The association between mental health and cognitive ability: Evidence from the Understanding Society survey

Social disadvantage consistently predicts both self-reported distress and clinically diagnosed disorders such as depression. Yet, many individuals who are exposed to disadvantage do not report high levels of distress. This study extends our recent work showing that high cognitive ability may protect against the negative health consequences of exposure to disadvantaged backgrounds. We test whether this 'buffer effect' exists across clinically relevant indices of mental health in a population-representative sample. In total, 27 985 participants were drawn from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (Understanding Society). Clinical diagnoses of depression and clinically relevant measures of psychological distress [i.e. Short Form-12 (SF-12) Mental Component, General Health Questionnaire (GHQ)] and trait neuroticism were assessed. Cognitive ability was derived from performance on word recall, verbal fluency and numerical ability tasks. Early-life disadvantage was gauged using family background measures assessing parental education and occupation at age 14. Background disadvantage predicted increased levels of reported psychological distress and neuroticism. These associations were moderated by cognitive ability. Across all available mental health measures, the negative association between early-life disadvantage and poor adult mental health was strongest at low (-1 s.d.) cognitive ability and was no longer evident at high (+1 s.d.) levels of cognitive ability. The results provide support for a cognitive buffering hypothesis linking high cognitive ability to a decrease in the magnitude of the social gradient in mental health. Those disadvantaged by both low socioeconomic status and low cognitive ability may benefit from targeted prevention and treatment programmes aiming to reduce socioeconomic disparities in mental health.

Purpose To determine if losing work during the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with mental and physical health status. To determine if social interactions and financial resources moderate the relationship between work loss and health. Methods Participants were Australians aged 18 + years that were employed in paid work prior to the COVID-19 pandemic who responded to an online or telephone survey from 27th March to 12th June 2020 as part of a prospective longitudinal cohort study. Outcome measures include Kessler-6 score > 18 indicating high psychological distress, and Short Form 12 (SF-12) mental health or physical health component score < = 45 indicating poor mental or physical health. Results The cohort consisted of 2,603 respondents, including groups who had lost their job (N = 541), were not working but remained employed (N = 613), were working less (N = 660), and whose work was unaffected (N = 789). Three groups experiencing work loss had greater odds of high psychological distress (AOR = 2.22–3.66), poor mental (AOR = 1.78–2.27) and physical health (AOR = 2.10–2.12) than the unaffected work group. Poor mental health was more common than poor physical health. The odds of high psychological distress (AOR = 5.43–8.36), poor mental (AOR = 1.92–4.53) and physical health (AOR = 1.93–3.90) were increased in those reporting fewer social interactions or less financial resources. Conclusion Losing work during the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with mental and physical health problems, and this relationship is moderated by social interactions and financial resources. Responses that increase financial security and enhance social connections may alleviate the health impacts of work loss. Registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12620000857909.Supplementary InformationThe online version of this article (10.1007/s10926-021-09958-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

To describe leisure participation in adolescents with congenital heart defects (CHD) and identify factors associated with intensity of participation. Eighty adolescents with CHD were recruited (39 males, 41 females; mean age [SD] 15y 8mo [1y 8mo] range 11y 5mo-19y 11mo) of whom 78 completed the Children's Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment (CAPE) outcome measure of leisure participation. The measure has five subscales: recreational, active-physical, social, skill-based, and self-improvement. Associations between the CAPE and age, sex, and development were examined. Motor ability (Movement Assessment Battery for Children, Second Edition), cognition (Leiter International Performance Scale-Revised), behavior (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire), and motivation (Dimensions of Mastery Questionnaire) were assessed. Participants exhibited impaired motor (43.5%), behavioral (23.7%), and cognitive (29.9%) development. The most intense participation was in social (mean [SD] 3.3 [0.99]) and recreational (2.9 [0.80]) activity types on the CAPE. Male sex (p<0.05) and younger age were associated with greater physical activity (<15y: 1.87; ≥15y: 1.31, p<0.05). Greater engagement in social activities was related to better cognition (r=0.28, p<0.05), higher motor function (r=0.30-0.36, p<0.01), and fewer behavioral difficulties (r=-0.32 to -0.47, p<0.01). Cognitive ability (r=0.27, p<0.05), dexterity and aiming/catching (r=0.27-0.33, p<0.05), and behavior problems (r=0.38-0.49, p=0.001) were correlated with physical activity participation. Persistence in tasks, an aspect of motivation, correlated with physical (r=0.45, p<0.001) and social activity involvement (r=0.28, p<0.05). Ongoing developmental impairments in adolescents with CHD are associated with decreased active-physical and social engagement, putting them at risk of poor physical and mental health. Health promotion strategies should be considered. Adolescents with congenital heart defects (CHD) have limited engagement in active-physical leisure activities. Cognitive, motor, and behavioral impairments are associated with decreased participation in leisure in children with CHD. Female sex and older age are associated with less engagement in leisure. Mastery motivation correlates with participation, suggesting an avenue for intervention.

Background: Psychological hardiness is a protective personality characteristic against life stresses that plays a major role in improving one’s ability to cope with environmental pressures. Objectives: Thus, the present study aimed to evaluate the mental health status, psychological hardiness, and the correlation between the two in workers of the Pars special economic energy zone in 2010 with a special emphasis on demographic factors, such as age, sex, marital status, job status, field of action, and job experience. Materials and Methods: This was an analytical cross-sectional study conducted amongst 743 workers of the Pars special economic energy zone. Stratified sampling was carried out. Data were collected using a general health questionnaire, a psychological hardiness scale, and a demographic characteristics questionnaire. Frequency distribution, means and standard deviations (SD) were calculated; Spearman’s ρ test, Kruskal-Wallis, and Mann-Whitney U-test for evaluating the correlation between the variables were also used. The cut-off value for statistical significance was set at 0.05 or lower. Results: Findings showed that the mental health score had significant but reverse correlation with psychological hardiness (P = 0.002, r = -0.50). In 44% of the workers, the general health questionnaire score was higher than the cut-off point; the psychological hardiness score in this group of workers was also significantly lower than those with a mental health score below the cut-off point. This study also demonstrated that female gender, a younger age, being single or widowed, being a non-rotational shift worker, and working in the operational units were associated with poorer mental health and a lower psychological hardiness score. Conclusions: Findings of this study showed the importance of psychological hardiness in maintaining mental health. Special attention should be paid to maintaining and improving the mental health of workers in the Pars special economic energy zone. One of the main principles involved in the sustainable and integrated development of a company is healthy human resources in all aspects, including physical, mental, and social health. Therefore, the current situation necessitates designing evidence-based interventions focusing on vulnerable subgroups.

Health Beliefs and Help Seeking for Depressive and Anxiety Disorders Among Urban Singaporean Adults

Background In March 2020, the UK government introduced the pandemic-induced job retention scheme, known as furlough. The scheme provided grants to employers, to retain their workforce by subsidizing up to 80% of wages. While the scheme was aimed at preventing unemployment during lockdowns, it also came with wage loss, with implications for mental health for affected workers, although evidence is limited. Therefore, we aimed to explore the impact of the furlough scheme on mental health in the UK Methods We explored longitudinal data from the UK’s Understanding Society Survey between 2019 and 2021, including nine COVID waves. We matched a sample of furloughed and non-furloughed workers using various covariates. Mental health was measured using General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12, scored 0-36). We estimated difference-in-differences models to explore the heterogeneous causal effects on mental health of workers participation and exit from the furlough scheme. We further considered the effects of being furloughed contrasted with becoming unemployed during the pandemic Results The estimated average treatment effect (-0.53 [95% CI: -0.91 - -0.16]) suggests that being furloughed had significant positive impact on mental health, while exiting from furlough due to changes requiring workers to work minimum hours increased the incidence of poor mental health 0.41 [95% CI: -0.11 - 0.92]. However, compared to becoming unemployed, being furloughed improved mental health by around -0.42 [95% CI: -0.75 - -0.09] GHQ points. Conclusions Policies that mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic also had psychological effects on the population. Even though there were mixed effects of coronavirus-induced social restrictions and lockdowns. Furlough reduced the psychological risks associated with the pandemic job loss, while exiting the scheme increased the incidence of poor mental health. This could be explained by substantial decline in the generosity of the scheme by up to 40%. Key messages • Job loss during the pandemic had deteriorating mental health effects. • Government contribution to furloughed workers’ wages minimizes the incidence of mental health distress.

A large body of evidence shows that individuals with poor mental health have lower income over the lifespan but a dearth of evidence exists on how poor mental health affects savings behaviour. In this paper, we provide novel evidence of a mental health gap in pension participation in the UK using nationally representative longitudinal data from Understanding Society (UKHLS). Beginning in 2012, the UK government introduced automatic enrolment enabling us to assess the impact of one of the largest pension policy reforms in the world on this mental health gap. We measure mental health using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) which is a commonly used tool for measuring psychological distress. Prior to automatic enrolment, we find that male private sector employees with poor mental health are 3.7 percentage points less likely to participate in a workplace pension scheme while female private sector employees with poor mental health are 2.9 percentage points less likely to participate after controlling for key observables including age, education, race, marital status, number of children, occupation type, industry type, presence of a physical health condition and cognitive ability. The implementation of automatic enrolment removes the mental health gap in pension participation, equalising the pension participation rates of individuals with and without poor mental health in the private sector.

To the Editor: The association between use of medications in older people and poor mental health has been investigated in a limited number of studies, and results have been contradictory.1, 2 Given possible associations between medications and mental health,3, 4 there is potential for multiple medication use to contribute to age-associated declines in mental health,5 but the evidence concerning the association between mental health and medication use is scarce. The aim of this study was to examine the association between medication use and mental health in older women (aged 76–81) from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women Health (ALSWH).6 This study involved women from the 1921–26 birth cohort of the ALWSH who participated in the third longitudinal survey (2002) and provided consent for linkage to data on government-subsidized medications in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) database, for the period of April 1 to June 30, 2002. Total medication use was defined as the number of different medications using full Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) codes (chemical substance group) and therapeutic main groups, defined as the total number of different classes of medications. These two measures of medications were grouped into ordinal categories. Mental health was measured using the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) mental health score reported on the 2002 survey.7 Linear regression analysis was performed to investigate the associations between number and classes of medications and mental health scores. Of the 12,432 women recruited for ALSWH in 1996 (aged 70–75), 8,646 (69.5%) completed Survey 3 in 2002 (aged 76–81), with 5,502 (63.6%) providing consent for PBS linkage. Of the 5,502 women included in this study, 4,884 (88.7%) had a claim for at least one medication in the PBS data; 32.2% had claims for one to three medications, 31.7% for four to six, 16.1% for seven to nine, and 8.7% for 10 or more. Table 1 presents associations between the SF-36 mental health score and medication use after adjustment for other factors. The final model includes all statistically significant explanatory factors (all P ≤ .05). Older women who used one to three medications had higher mental health scores (better mental health) than those who did not use any (beta coefficient (β) = 1.53, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.02 ̶3.09, P = .05). After controlling for other significant factors, women who used 10 or more medications had lower mental health scores (poorer mental health) (β = −2.89, 95% CI = −5.05 to −0.73, P = .009) than those who did not use any. Analyses were repeated for each main therapeutic group (using unique reporting of second-level ATC codes), with similar results to overall medication use (data not shown). To the knowledge of the authors, this study is one of few to specifically examine the association between overall medication use and mental health in older women. The findings support the hypothesis that the use of more medications is associated with poorer mental health in older women. Nevertheless, although multiple medications may have adverse effects, therapeutic benefits may outweigh these effects, especially when women have significant morbidity. Health professionals should ask about mental health when undertaking medication review. The ALSWH represents a large cohort of older Australian women who are broadly representative of women in this age group in the Australian population.8 Information on medications was obtained using PBS data, which does not include all medicines used, such as over-the-counter medications and medications outside the PBS frame.9 However, because many older people in this cohort receive government concessions, it is likely that the effect of this data omission was minimal. Because this was a cross-sectional study, the analysis does not allow temporal associations or causality to be investigated. Further analysis of longitudinal data will allow temporal associations to be examined. Older women who use a small number of medications (1–3) have better mental health, whereas use of 10 or more medications is associated with poorer mental health. The findings underscore risk of poor mental health in older women using multiple medications. This research was supported by the Saudi Ministry of High Education (The King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Scholarship Program). The research on which this paper is based was conducted as part of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health by the University of Newcastle and the University of Queensland. We are grateful to the Australian Department of Health for funding and to the women who provided the survey data. This research was supported by infrastructure and staff of the Research Centre for Gender, Health and Ageing, who are members of the Hunter Medical Research Institute. Author Contributions: Alsalami, Forder, Byles: study design, data analysis, data interpretation, manuscript preparation. Milton, McEvoy: data interpretation, manuscript preparation. Sponsor's Role: The sponsor did not have a role in the design, method, data collection, analysis, or preparation of the article.

Psychological resilience, self-acceptance, perceived social support and their associations with mental health of incarcerated offenders in China.

BackgroundWith the widespread outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, many countries, including Egypt, have tried to restrict the virus by applying social distancing and precautionary measures. Understanding the impact of COVID-19-induced risks and social distancing measures on individuals' mental health will help mitigate the negative effects of crises by developing appropriate mental health services. This study aimed to investigate the most contributing factors that affected individuals' mental health and how individuals' mental health has changed over the lockdown period in Egypt in 2021.MethodsThe study draws on a nationally representative sample from the combined COVID-19 MENA Monitor Household Survey conducted by the Economic Research Forum. The data were collected in Egypt by phone over two waves in February 2021 and June 2021. The total number of respondents is 4,007 individuals. The target population is mobile phone owners aged 18–64 years. The 5-item World Health Organization Well-Being Index (WHO-5) is used to assess the individuals' mental health over the past 2 weeks during the pandemic. Penalized models (ridge and LASSO regressions) are used to identify the key drivers of mental health status during the COVID-19 pandemic.ResultsThe mean value of mental health (MH) scores is 10.06 (95% CI: 9.90–10.23). The average MH score for men was significantly higher than for women by 0.87. Rural residents also had significantly higher MH scores than their urban counterparts (10.25 vs. 9.85). Middle-aged adults, the unemployed, and respondents in low-income households experienced the lowest MH scores (9.83, 9.29, and 9.23, respectively). Individuals' mental health has deteriorated due to the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Regression analysis demonstrated that experiencing food insecurity and a decrease in household income were independent influencing factors for individuals' mental health (p < 0.001). Furthermore, anxiety about economic status and worrying about contracting the virus had greater negative impacts on mental health scores (p < 0.001). In addition, women, middle-aged adults, urban residents, and those belonging to low-income households were at increased risk of poor mental health (p < 0.05).ConclusionThe findings reveal the importance of providing mental health services to support these vulnerable groups during crises and activating social protection policies to protect their food security, incomes, and livelihoods. A gendered policy response to the pandemic is also required to address the mental pressures incurred by women.

Research in applied psychology has found that job demands affect employee health outcomes. However, less is known about the mechanisms linking job demands to more distal health outcomes, such as death, and how other job characteristics (i.e., job control) and individual differences (i.e., cognitive ability) might buffer these relationships. Accordingly, we drew from theories from the work stress and medical literatures to argue that job control and cognitive ability moderate the positive relationship between job demands and the probability of mortality, via the mediating effects of poor physical (i.e., allostatic load) and mental health (i.e., depression) indicators. We tested our hypotheses using a 20-year time-lagged design in a sample of 3,148 individuals with mental health data (and a subsample of 754 with physical health data) from the Midlife in the United States Survey. We found that job control and cognitive ability buffered the positive relationship between job demands and poor mental health. Unexpectedly, we found that job control, but not cognitive ability, moderated the relationship between job demands and physical health, such that job demands were related to better physical health under conditions of high control, and unrelated to physical health under conditions of low control. In turn, physical and mental health mediated the moderated (by job control and cognitive ability) job demands-mortality relationship. Our findings suggest that job demands relate to death differentially via physical and mental health, and that these relationships are bounded in unique ways by job control and cognitive ability. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Back Ground of the Study: Laughter therapy is the best remedy for stress. Not only does it help you cope with stress, but it also helps to strengthen your immune system and improves your overall stress-related health. Doing laughter every day will soon become a habit and it will reward you for the effort. Just as a king keeps control of his kingdom, so can we keep control of the vast territory of our mind. Humours and laughter therapy will lighten the load and help you bond with others. There are 15% of people over 65 with mental health problems in the general population, 25% in general practice and more than 30% in residential homes. Aging is a universal process that affects every human being on earth at various stages of their life. Physical, hormonal, psychological and social factors important in aging . Aim of study is to evaluate the efficacy of laughter therapy in promoting mental health among the elderly. Objectives of the study: The objectives of the study are: • To assess the level of mental health among old age people • To evaluate the effectiveness of laughter therapy on promotion of mental health among old age people • To find out the association between the post-test level of mental health with their selected demographic variables. Hypothesis • H1: There will be significant difference between the pre-test and post-test level of mental health among old age people. • H2: There will be a significant association between the post-test level of Mental Health with their selected demographic variables. Method: The study design is pre-experimental one group pre-test and after-experimental post-test. Setting is St. Joseph old age home, Coimbatore. Sample size is 50 old age individuals. There are 13 items in Tool-1demography proforma and 28 items in section-B standardised general health questionnaire. The tool is verified the experts . The confidential error of this tool is verified by using the split half technique. The value of this tool is 0.7. The collected data is analysed by both inferential method and descriptive statistical method. Evaluation of the efficacy of laughter therapy is done by using the paired 't' test Results: The pre test results showed that out of 50 respondents, 26 (52%) had good mental health, 24 (48%) had poor mental health, and none (0) had good mental health. The post test result showed that 36 (72%) of respondents had good mental health; 14 (28%) had satisfactory mental health; and none had poor mental health (0) The mean mental health score of the respondents before the intervention was 54 (54.82) and the mean mental health score after the intervention was 84 (84.40). The difference in mental health level was 0.5 (0.5). The post-intervention mental health level was higher than the pre-intervention level, indicating the effectiveness of the laughter therapy. The comparison of pre-intervention and post-intervention old age people' mental health score showed that t = 24.2. The research hypothesis (H1) is accepted and null hypotheses are rejected. The analysis showed a significant relationship between the post-intervention and socio-demographic variables, such as religion and marital status. The obtained value was less that the table value at 0.05 level of significance. So the research hypothesis (H2) is accepted and the null hypothesis is rejected. Interpretation and Conclusion: It can be inferred that the Mental Health level of old age people were poor during the pre-test and was increased after the administration of Laughter therapy. It is found that the Mental Health Level score were considerably more in the post-test itself.

ObjectiveThis study examined the association of nuptial/relationship factors, financial difficulties, and socio-demographic factors with the mental health status of Australian adults.DesignCross-sectional quantitative study design.Settings, participants, and interventionsUsing data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey wave 19, 6846 adults were included in the analysis. Mental health was measured using the mental component summary (MCS) subscale of the Short-Form Health Survey SF-36. Hierarchical multiple linear regressions were used to examine the predictors of mental health status.ResultsOverall, 7.1% of the participants reported poor mental health status. Individual financial difficulty factors explained 3.2% (p<0.001) of the variance in mental health scores. In addition, financial difficulties were negatively associated with mental health status. Nuptiality and relationship factors accounted for 9.8% (p<0.001) of the variance in mental health status.ConclusionThe study suggests negative marital or relationship perceptions and financial difficulties are significant factors accounting for poor mental health. This finding suggests the need for more policy attention toward the social determinants of poor mental health especially nuptiality or relationship perceptions which have received less policy and research attention in Australia.

Few population-based studies have examined associations between psychedelic use and mental health outcomes. This work describes characteristics of exclusive psychedelic mushroom use (referred to as PM use), PMs in combination with other psychedelic substances (multi-psychedelic or MP) use, and non-psychedelic use and explores mental health ratings in non-clinical settings. This work uses cross-sectional survey data from American adults collected by Acumen Health Research Institute, including demographic characteristics, general health-related quality of life (Veterans RAND derived mental and physical health composite scores), depression (PHQ 9-item), anxiety (GAD 7-item), comorbid conditions (CCI), health resource utilization, and perceptions, knowledge, and use of psychedelics. Multivariate and descriptive statistics were used to describe participant characteristics. Correlation analysis assessed anxiety and depression scores across groups. Mean anxiety and depression scores were compared using ANOVA and Tukey's HSD. A multivariate linear regression model controlling for past-year depression, past-year anxiety, age, region, ethnicity, sex, educational attainment, employment, and psychedelic use predicted mental health composite scores (MCS). Of the 6,869 participants included in the dataset, 256 (3.7%) reported using psychedelics in the last 12 months. Of those using psychedelics, 122 (47.7%) reported PM use and 134 (52.3%) reported MP use. All psychedelic users reported lower MCS and higher levels of anxiety and depression relative to non-users (those who said they had not used psychedelics in the past year). The lowest mental health scores were reported in the MP users followed by the PM users (higher MCS corresponded to better mental health). When controlling for confounding characteristics including past-year anxiety and depression, disparities in mental health scores persisted between those with any psychedelic use and the non-psychedelic group (p<0.001). This paper extends previous work describing the association between psychedelic use and mental health, controlling for confounding mental health factors such as comorbid anxiety and depression. These results suggest psychedelic users may have poorer mental health than their non-using counterparts in certain contexts and emphasize the need for future research in this field. Both non-adjusted and adjusted analyses demonstrate lower mental health scores for PM and MP users relative to non-psychedelic users. These differential effects highlight the need for further detailed, population-based research on the use of exclusive psilocybin and on psychedelics in combination.

Considered as a key component of human capital, mental health has drawn substantial scholarly attention for its effect on people’s health status and economic outcome. When facing the challenge of stress, people’s heterogeneity in cognitive ability and non-cognitive ability causes difference in patterns of coping, resulting in different manifestations in mental health. Previous researches have shown that cognitive and non-cognitive abilities have positively direct or indirect effects on mental health, but few studies research their role of coping with air pollution. We used the China Family Panel Survey (CFPS) and matched individual data with county or district level PM2.5 information from NASA. The study found that air pollution has negative effect on mental health with every increase of 1μg/m3 in PM2.5 deteriorating mental health by 0.038 standard deviation, which is the total effect of air pollution. However, the direct effect of air pollution on mental health will decrease to 0.028 in absolute value when considering mediating effects. By employing different approaches, we found positive mediating effects via cognitive ability and non-cognitive ability. Individuals with high cognitive and non-cognitive abilities are able to accurately diagnose problems and select the optimal coping strategies, thus restoring positive mental health.