The interconnections among the intensity of social network use, anxiety, smartphone addiction and the parent-child relationship of adolescents: A moderated mediation effect.

To explore the mediation role of smartphone addiction on the relationship between parent-child relationships and the intensity of use of social network sites (SNSs), as well as the moderation effect of anxiety, this research conducted self-report questionnaires of the Social networking site (SNS) Usage Questionnaire, Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, Smartphone Addiction Scale and Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment with 719 adolescents. The results showed that (1) the parent-child relationship negatively predicts SNS usage and (2) smartphone addiction plays a mediating role in the link between the parent-child relationship and SNS usage. (3) The relationship between the parent-child relationship and SNS usage is moderated by anxiety (on the first mediation path), and low levels of anxiety can mitigate the negative impact of the parent-child relationship on smartphone addiction, thus also mitigating the negative effects of the parent-child relationship on SNS usage. Our conclusion highlighted the vital role of the parent-child relationship and anxiety on the influence of smartphone addiction and the intensity of use of SNSs among adolescents. Our research also provides clinical implications: (1) teachers in high school can adopt family group counseling or emotion regulation workshop to help adolescents to prevent addiction to smartphones and social network sites; (2) we can reduce addictive behaviors by designing a series of intervention sessions to improve parent-child relationships and reduce anxiety for adolescents who have been addicted to smartphone and social network sites.

Epidemic of COVID-19 in China and associated Psychological Problems.

The world is experiencing pandemic of the COVID-19 now, a RNA virus that spread out from Wuhan, China. Two countries, China first and later Italy, have gone to full lock down due to rapid spread of this virus. Till to date, no epidemiological data on mental health problems due to outbreak of the COVID-19 and mass isolation were not available. To meet this need, the present study was undertaken to assess the mental health status of Chinese people. An online survey was conducted on a sample of 1074 Chinese people, majority of whom from Hubei province. Lack of adequate opportunities to conduct face to face interview, anxiety, depression, mental well-being and alcohol consumption behavior were assessed via self-reported measures. Results showed higher rate of anxiety, depression, hazardous and harmful alcohol use, and lower mental wellbeing than usual ratio. Results also revealed that young people aged 21-40 years are in more vulnerable position in terms of their mental health conditions and alcohol use. To address mental health crisis during this epidemic, it is high time to implement multi-faceted approach (i.e. forming multidisciplinary mental health team, providing psychiatric treatments and other mental health services, utilizing online counseling platforms, rehabilitation program, ensuring certain care for vulnerable groups, etc.).

Emotion regulation in male abstinent heroin abusers.

The present study examined 25 male prisoners with a history of heroin dependency (M = 35.3 yr., SD = 8.5, range = 21-48) and 25 male prisoners with no history of substance abuse (M = 31.5 yr., SD = 9.8, range = 19-47) who were selected to complete the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Results showed that the group with a history of heroin dependency used a cognitive reappraisal strategy less frequently than controls and that there was no difference in the use of expression suppression strategies between the two groups. It was concluded that the negative impact of heroin abuse on an individual's emotion regulation is primarily reflected in the cognitive reappraisal dimension.