RESUMO
BACKGROUND: The physical and mental health of corporate employees is equally important, especially for international salespeople in the in vitro diagnostic (IVD) medical device industry. The rapid growth of the IVD market is driven by the increasing prevalence of chronic and infectious diseases. This study aims to determine the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms among international salespeople in China's IVD industry and identify the association of socio-demographic, occupational, organizational, and psychosocial factors with mental health outcomes for depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms in Chinese IVD international salespeople. METHODS: The study was a cross-sectional survey of international salespeople (ISs) in IVD companies officially registered in China. An online survey was designed to collect data through email contact with IVD companies and social media between August 2022 and March 2023. Measured factors included effort-reward imbalance (ERI), health-promoting leadership (HPL), health climate (HC), inner strength (IS), and perceived social support (PSS). Mental health outcomes assessed using the Core Symptom Index (CSI) were depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms. RESULTS: A total of 244 salespeople responded to the survey. CSI scores indicated that 18.4% (n = 45) and 10.2% (n = 25) of the respondents had symptoms of major depression and anxiety, respectively. ERI was positively correlated, while the IS and PSS were negatively correlated with major depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms (p < 0.01). The health climate was negatively correlated with major depression (p < 0.05). Education background was associated with somatic symptoms (p < 0.05). ERI, IS, and gender were significant predictors of major depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of depression and anxiety in China's IVD international salespeople was considered low compared with the prevalence in Chinese populations during COVID-19 but higher than those before the pandemic. Effort-reward imbalance, inner strength, and gender were significant factors in major depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms among IVD international salespeople.
RESUMO
Background. Bullying is a major school problem. Victims of bullying often experience low self-esteem, whereas social skills are positively associated with the level of self-esteem. This research examined whether the victim's condition impacted their social skills and self-esteem. Methods. International school students in Thailand aged 13 to 18 years old completed the Olweus bullying questionnaire, social capital questionnaire (SC), social skills questionnaire (SS), adolescent discrimination index (ADDI), and the Rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSES). Moderation analyses and visual presentations were carried out using IBM SPSS ver. 22 and PROCESS, ver. 4.0. Results. A total of 102 students participated (63% female). The mean age of the participants was 16.57 (SD = 1.42). The number of victims was 16 (15.7%), the mean (SD) for the SC, SS, ADDI, and RSES was 7.82 (2.37), 44.45 (9.40), 12.33 (9.82), and 27.85 (5.31), respectively. As predicted, those with high social skills reported greater self-esteem when they had never been bullied. The moderation effect was significant: B = 0.458, standard error = 0.203, 95% CI = -0.836 to -0.054. Additionally, the ADDI and SC were found to predict self-esteem. Conclusions. The significant moderation effect suggests the importance of identifying the victim's condition when the association between social skills and self-esteem is not observed (as expected) among school adolescents. A longitudinal study to confirm the causal relationship should be encouraged. Further research on providing appropriate interventions along with social skill training for the victim group is warranted.
RESUMO
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is common among young adults. Related studies showed a wide range of prevalence among university students. Few studies regarding BPD symptoms and their correlations with different variables have been reported in the Chinese population. A cross-sectional, online survey was conducted on a sample of university students in China between November 2021 and January 2022. Sociodemographic questionnaires, the Screening Instrument for Borderline Personality Disorder (SI-Bord), the 18-item Experience in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R-18), the Meaning In Life Questionnaire (MLQ), the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and the Resilience Inventory (RI-9) were completed. Data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation methods. Among 767 participants, mean age was 20.33 ± 1.495 years, and the majority were males (53.5%). According to the SI-Bord's cut-off score >7, BPD symptoms were found in 17.5% of participants. Attachment anxiety, avoidance, depression, perceived stress, lack of meaning in life, resilience and self-esteem were significantly correlated with BPD symptoms with r's of 0.473, 0.180, 0.451, 0.481, −0.148, −0.238 and −0.388, respectively (all p's < 0.01). The prevalence of BPD symptoms is high among Chinese university students and significantly associated with mental health outcomes, suggesting that an early detection of BPD symptoms is necessary for this population.
