Diurnal cortisol profiles in autistic adolescents and young adults: Associations with social difficulties and internalizing mental health symptoms.

Several autism-related characteristics, such as social difficulties, may contribute to high perceived stress and increased exposure to stressful life events in some autistic individuals. Repeated exposure to stress might lead to the dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical-axis and be a vulnerability factor for developing mental health difficulties. Previous studies show contradictory findings on salivary cortisol in autism. In the current study, we investigated diurnal cortisol profiles in autistic adolescents and young adults, as well as their associations with social difficulties, stress exposure, and mental health symptoms. Autistic (n = 48, Mage = 17.6) and nonautistic (n = 51, Mage = 18.4) participants collected salivary cortisol at home six times a day for 2 days. Social difficulties, exposure to stressful life events/bullying, and mental health symptoms were assessed with questionnaires and clinical interviews. Similar diurnal cortisol slopes (DCS) and cortisol awakening responses were observed between the groups, but autistic participants showed higher total cortisol output (AUCG, area under the curve with respect to ground) during the day (b = 19.09, p = 0.009). In the autistic group, more severe social difficulties were associated with flatter DCS (b = 0.01, p = 0.007). Finally, cortisol alterations were associated with self-reported mental health symptoms, especially in autistic females in analyses uncorrected for multiple comparisons. In conclusion, our results do not indicate autism-related group-level alterations in most diurnal cortisol measures, but autistic youth showed higher total cortisol (AUCG) compared with nonautistic peers. More detailed investigation of interindividual variability in cortisol profiles within autistic people might give us important insights into vulnerability to developing stress-related mental health difficulties.

Examining the association of familial and social stress, trauma, and support on mood, anxiety, and behavioral symptoms and diagnoses in youth at risk for bipolar disorder and controls.

INTRODUCTION: Youth with a family history of bipolar disorder (At-Risk) have a higher risk of developing psychiatric disorders and experiencing environmental stressors than youth without such family history (Control). We studied the differential associations of familial and environmental factors on developing psychiatric diagnoses and symptoms, in At-Risk and Control youth. METHODS: At-Risk and Control youth (N = 466, ages 9-22) were systematically assessed for severity of symptoms, psychiatric diagnoses, and self-reported measures of stress and social support. We tested the association of family history and measures of stress or support with symptom severity and diagnoses. RESULTS: At-Risk youth had higher symptom severity scores and were more frequently diagnosed with psychiatric disorders (all p values < 0.001). When predicting mood symptom severity, family history had an interaction effect with stressful life events (p < 0.001) and number of distinct traumatic events (p = 0.001). In multivariate models, At-Risk status predicted anxiety disorders (OR = 2.7, CI 1.3-5.4, p = 0.005) and anxiety severity (Coefficient = 0.4, CI 0.2-0.7, p < 0.001) but not mood or behavioral disorder diagnoses or severity. LIMITATIONS: Measures of stress and social support were based on self-report. Not all participants had passed through the period of risk for developing the outcomes under study and the follow up period was variable. We could not fully study the differential impact of physical or sexual abuse due to low frequency of occurrence in controls. CONCLUSION: At-Risk youth exhibit more severe mood symptoms compared to Controls when exposed to similar levels of stress or trauma. At-Risk youth are also more prone to develop anxiety which may be a precursor for bipolar disorder.

Wisdom affinity in the general population.

BACKGROUND: Wisdom is an important coping resource for difficult and ambiguous life situations. Wisdom trainings have been developed in clinical and non-clinical settings. What has been missing so far are representative data on wisdom affinity from the general population. These are important regarding needs assessments and identification of risk groups with low wisdom affinity and potential problems in coping with difficult and ambiguous life situations. METHOD: The study examined a population-representative sample of 2509 persons. Socio-demographic data, presence of chronic and mental illnesses was assessed, and wisdom attitudes by the 12-WD Wisdom Scale. The surveys were carried out by means of interviews and self-report questionnaires at the respondents' homes, done by an experienced social research company (USUMA GmbH). RESULTS: Only 6% of the whole sample appeared to be highly wisdom-affirmative (12-WD mean score 10 on scale 0-10), whereas 4% may appear low wisdom-affirm, due to very low agreement (12 WD mean score 0-4). Most of the moderately wisdom-affirm people had a religious denomination (70.9%), whereas only 57-59% of the high or low wisdom-affirm persons reported religious affiliations. Low wisdom-affirm were most often chronically ill (25%), with mental or physical illness in similar frequency, and had significantly more unemployment times than persons with higher wisdom scores. Wisdom affinity was independent from age, gender and age, household situation, and higher school education. CONCLUSION: It must be assumed that people with socio-medical risk factors also have impairments in their wisdom-related problem-solving strategies, and that these can be of interest for transdiagnostic wisdom trainings in prevention or rehabilitation, which has shown positive effects.

Acculturation Stress Magnifies Child Depression Effect of Stressful Life Events for Latinx Youth 3 Years Later.

Introduction: Experiences of stressful life events (SLEs) during childhood are associated with greater risk for youth psychopathology. Although SLEs are reported in greater frequency by Latinx families, Latinx populations remain largely absent in the SLE literature. Furthermore, Latinx populations face added stressors related to socio-political climate, acculturation, and racism and discrimination. The purpose of this study was to explore the intersection between parent-reported SLEs and acculturation (i.e., socio-political climate-related) stressors for Latinx youth. Greater frequency of caregiver reported SLEs were hypothesized to predict higher depressive symptoms in their children three years later, and acculturation stress was hypothesized to amplify these effects. Method: The community-recruited, low-income sample for this study consisted of 198 Latinx caregivers (98.5% mothers, 77.3% foreign-born) and their children (M age = 7.4, 47.5% female). Study hypotheses were tested using MPlus. Results: Consistent with prior literature, more SLEs reported at age 7 by parents were associated with more child-reported depressive symptoms at age 10 but only among boys. However, for both boys and girls, there was a significant interaction between acculturation stress and family SLEs. Specifically, as the amount of acculturation stress reported at age 7 increased, the negative impact of family SLEs on child-reported depressive symptoms at age 10 was magnified, regardless of gender. Conclusion: Adding to the literature on SLEs within Latinx families, these results indicate that acculturation and socio-political climate stressors need be considered in discussions of the effects of life stress on Latinx youth and their families.

Exploring the effects of family and life events on genetic and environmental architecture of schizotypal and hypomanic dimensions: Insights from a twin study.

BACKGROUND: Strategies of prevention for psychiatric disorders need a deep understanding of the aetiological factors involved in the psychopathological processes. Our twin study aims at disentangling the contributions of genes and environment to schizotypal and hypomanic dimensions, considering the role of stressful life events (LEs) and the quality of family relationships. METHODS: The Magical Ideation Scale (MIS) and Perceptual Aberration Scale (PAS) were used to assess positive schizotypy, while Hypomanic Personality Scale (HPS) and its sub-scales were used to investigate proneness to affective disorders. 268 twins (54.5 % female; aged 18.0 ± 6.68) were included. Participants filled out a questionnaire on LEs and their parents provided an evaluation of intra-family relationship (Relationship Quality Index, RQI). Classic univariate twin models for quantitative traits were fitted for scales, and the effects of covariates (LEs and RQI) were assessed. RESULTS: For MIS, HPS and its sub-scales, significant common and unique environmental effects were detected, with genetic factors affecting only HPS Social Vitality sub-scale. Unique environment was the only source of variance of PAS score. The number of recent LEs influenced MIS and PAS models, while RQI score affected MIS model. LIMITATIONS: The main limitation of the study is the small sample size, which reduces statistical power and may potentially lead to an underestimation of heritability. Additionally, the cross-sectional design limits the possibility to draw causal considerations. CONCLUSIONS: Findings provide preliminary evidence for a significant environmental role in modulating states of vulnerability. Moreover, the expression of positive schizotypy resulted influenced by recent stressors and intra-family relationships.

Association between negative life events and suicidal behavior in adolescents: roles of core self-evaluation, depression and gender.

PURPOSE: Negative life events are essential proximal factors that may induce suicidal behavior in adolescents, but the mechanisms connecting this link remain to further explored. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between negative life events (NLEs) and adolescents' suicidal behavior, and the roles of core self-evaluation, depression and gender playing between them. METHODS: Using the whole-group sampling approach, 5296 Chinese adolescents (51.5% males, Meanage = 12.93) took part in this cross-sectional study in September 2021 and completed a battery of surveys including NLEs, suicidal behavior, CSE (core self-evaluation) and depression. Logistic regression and latent structural equation models were used to test the direct and indirect effects between NLEs and suicide behavior with multi-group path analysis, gender differences in this serial mediating effect were also tested. RESULTS: After controlling for age and gender, NLEs were directly associated with adolescents' suicidal behavior. CSE and depression played significant serial mediating effects in this relationship. Moreover, significant gender differences were obtained in these serial mediating pathways, with stronger effects in girls. CONCLUSION: Integrating the environmental, individual cognitive and emotional factors, our findings would be helpful in understanding the mechanism of these antecedents on adolescents' suicide behavior, which has specific practical significance for preventing and reducing suicidal behavior.

Psychological impact of life events in systemic lupus erythematosus patients - Differences between flares and remission.

BACKGROUND: Stress has been linked to worsening symptoms and increased disease activity in patients with Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Life-events are individual stress points, and there is conflicting evidence regarding their role in SLE activity and disease perception. METHODS: Adult SLE patients were recruited for the study. Clinical and laboratory features of SLE were recorded, and previous diagnosis of anxiety or depression were retrieved from patients' electronic charts. Flares were defined by the Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity (SLEDAI) flare Index, and flares during the previous year were documented. During a routine visit, they completed validated Portuguese translations of the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Life Experience Survey (LES) for the previous year. RESULTS: A total of 47 female SLE patients were recruited. Ten patients (21.3%) had experienced recent flares. Patients with recent flares reported fewer life events, with lower positive, negative, and total weightings sums compared to those without recent flares. Although 42.2% of patients perceived pathological levels of stress in the previous month, 48.9% had anxiety symptoms, and 34% were at high risk for an anxiety disorder, these psychometric measures did not differ significantly between the recent flare and no-flare groups. CONCLUSIONS: There is a high prevalence of pathological levels of stress among SLE patients. SLE patients with recent flares report less psychological impact from life events, both positive and negative, independent of other psychological or pharmacological factors.

Racial Disparities in Death of Someone Close during Pregnancy: Findings from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS), 2017-2021.

PURPOSE: The COVID-19 pandemic increased the mortality rate in the U.S. and exposed many to the unexpected death of someone close. No prior research has assessed whether the COVID-19 pandemic was followed by an increase in bereavement during pregnancy, and whether patterns varied by race and ethnicity. METHODS: Using data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System from 2017-2021 across 23 U.S. sites (N = 107,226), we assessed trends in the odds of experiencing the death of someone close before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: Findings revealed an increased percentage of women who reported having someone close to them die in the year prior to childbirth after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020 or later) (aPR=1.121, 95% CI (1.079 - 1.165). Analysis by mother's race and ethnicity showed death of someone close increased significantly after the COVID-19 pandemic for Hispanic (aPR = 1.192, 95% CI = 1.062, 1.337), non-Hispanic Black (aPR = 1.115, 95% CI = 1.015 - 1.225), and American Indian-Alaskan Native pregnant women (aPR = 1.391, 1.023 - 1.891) compared to White, Non-Hispanic pregnant women. CONCLUSIONS: Increased bereavement among pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic warrants routine grief screening and response training in prenatal care.

Influence of stress on self-injury among Chinese left-behind adolescents is not cast in stone: Synergistic roles of family protective factors.

BACKGROUND: Left-behind adolescents are vulnerable to stressful life events and often engage in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), which is a growing public concern in China. However, little is known about the synergistic protective effect of family resources on the relationship between stressful life events and NSSI in these adolescents. OBJECTIVE: Based on theories of family socialization and resilience, the aim of this study was to examine the synergistic protective role of maternal knowledge and mother-child cohesion in buffering the effect of stressful life events on NSSI in father-absent left-behind adolescents. METHODS: This study used two-wave longitudinal data. The analytical sample included 673 adolescents (Mage = 13.47 ± 1.11 years, 48 % male) who were enlisted from 4 junior high schools in rural China. Respondents completed questionnaires on stressful life events, parental knowledge, parent-child cohesion, and NSSI at two-time points. RESULTS: The effects of stressful life events on NSSI were significant in father-absent left-behind adolescents. Additionally, maternal knowledge moderated the associations between stressful life events and NSSI in father-absent left-behind adolescents. Moreover, maternal knowledge and mother-child cohesion were found to play synergistic protective roles in the relationship between stressful life events and NSSI. In father-absent left-behind adolescents, only high maternal knowledge and high-quality mother-child cohesion could eliminate the negative effect of stressful life events on NSSI. CONCLUSION: The findings underscore the synergistic protective roles of maternal knowledge and mother-child cohesion in buffering the negative effect of stressful life events on NSSI in father-absent left-behind adolescents. Both maternal knowledge and mother-child cohesion should be considered in interventions aimed at reducing NSSI in these adolescents.

How do stressful life events affect medical students' academic adjustment? Parallel mediating mechanisms of anxiety and depression.

BACKGROUND: Medical students frequently face challenges in academic adjustment, necessitating effective support and intervention. This study aimed to investigate the impact of stressful life events on medical students' academic adjustment, focusing on the mediating roles of depression and anxiety. It also differentiated the impacts between at-risk students (those with academic failures) and their peers respectively. METHODS: This case-control study involved 320 at-risk medical students and 800 other students from a university in western China. Participants anonymously completed the scales of stressful life events, depression, anxiety, and academic adjustment. T-tests, ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and structural equation modeling were employed for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Depression and anxiety were significantly more prevalent in at-risk students (46.8% and 46.1%, respectively) than in controls (34.0% and 40.3%, respectively). Notably, at-risk students had poorer academic adjustment (t = 5.43, p < 0.001). The structural equation modeling had good fit indices and the results indicated that depression and anxiety fully mediated the effects of stressful life events on academic adjustment. For at-risk students, stressful life events significantly decreased academic adjustment through increased depression and anxiety (p < 0.001). Conversely, anxiety had a positive effect on academic adjustment in other students. CONCLUSION: Targeted interventions focusing on depression and anxiety could reduce the negative impact of stressful life events on medical students' academic adjustment. However, educators have to distinguish the differences between at-risk students and others.

Corrigendum: Paradoxes in borderline emotional dysregulation in adolescence: influence of parenting, stressful life events, and attachment.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.735615.].

A Latent Class Analysis of Adverse Life Events for Kenyan Adolescents.

Extant evidence indicates that exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACE) tend to cluster among children and adolescents. Considering that adolescents from African countries present higher risk of being exposed to multiple ACE compared to other countries, the identification of victimization profiles in this population is clearly warranted. The aim of this study was to determine meaningful clusters of individuals with similar experiences of ACE in a sample of Kenyan adolescents. Latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted to identify latent classes of exposure to ACE. In addition, the relationships between the latent classes and gender, parental education, living arrangements and diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were estimated. A three-class solution was found to be the best description of ACE, and the classes were labelled ''Low Risk'', ''Intermediate Risk'', and ''High Risk''. Compared with the Low-Risk class, the High-Risk class was found to be significantly more likely to have a diagnosis of PTSD and being a female may be an antecedent risk factor for high exposure to ACE. The Intermediate Risk class was significantly less likely to have parents with high school or college education. This paper indicates that Kenyan adolescents present higher risk of being exposed to multiple ACE and that trauma research may turn its focus on the individual as the unit of analysis rather than traumatic events.

Suicidal Behavior and Its Association With Psychological Distress, Coping Mechanisms, and Resilience: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Introduction Recent literature reveals that psychological factors such as resilience and coping mechanisms can act as buffers against suicide risk. Indian literature on the interplay between psychological risk and protective factors of suicidal behavior is scarce. Methods A cross-sectional descriptive study was done among suicide attempters in a tertiary care hospital in Southern India. A semi-structured proforma was used to obtain sociodemographic data and suicide attempt characteristics. Suicide intent, lethality, stressful life events, perceived stress, subjective distress, coping strategies, and resilience were recorded using standard rating scales. Inferential analyses were carried out with p≤ 0.05 set as statistical significance. Results Pesticide poisoning (46.7%) was the most common mode of suicide attempt. Significant gender differences emerged in the mode of suicide attempt, coping strategies, and resilience. Depression (48.7%) was the most common psychiatric comorbidity. Increased perceived stress was associated with the presence of psychiatric comorbidity, past history of suicide attempts, and high-intent suicide attempts. Maladaptive coping strategies were associated with substance abuse and a history of past suicide attempts. Low resilience levels were associated with hanging attempts, psychiatric or substance use disorder comorbidity, past history of suicide attempts, high-intent suicide attempts, and less lethal suicide attempts. Conclusion Perceived stress levels, coping strategies, and resilience have significant relationships with suicidal behavior and act as avenues for suicide prevention efforts.

Longitudinal Association between Stressful Life Events and Suicidal Ideation in Adults with Major Depression Disorder: The Mediating Effects of Insomnia Symptoms.

Stressful life events (SLEs) and suicidal ideation (SI) are prevalent in persons with major depression disorder (MDD). Less is known about the underlying role of insomnia symptoms in the association between SLEs and SI. This three-wave prospective cohort study sought to investigate the longitudinal association among SLEs, insomnia symptoms, and SI in persons with MDD. The study population included 511 persons with MDD (mean [SD] age, 28.7 [6.7] years; 67.1% were females). Generalized estimated equations (GEEs) were utilized to explore prospective association among exposure of SLEs, insomnia symptoms, and SI. Additionally, a structural equation model (SEM) was employed to estimate the longitudinal mediating effect of insomnia symptoms in the relationship between SLEs and SI. Our study demonstrated that cumulative SLEs were determined to be longitudinally associated with SI in persons with MDD. We further observed that the association between SLEs and SI was significantly mediated by insomnia symptoms. Clinicians assessing persons with MDD, especially those with the history of SLE, could carefully evaluate and promptly treat insomnia symptoms as part of personalized assessment of their depressive illness, thereby achieving early prevention and intervention for suicidal behaviors in persons with MDD.

Association between negative life events through mental health and non-suicidal self-injury with young adults: evidence for sex moderate correlation.

BACKGROUND: Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) has exhibited an increasing trend in recent years and is now globally recognized as a major public health problem among adolescents and young adults. Negative life events (NLEs) are positively associated with NSSI. We sought to explore (1) whether sex plays a role in the risk of NLEs leading to NSSI and (2) the role played by mental health (MH). METHODS: We adopted a multi-stage cluster sampling method to select college students across four grades from May to June 2022. Generalized linear models were used to evaluate the relationships between NLEs, sex, MH and NSSI, presented as incidence-rate ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). We examined the complex relationship between these variables using the PROCESS method for moderation analysis. RESULTS: Following the exclusion of data that did not meet the study requirements, data from 3,578 students (mean age: 20.53 [± 1.65] years) were included. Poisson regression results indicate that high-level NLEs (RR = 0.110, 95%CI: 0.047-0.173) are associated with increased NSSI. Furthermore, interaction effects were observed among sex, NLEs and NSSI. MH and sex moderated the relationship between NLEs and NSSI. CONCLUSION: Identifying risk factors for NSSI is also important when exploring the interaction between NLEs and MH given the potential for NSSI to significantly increase the risk of later psychopathological symptoms and substance abuse problems. In addition, the significance of sex differences in risk factors for NSSI should be determined. This study evaluated how the impact of NLEs on NSSI can be reduced among adolescents from multiple perspectives.

The association among negative life events, alexithymia, and depressive symptoms in a psychosomatic outpatient sample.

BACKGROUND: Depression is a life-threatening mental health problem. Various factors have been demonstrated to be associated with depressive symptoms, including negative life events (NLEs) and alexithymia. A retrospective study was conducted to investigate the relationship among negative life events, alexithymia, and depression symptoms in a psychosomatic outpatient sample in China. METHODS: A total of 2747 outpatients (aged 18 - 65) were included in this investigation. The Life Events Scale (LES), Toronto alexithymia scale (TAS-26), and 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) were used to assess NLEs, alexithymia, and depressive symptoms, respectively. A stepwise regression analysis model was established to investigate the relationship among alexithymia, NLEs, and depressive symptoms. RESULTS: Overall, 67.0% of the patient sample had a PHQ-9 score of 10 or higher. The stepwise regression analysis model showed a well-fitted model, in which NLEs and alexithymia explain a total of 34.2% of the variance of depressive symptoms in these participants. NLEs (ß = 0.256, p < 0.001) and dimensions of alexithymia (difficult describing feelings (ß = 0.192, p < 0.001) and identifying feelings (ß = 0.308, p < 0.001)) were positively correlated with symptoms of depression. CONCLUSIONS: Previous studies have confirmed the correlation between NLEs and depression, alexithymia and depression, respectively. In our study, we used a stepwise regression model to explain the relationship among those variables simultaneously, and found that NLEs and alexithymia could function as predictors of depressive symptoms. Based on this discovery, alexithymia-focused treatment strategies could be alternative in depressive patients with alexithymia, but this remains to be verified in the future.

Lifelong traumatic events, social support, and health-related quality of life among older adults.

BACKGROUND: The present study aimed to investigate the relation between lifelong exposure to traumatic life events, social support, and health-related quality of life (QOL) in a sample of older people. METHOD: A sample of 172 participants (mean age = 68.81, SD = 7.15; 68.6% female and 31.4% male) was involved in this study. The participants completed scales measuring lifelong exposure to traumatic events, social support, and health-related QOL. RESULTS: The results showed that lifelong exposure to traumatic events was negatively related to physical and mental health-related QOL. Moreover, social support moderated the relation between traumatic life events exposure and mental health-related QOL. DISCUSSION: Geriatric services could identify and implement adequate measures to provide social support and to improve different dimensions of QOL among older adults.

At the Intersection of Adverse Life Course Pathways: The Effects on Health by Migration Status.

Adverse life events are major causes of declining health and well-being, but the effects vary across subpopulations. We analyze how the intersection of migration status and sex relates to two main adverse life events-job loss and divorce-thereby affecting individual health and well-being trajectories. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (1984-2017), we apply descriptive techniques and individual fixed-effects regressions to analyze how job loss and divorce influence the health of immigrants and nonimmigrants. Our results support the hypothesis that immigrants suffer more from adverse life events than nonimmigrants in both the short and the long run. Relative to nonimmigrants, immigrants have a health advantage at younger ages, which becomes a disadvantage at older ages, and this faster decline at older ages is particularly steep among immigrants who experience adverse life events. These results help explain the vanishing health advantage of immigrants by showing that they are exposed to a double disadvantage over the life course: immigrants are more likely than nonimmigrants to suffer from adverse life events, such as job loss, and these events typically have a larger impact on their health. Our findings are the first to provide evidence regarding the consequences of different adverse life events and how they relate to the intersection of migration status and sex. Moreover, our results highlight the importance of intersectional analyses in research on immigrant health.

An Exploratory Study of Resilience to Stressful Life Events in Autistic Children.

Background: Autistic children experience more stressful life events (SLEs) than their neurotypical peers, which are related to poor mental health outcomes in both neurotypical and autistic individuals. However, there is a lack of longitudinal research assessing the perceived impact of stressful life events on autistic children's mental health. Method: Utilizing a novel statistical technique (Ratcliff et al., 2019), called 'area of resilience to stress events' or ARSE in R, we aimed to quantify aspects of resilience, growth, and non-resilience for 67 autistic children (6-13 years old) enrolled in a larger longitudinal study who experienced a SLE. Parents reported demographic information (e.g., child age, biological sex, household income) as well as the child's internalizing and externalizing symptoms and autism characteristics across multiple time points spaced one year apart (baseline, T2, T3, T4). Results: There was substantial variability in the resilience process within the sample. Older children exhibited a less adaptive resilience process (i.e., higher total scaled scores or arsets). Perceived stress of the disruptive event was not correlated with resilience; however, there was a significant child age x stress severity interaction, suggesting that younger children in households that perceived the disruptive event as highly stressful exhibited more efficient resilience, or lower arsets scores, compared to other children. Conclusions: This study introduces an innovative methodological approach to understanding the effects of stressful life events on the mental health of autistic children. Results have implications for family-based policy and practice and highlight for whom services may be most beneficial.

The Relationship Between Stressful Life Events and Depressive Symptoms in College Students: mediation by Parenting Style and Gender's Moderating Effect.

Aim: Stressful life events have a significant impact on the mental health of college students. Depression, as a prevalent psychological issue, has garnered attention in the field of college student mental health and is closely linked to it. Additionally, parenting style is identified as an important factor influencing the development of college students' mental health. Therefore, this study aims to explore the relationship between these three factors. Methods: A total of 8079 first-year college students from two medical universities in Shandong Province, China were surveyed. The Beck Depression Inventory was utilized to evaluate depressive symptoms among the college students, while the Adolescent Self-rating Life Events Checklist and the Egna Minnen Beträfande Uppfostran were employed to gather data. Subsequently, the SPSS macro program PROCESS was utilized to analyze both the mediating and moderating effects. All statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS 26.0. Results: The study found a detection rate of 6.3% for depressive symptoms among college students. The correlation analysis of this study showed that the stressful life events of college students were significantly positively correlated with depressive symptoms (r=0.261, p< 0.01). Each dimension of parenting style was associated with depressive symptoms in different degrees and directions. At the same time, parenting styles of all sizes play a partial mediating role between stressful life events and depressive symptoms in college students, gender plays a crucial regulatory role in this mediation. Conclusion: Stressful life events experienced by college students have a significant impact on their mental health. Early intervention through positive parenting styles from parents may prove to be beneficial in promoting the development of good mental health among college students.