Daiva Daukantaité

Subscales scores of the Lithuanian version of CBCL Preliminary data on the emotional and behavioural problems in childhood and adolescence

Abstract. This study set out to investigate some psychometric properties of the Lithuanian version of CBCL for providing the preliminary data on the emotional and behavioural problems in Lithuanian children taking factors such as gender, age, SES and family composition into account. The CBCL was completed by parents of 7- to 11- and 12- to 14-year-old school children (N = 1296) drawn from the urban and suburban population. Younger boys scored higher than girls on externalizing problems and total problems scores, and older girls scored higher on internalizing problems. Younger children scored higher than the older children on total problems and externalizing problems scores. The comparisons with the US sample indicated that the levels of problem behaviour in 7- to 14-year-old children are similar to those found in the US. Lithuanian children had higher total problem scores; however, the effect sizes for other scales, except the attention problems scale and the somatic complaints scale, were very small. Similar to other studies, we found significant SES effects on total problem scores. Problem scores were highest for the lowest SES children. In general, this study supports previous findings concerning CBCL: similarities in emotional and behavioural problems outweigh differences in cross-cultural studies based on CBCL.

Direct and indirect aggression and victimization in adolescents - associations with the development of psychological difficulties

BackgroundPrevious research has established that direct and indirect forms of aggression differ in their association with gender and type of psychological difficulties. One purpose of the present study was to test if the same applies to direct and indirect victimization. A second purpose was to study these associations not only cross-sectionally (as in most previous research) but also longitudinally. A third purpose was to test the hypotheses that there are prospective bidirectional associations not only between victimization and psychological difficulties (which has been shown in previous research), but also between aggression and psychological difficulties, and that direct and indirect forms of aggression and victimization show different associations with different types of psychological difficulties.MethodsThe participants were a community sample of all students in two grades of regular school in a Swedish municipality who answered questionnaires as part of a two-wave longitudinal study with a one-year interval. The participants were 13–15 years old, and there were longitudinal data on 893 students, which represented 85% of all students. The cross-sectional associations were primarily tested by semi-partial correlations, and the longitudinal associations by hierarchical multiple regression.ResultsThe results corroborated the meaningfulness of differentiating not only between direct and indirect aggression but also between direct and indirect victimization. Boys reported being more victim to direct aggression, whereas girls reported being more victim to indirect aggression. Direct aggression predicted increased conduct problems in boys, whereas indirect aggression predicted increased conduct problems in girls, and conduct problems reciprocally predicted increased direct and indirect aggression. Indirect victimization showed prospective bidirectional associations with emotional symptoms and conduct problems, suggesting the potential development of vicious cycles of escalating problems in these areas.ConclusionsThe present results indicate that direct and indirect aggression, as well as direct and indirect victimization, may have different roles in the development of psychological difficulties in young adolescents. Further, the demonstration of prospective bidirectional associations points to a possible mechanism for the development of psychological difficulties, that may be described in terms of dynamical systems theory. This has potential relevance both for the prevention and the treatment of psychopathology.

The Relationship Between Identity Consistency Across Social Roles and Different Aspects of Mental Health Varies by Age Group

The relationships between identity consistency and continuous measures of emotional, psychological, and social well-being and differences in the degree of identity consistency among individuals in the flourishing and moderately mentally healthy categories were studied in a sample of 109 adults. Participants estimated their mental health and rated 16 self-concept attributes in three different social roles as friend, romantic partner, and coworker or classmate. Significant associations were found between the identity consistency index and emotional and psychological well-being, but not social well-being. Results also showed significant main effects of mental health categories and age groups on identity consistency, indicating that flourishing individuals demonstrate higher consistency than moderately mentally healthy individuals and that young individuals display lower consistency than middle-aged and older individuals.

Yin yoga and mindfulness: a five week randomized controlled study evaluating the effects of the YOMI program on stress and worry

ABSTRACT Background and objectives: The YOMI program is a psychoeducational training and physical practice-based program that bridges knowledge from evidence-based psychotherapy with the practice of mindfulness and yin yoga. It consists of 10 content-specific sessions and does not include home assignments. The primary purpose of this randomized controlled trial is to evaluate the effects of the five-week YOMI program on perceived stress, worry and mindfulness in a non-clinical sample. Design and method: In this randomized controlled trial participants were assigned to two groups. Group 1 participated in the five-week intervention twice a week while Group 2 was assigned to a waiting-list condition and participated in the intervention after Group 1. All measures were administered through self-report questionnaires, conducted via a web-based program. Results and conclusions: The results of the study indicated significant effects of the YOMI program on decreasing stress and worry, and increasing mindfulness. Notably these changes were still present at five-week follow up. Consistent with the hypotheses, results suggested that the YOMI program established a group setting where individuals learned to use tools and methods to facilitate better self-directed practice. The study shows moderate to large effect sizes.

The effects of yoga on stress and psychological health among employees: an 8- and 16-week intervention study

ABSTRACT Background: The stresses of modern work life necessitate effective coping strategies that are accessible and affordable to the general public. Yoga has been found to reduce stress in clinical samples, but studies are needed to examine standard gym yoga classes among functional individuals. Objectives: This study investigated the effects of 8- and 16-week gym yoga on stress and psychological health. Design and Method: Ninety individuals reporting moderate-to-high stress were randomly assigned to 16 consecutive weeks of yoga, or to a waitlist crossover group who did not practice yoga for 8 weeks then practiced yoga for 8 weeks. Stress and psychological health variables were assessed at baseline, 8 weeks, and 16 weeks. Results: Significant reductions in stress and all psychological health measures were found within the Yoga group over 16 weeks. When compared to the control group, yoga practitioners showed significant decreases in stress, anxiety, and general psychological health, and significant increases in well-being. The group who did not practice yoga showed significant decreases in stress, anxiety, depression, and insomnia after they crossed over and practiced yoga for 8 weeks. Conclusions: Gym yoga appears to be effective for stress amelioration and promotion of psychological health among workers experiencing stress.

Disordered eating and emotion dysregulation among adolescents and their parents

BackgroundResearch on the relationships between adolescent and parental disordered eating (DE) and emotion dysregulation is scarce. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore whether mothers’ and fathers’ own DE, as measured by SCOFF questionnaire, and emotion dysregulation, as measured by the difficulties in emotion regulation scale (DERS), were associated with their daughters’ or sons’ DE and emotion dysregulation. Furthermore, the importance of shared family meals and possible parent-related predictors of adolescent DE were explored.MethodThe total sample comprised 1,265 adolescents (Mage = 16.19, SD = 1.21; age range 13.5–19 years, 54.5% female) whose parents had received a self-report questionnaire via mail. Of these, 235 adolescents (18.6% of the total sample) whose parents completed the questionnaire were used in the analyses. Parents’ responses were matched and compared with those of their child.ResultsAdolescent girls showed greater levels of DE overall than did their parents. Furthermore, DE was associated with emotion dysregulation among both adolescents and parents. Adolescent and parental emotion dysregulation was associated, although there were gender differences in the specifics of this relationship. The frequency of shared dinner meals was the only variable that was associated to DE and emotion dysregulation among adolescents, while parental eating disorder was the only variable that enhanced the probability of adolescent DE.ConclusionThe present study contributes to the literature by demonstrating that there are significant associations between parents and their adolescent children in terms of DE, emotion dysregulation, and shared family meals. Future studies should break down these relationships among mothers, fathers, girls, and boys to further clarify the specific associational, and possibly predictive, directions.

Time perspective and mental health continuum: What are the time perspective profiles of flourishing, moderately mentally healthy, and languishing individuals?

Time perspective (TP) refers to individuals’ ways of constructing, reconstructing, and relating the psychological concepts of past, present,and future, and provides individuals with a coherence of experiences over time. In the present study, the relationships among five TPs (past negative, past positive, present fatalistic, present hedonistic, and future) were studied in a student sample (N = 280) using a person-oriented approach, as well as their relationships with continuous measures of emotional, psychological, and social well-being and three categories on the mental health continuum (flourishing, moderately mentally healthy, and languishing). A cluster analysis resulted in seven TP profiles, including balanced, present hedonistic, risk-taking, negative, diffuse/future-oriented, present-oriented, and diffuse. Individuals with the balanced profile (high scores for past positive and future and low scores for past negative and present fatalistic, along with below-average scores for present hedonistic) reported the highest levels of well-being, while individuals with the negative TP profile (very low past positive, low present hedonistic and future, high past negative, and above-average present fatalistic) reported the lowest levels of well-being. The results also showed that flourishing individuals tended to have the balanced TP profile while languishing individuals tended to have the negative TP profile more often than could be expected by chance. Moderately mentally healthy individuals had rather diverse TP profiles. (Less)

Individuals’ experiences with Brief Admission during the implementation of the Brief Admission Skåne RCT, a qualitative study

Abstract Background: Brief admission (BA) is an adjunctive treatment option for individuals with self-harming behavior, having traits of borderline personality disorder (BPD). It is offered alongside outpatient psychotherapy for the purpose of strengthening autonomy, self-reflection and self-care and to increase the likelihood of being able to stay in therapy by avoiding lengthy inpatient hospitalizations. Aims: To investigate participants’ experiences with BA during the pilot phase of the Brief Admission Skåne Randomized Controlled Trial (BASRCT), in order to detect possible strengths and limitations of the intervention and gain knowledge to facilitate implementation of BA at other treatment centers. Method: Eight participants randomized to BA were interviewed to obtain their experience of BA, or alternatively their reasons for choosing not to use BA. Thematic analysis was conducted upon their transcribed interviews. Results: Reported as most helpful by the participants was the structure/routines at the ward and the positive attitudes from the staff. However, some individuals reported problems with perceived negative attitudes from the staff administering BA and negative rumination about themselves. The reported reasons to request BA were: preventing urges to self-harm from escalating; ending isolation; preventing longer admissions and forced admission; feelings of emotional exhaustion, and the need for rest and support in re-creating a daily routine. Reasons for not requesting BA were fear of rejection, questioning the method; presumed room shortage; difficulties in deciding whether one’s problems are serious enough; experiencing the situation to be too clinically acute. Conclusion: The results from this study indicated the importance of repeated staff education on all aspects of BA when it is being newly implemented, as well as the importance of working with attitudes of staff delivering BA. These were the key ingredients in making BA implementation successful. Our findings may be of value to other treatment centers implementing BA for the first time. Trial registration: NCT02985047.

Association of direct and indirect aggression and victimization with self-harm in young adolescents: A person-oriented approach

We sought to determine which patterns of direct and indirect aggression and victimization are most clearly associated with self-harm in adolescent girls and boys cross-sectionally at two time points, as well as prospectively over one year. A cluster analysis using the LICUR procedure (Bergman, 1998) was employed to identify stable patterns of aggression and victimization in a community cohort of 883 Swedish adolescents (51% girls; mean age 14.5). The results showed that a pattern combining high aggression with high victimization was consistently associated with high levels of self-harm in both genders, both cross-sectionally and prospectively. Additionally, this pattern of aggressive victims was a clear risk factor for the development of repetitive self-harm over a one-year period in both girls (odds ratio 13.58) and boys (odds ratio 5.72). We also found several gender differences: In girls, subgroups characterized by high victimization (aggressive victims and non-aggressive victims) had the highest levels of self-harm, whereas in boys the patterns characterized by high aggression (aggressive victims and aggressive non-victims) seemed more relevant. The findings concerning the aggressive victim cluster are clear warning signs of severe psychopathology and possible psychiatric diagnosis in this subgroup of girls and boys.

Validation of a Swedish version of the short UPPS-P impulsive behavior scale among young adults

The UPPS-P model of impulsivity proposes that impulsivity comprises five distinct facets—negative urgency, positive urgency, lack of premeditation, lack of perseverance, and sensation seeking. The UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale has been used to measure these facets. The purpose of the current study was to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of a Swedish version of the 20-item UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale (SUPPS-P). The sample comprised 343 Swedish young adults (Mage = 24.21, SD = 2.01; 27% men, 2% other or undisclosed gender identity) who answered a questionnaire including the SUPPS-P; Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21); and questions regarding their alcohol consumption and substance use. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a 5-factor, inter-correlated model, where each subscale of the SUPPS-P constitutes one latent variable. The convergent validity was established by replicating previously found correlations between the different impulsivity facets and depression, anxiety, frequency of alcohol consumption, and substance use. The internal consistency was acceptable for all the SUPPS-P subscales (Cronbachs α = 0.65–0.78, McDonalds ω = 0.65–0.79), except lack of perseverance (Cronbachs α = 0.60, McDonalds ω = 0.61). Thus, while the Swedish version of the SUPPS-P is suitable for assessing impulsivity in Swedish young adult samples, further research is needed to improve the psychometric properties of the lack of perseverance subscale.