presented more peer problems and higher psychopathology symptoms than the reference group, but no differences on mental health outcomes in comparison to the high CU/low SLE group. These results have potential implications for clinical practice and studies attempting to identify different CU subtypes in children.

Age and sex-specific cutoff scores for the teacher-report inventory of callous-unemotional traits on children.

This longitudinal study aims to provide meaningful cutoff scores for total score of the teacher-rated Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU) from the preschool age until early adolescence, separately by age and sex. The ICU cutoff scores were determined by using low/high trajectories of oppositional defiant problems (ODP) and conduct problems in a Spanish community sample of 620 children that were followed up between the ages of 3 and 13. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves with the two trajectories as criteria and ICU total score at each age as a predictor were estimated by sex separately, and the area under the ROC curve (AUC) was obtained. Average ICU cutoff scores of 26 for boys and 22 for girls were found to be of moderate utility for the prediction of high trajectories of each of ODP and conduct problems. They identified cases with an average sensitivity of 66% and specificity of 70% for boys and an average sensitivity of 69% and specificity of 72% for girls. The obtained cutoff scores might help clinical practitioners in their decision-making process when identifying low and high-risk groups of children. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Source-Specific Information on Social Cognition: A Matter of Context or Concept?

This work tackles the measurement invariance of the social cognition construct when different observers, age and participant's age are considered. This is a prior question that needs to be answered before attributing discrepancies in information coming from diverse sources just to the varying behavior occurring across setting, and mainly interpret the discrepancies as indicative of cross-contextual variability. The article also studies the link between discrepancies and source-specific information and the validity of that information to predict several outcomes. The measurement invariance across sex, time and informant of a social cognition measure applied to children's parents and teachers was longitudinally tested in a Spanish general population sample, at ages 5 (N = 581) and 10 (N = 438). Full or partial metric and scalar equivalence were found across sex and over time within informants. Partial scalar invariance was not obtained across informants. Latent class analysis identified 2 classes of difficulties in social cognition for both informants at both ages: low social cognition and high social cognition. Comparison of classes resulting predicting outcomes yielded differential predictions due not only to varying context but also to a different concept of social cognition across informants. In general, significant differences between raters were informant dependent. We conclude that it is important to consider both teachers' and parents' observations to fully understand the construct of social cognition.

Resilience and occupational health of health care workers: a moderator analysis of organizational resilience and sociodemographic attributes.

OBJECTIVES: Although previous studies have proposed a positive influence of resilience on the mental and physical health of health care workers, empirical evidence on its relationship with occupational health remains scarce. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between individual resilience and several occupational health indicators, as well as exploring the moderating role of organizational resilience and sociodemographic attributes on this relationship. METHODS: A cross-sectional design was used with a questionnaire applied to a sample of 325 workers from the Spanish health care sector. RESULTS: Individual resilience was significantly associated with the indicators of occupational health. A direct effect of individual resilience on job satisfaction was found. The influence of resilience on the perception of fatigue and suffering from an illness was reverse. Age moderated the impact of resilience on the perception of stress and medical leave. Besides, organizational resilience proved to be an important adjustment variable in job satisfaction and perception of stress. CONCLUSIONS: The findings show the relevance to take both individual and organizational resilience into account when applying intervention programs to improve the occupational health of health care workers.

Life Conditions during COVID-19 Lockdown and Mental Health in Spanish Adolescents.

Spanish children were locked down for 72 days due to COVID-19, causing severe disruption to their normal life. The threat posed by COVID-19 continues and clinicians, administrators, and families need to know the life conditions associated with more psychological problems to modify them and minimize their effect on mental health. The goal was to study the life conditions of adolescents during lockdown and their association with psychological problems. A total of 226 parents of 117 girls and 109 boys (mean age: 13.9; Standard deviation: 0.28) from the community that were participants in a longitudinal study answered an online questionnaire about life conditions during lockdown and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Stepwise regression analyses controlling by previous reports of SDQ were performed. Conduct, peer, prosocial, and total problems scores increased after lockdown. After adjusting for previous measures of psychopathology, worse adolescents' mental health during COVID-19 lockdown was associated with unhealthy activities, worsening of the relationships with others, and dysfunctional parenting style. It seems important to mitigate psychological stress in a situation of isolation due to a state of emergency by keeping the adolescent active and maintaining their daily habits and routines in a non-conflictive atmosphere and give support to parents.

Warning signs of preschool victimization using the strengths and difficulties questionnaire: Prevalence and individual and family risk factors.

INTRODUCTION: School victimization by peers is an important social problem with serious short- and long-term consequences poorly studied at preschool ages, which can lead to school bullying without timely intervention. Longitudinal data was used to determine the prevalence of warning signs of preschool peer victimization and its individual and family risk factors. METHODS: Data was obtained from 577 community preschoolers. School victimization was measured using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) administered to parents and teachers of children at ages 4 and 5. Risk factors for the child (demographics, conduct and emotional problems, aggressiveness) and the family (maternal problems during pregnancy and early development, parenting styles, adaptive functioning and parents' problems) were previously recorded at 3 years old. RESULTS: Combined information from parents and teachers showed that 4.2% of preschoolers presented warning signs of victimization at ages 4 and 5. Low socioeconomic status, poor emotional control, early problems making friends and low level of parenting education in social norms at age 3 predicted later victimization at ages 4 and 5 (AUC = .78). CONCLUSION: Peer victimization affects a considerable percentage of preschoolers. Early detection may help to reduce the risk of escalation.

Theory of Mind (ToM) Performance in High Functioning Autism (HFA) and Schizotypal-Schizoid Personality Disorders (SSPD) Patients.

The similarities between high functioning autism (HFA) and schizotypal-schizoid personality disorder (SSPD) in terms of social cognition and interpersonal deficits may lead to confusion in symptom interpretation, and consequently result in misdiagnosis. Thus, this study aims to investigate differences in mentalizing with particular interest on the socio-cognitive and socio-affective dimensions. Three Advanced Theory of Mind (ToM) tests were applied in 35 patients with HFA, 30 patients with SSPD and 36 healthy controls. Individuals with HFA showed greater impairment and no dissociation between affective and cognitive ToM components. Conversely, SSPD individuals displayed less difficulties but greater impairments on the cognitive component. Beyond the replicability of ToM impairment in HFA individuals, our findings suggest more impaired cognitive ToM in SSPD participants which further support the sequence of mentalizing development build upon different chronological stages.

Prevalence, comorbidity, functioning and long-term effects of subthreshold oppositional defiant disorder in a community sample of preschoolers.

To study the prevalence of subthreshold oppositional defiant disorder (ST ODD)-less than 4 symptoms, but nonetheless an impairing form of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)-its coexistence with other homotypic externalizing and heterotypical internalizing problems in children and associated impairment, as well as the long-term effect of this condition. A population-based sample of 622 preschoolers (5.0% boys) was followed up from preschool to preadolescence. Parents were interviewed when the children were 3, 6 and 9 years old with the Diagnostic Interview for Preschoolers/Children and Adolescents versions following DSM-5 and the children's functioning was assessed by trained clinicians. ST ODD diagnosis is highly prevalent (19.4-25.5%), highly comorbid [homo- (1.9-18.4%) and heterotypical (5.8-23.7%)], resulting in functional impairment across child development in a similar way for both genders. ST is also a risk factor condition that predicts the presence of psychological problems and impairment in childhood and preadolescence from preschool age. A broader clinical assessment and intervention similar to that provided full syndrome cases is needed for children presenting subthreshold forms of ODD.

Cognitive impairment following chemotherapy for breast cancer: The impact of practice effect on results.

Chemotherapy-Related Cognitive Impairment (CRCI) can be an adverse effect in women treated for breast cancer. Some longitudinal studies reported deficits in attention, memory, and executive function following treatment, but other studies did not find cognitive changes. It is known that practice effects (PE) on repeated assessments with cognitive tests contribute to the discrepancies in these results, but its influence on scores has not been systematically explored. The present study examines the impact of PE on retest scores in a group of women with breast cancer treated with chemotherapy and evaluated longitudinally. METHOD: 51 women with breast cancer treated with a combination of 5-fluorouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide with or without taxanes were assessed after surgery but before chemotherapy (T1), post-chemotherapy (T2), and at one year after T2 (T3). Longitudinal changes on cognitive performance were analyzed twice: when retest scores were not corrected for PE and when correction for PE was applied to T2 and T3 scores. RESULTS: When PE was not corrected, progressive improvement over time in measures of memory and divided attention at T2 and T3 was observed. In contrast, when PE was corrected, worsening was found in measures of memory, fluency, executive function, and attention at T2 and in attention and executive function at T3. Results after correction for PE are in line with previous longitudinal studies that report cognitive impairment after treatment with chemotherapy for breast cancer. CONCLUSION: Accounting for PE is recommended to identify true change on cognition through treatment with chemotherapy for breast cancer.

Oppositional Defiant Disorder dimensions and aggression: The moderating role of hostile bias and sex / Dimensiones del Trastorno Negativista Desafiante y la agresión: el rol moderador del sesgo hostil y el sexo

BACKGROUND: Hostile Attributional Bias (HAB) has been related to conduct problems. The common and unique associations between the different dimensions of Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) symptoms, specific components of HAB, sex and types of aggression (overt and relational) in a community sample of 491 7-year-old children are investigated. METHOD: Teachers rated the children's ODD symptoms and aggression and the children self-reported about HAB. Multiple linear regressions showed that ODD dimensions were directly associated with both types of aggression. RESULTS: Boys were more overtly aggressive and girls more relational. Emotional distress was directly associated with relational aggression. The relational component of HAB uniquely moderated the influence of the oppositional dimension on relational aggressive behaviour. CONCLUSIONS: The assessment of social cognition variables is necessary to approach specific interventions in the presence of ODD symptoms, as this may help to identify a subset of children prone to aggressive reactions

ANTECEDENTES: el sesgo hostil atribucional (SHA) se ha relacionado con los problemas de conducta. MÉTODO: este trabajo investiga asociaciones comunes y específicas entre las diferentes dimensiones del Trastorno Negativista Desafi ante (TND), el sexo y diferentes tipos de agresividad (abierta y relacional) en una muestra comunitaria de 491 participantes de 7 años de edad. Los profesores informaron sobre los síntomas de TND y la agresividad de los participantes y estos autoinformaron sobre su SHA. Regresiones lineales múltiples mostraron que todas las dimensiones de TND estaban directamente asociadas con ambos tipos de agresividad. RESULTADOS: los chicos mostraron más agresividad abierta y las chicas más agresividad relacional. El malestar emocional se asoció directamente con la agresividad relacional. El componente relacional del SHA moderó de manera específica la influencia de la dimensión oposicionista sobre la conducta de agresividad relacional. CONCLUSIONES: la evaluación de variables de cognición social en presencia de síntomas de TND es necesaria, ya que podría ayudar a identificar un subgrupo de niños proclive a las reacciones agresivas y contribuir al diseño de intervenciones especificas

Oppositional Defiant Disorder dimensions and aggression: The moderating role of hostile bias and sex.

BACKGROUND: Hostile Attributional Bias (HAB) has been related to conduct problems. The common and unique associations between the different dimensions of Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) symptoms, specific components of HAB, sex and types of aggression (overt and relational) in a community sample of 491 7-year-old children are investigated. METHOD: Teachers rated the children's ODD symptoms and aggression and the children self-reported about HAB. Multiple linear regressions showed that ODD dimensions were directly associated with both types of aggression. RESULTS: Boys were more overtly aggressive and girls more relational. Emotional distress was directly associated with relational aggression. The relational component of HAB uniquely moderated the influence of the oppositional dimension on relational aggressive behaviour. CONCLUSIONS: The assessment of social cognition variables is necessary to approach specific interventions in the presence of ODD symptoms, as this may help to identify a subset of children prone to aggressive reactions.

Joint Hypermobility Classes in 9-Year-Old Children from the General Population and Anxiety Symptoms.

OBJECTIVE: To obtain joint hypermobility classes in children from the general population and to study their characteristics in relation to anxiety measures. METHODS: A total of 336 nine-year-old children from the general population were clinically assessed through 9 items of hypermobility, and their parents reported about the severity of anxiety symptoms. Latent class analysis was estimated to group the children according to the presence of hypermobility symptoms, and the obtained classes were related to anxiety. RESULTS: A 2-class solution, labeled as high hypermobility and low hypermobility, best fitted the data. Children in the high hypermobility group scored higher in separation anxiety, social phobia, physical injury fears, and total anxiety than did those in the low group. When applying the threshold reference scores to the total anxiety score, 7.4% of children in the high hypermobility group versus 6% in the low group were reported to experience clinical elevations on total anxiety. CONCLUSION: High symptoms of hypermobility are associated with higher scores in anxiety symptoms in children from the general population. Children with frequent symptoms of hypermobility may benefit from screening for anxiety symptoms because a subset of them are experiencing clinical elevations and may need comprehensive physical and psychological treatment.

Role of taxanes in chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment: A prospective longitudinal study.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to elucidate the role of taxanes on cognition when they are administered as a part of the treatment with a fluorouracil, epirubicin and cyclophosphamide (FEC) regimen for breast cancer (BC). METHODS: Two groups of women (n = 51) with a novel diagnostic of BC that were treated with a combination of FEC alone (6 cycles of FEC) or with taxanes (4 cycles of FEC plus 8 cycles of taxanes) were compared at three moments: before chemotherapy, after its completion (short-term evaluation) and at a mean of 74.5 weeks from baseline as a long-term evaluation. RESULTS: Both groups showed worsening in tests of attention and executive functions on the short-term assessment, with the group treated with taxanes showing more number of affected cognitive measures at this time point, including verbal learning and speed measures. At the long-term evaluation, cognitive dysfunction was still found in attention and executive functions in both groups. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that chemotherapy for BC with a FEC regimen can have a negative effect on cognition. Acute deficits seem to be larger when taxanes are added, but treatment seems to affect cognition also at long term.

The Brief Problem Monitor-Parent form (BPM-P), a short version of the Child Behavior Checklist: Psychometric properties in Spanish 6- to 8-year-old children.

We provide the first validation data on the Spanish version of the Brief Problem Monitor-Parent form (BPM-P), a recently developed abbreviated version of the 120-item Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 6 to 18 (CBCL/6-18) in young schoolchildren. Parents of a community sample of 521 children aged 6-8 answered the CBCL/6-18 yearly, and the 19 BPM-P items were examined; parents also provided different measures of psychopathology. Confirmatory factor analysis of the expected 3-factor model (attention, externalizing, and internalizing) showed adequate fit (root mean square error of approximation, RMSEA ≤ .057), and measurement invariance across sex and age was observed. Internal consistency for the derived scores was satisfactory (ω ≥ .83). Concurrent validity with the equivalent scale scores of the original full CBCL/6-18 (r ≥ .84) and convergent validity with parents' ratings of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire scores (r ≥ .52) were good. BPM-P scores at age 7 showed good predictive accuracy for discriminating the use of mental health services (OR ≥ 1.12), functional impairment (B ≤ -1.25), and the presence of the corresponding disorders diagnosed with an independent clinical interview, both cross-sectionally at age 7 and longitudinally at age 8 (OR ≥ 1.24). The BPM-P provides reliable and valid scores as a very brief follow-up and screening tool for assessing behavioral and emotional problems in young schoolchildren. (PsycINFO Database Record

Tracing developmental trajectories of oppositional defiant behaviors in preschool children.

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies on developmental trajectories have used ad hoc definitions of oppositional defiant behaviors (ODB), which makes it difficult to compare results. This article defines developmental trajectories of ODB from ages 3-5 based on five different standard measurements derived from three separate instruments. METHOD: A sample of 622 three-year-old preschoolers, followed up at ages 4, 5, and 6, was assessed with the five measures of oppositionality answered by parents and teachers. Growth-Mixture-Modeling (GMM) estimated separate developmental trajectories for each ODB measure for ages 3 to 5. RESULTS: The number of classes-trajectories obtained in each GMM depended on the ODB measure, but two clear patterns emerged: four trajectories (persistent low, decreasers, increasers/high increasers, persistent moderate/persistent high) or three trajectories (persistent low, decreasers, increasers/high increasers). Persistent high trajectories accounted for 4.4%-9.5% of the children. The trajectories emerging from the different ODB measures at ages 3 to 5 discriminated disruptive disorders, comorbidity, use of services, and impairment at age 6, and globally showed a similar pattern, summarizing longitudinal information on oppositionality in preschool children in a similar way. CONCLUSIONS: Trajectories resulting from standard scales of the questionnaires have predictive validity for identifying relevant clinical outcomes, but are measure-specific. The results contribute to knowledge about the development of ODB in preschool children.

'Theory of Mind', psychotic-like experiences and psychometric schizotypy in adolescents from the general population.

This study examined 'Theory of Mind' (ToM) functioning, its association with psychometric schizotypy and with self-reported psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) and depressive symptoms, in a community sample of adolescents. Seventy-two adolescents (mean age 14.51years) from Barcelona, Spain, completed questionnaires assessing PLEs, depressive symptoms, and schizotypy. A verbal ToM task and a vocabulary test were administered. The effect of symptomatology, vocabulary ability, age, and gender on task performance was explored. Neither total score on schizotypy nor PLEs were associated with ToM performance. A significant effect of vocabulary on adolescent's performance of both ToM and control stories was found. ToM showed significant negative associations with positive schizotypy, and with one cluster of positive PLEs: first-rank experiences. Positive significant associations between ToM and persecutory delusions and the impulsive aspects of schizotypy were found. Depressive symptoms did not affect ToM performance. Positive schizotypal traits and first-rank symptoms are associated with ToM deficits in adolescents. Results support the trait-(versus state-) dependent notion of ToM impairments in schizophrenia. ToM may be a developmental impairment associated with positive schizotypy and PLEs.

Exophenotypical profile of adolescents with sustained attention deficit: A 10-year follow-up study.

UNLABELLED: We aimed to explore prospectively the relationship between the presence of sustained attention deficit (SAD) in early adolescence and exophenotypical measures of vulnerability to schizophrenia spectrum disorders (personality and psychosocial measures) in early adulthood. Two cohorts of community adolescents were selected in 1993 according to the presence or absence of a CPT-linked SAD. In 2003, both cohorts (Index: n=42, and CONTROL: n=38) were administered the O-LIFE, the SCID-II, the DOI battery and the COPE scale, among other tests. T-tests were used to compare both cohorts. Index subjects showed a higher level of negative schizotypy, avoidant, depressive and narcissistic personality traits, as well as more asocial behavior and poorer use of coping resources than CONTROL subjects did. A SAD in early adolescence may be associated with coping and social deficits, negative schizotypy, and personality traits indicative of emotional disturbance in adulthood. Our results suggest that SAD in early adolescence might be an indicator of psychopathology in adulthood and give support to dimensional models of psychopathology.

El reto de evaluar la atención primaria de salud: calidad asistencial y hospitalizaciones evitables / The challenge of evaluating primary care: healthcare quality and avoidable hospitalizations

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