November 28, 2024
by Elizabeth Pratt
COVID lockdowns caused many families to eat more meals at home, and it may have had an unexpected benefit.
Research published in the journal Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice found that families who ate together more often during the COVID-19 pandemic experienced in increase in quality family time during dinners.
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June 27, 2024
by Elizabeth Pratt
Violence and aggression against teachers has grown since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Research published by the American Psychological Association found that whilst threats and violence decreased during the pandemic, they have now returned to pre-pandemic levels or increased.
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May 14, 2024
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in The Lancet looked at non-fatal suicide behaviours across phases in the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain. “Our study investigates the incidence of non-fatal suicide behaviors in Catalonia, Spain, before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic,” study author Dr. Victor Serrano-Gimeno told us. “We aimed to understand the patterns and fluctuations in suicide behaviors across different stages of the crisis.”
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March 5, 2024
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in PLOS One looked at reactions to macro-level shocks and re-examination of adaptation theory using Big Data “Our study wanted to determine whether two different types of macro-level shocks (lockdown – endogenous and the invasion of Ukraine – exogenous to the countries under investigation) affected happiness differently,” study author Stephanié Rossouw told us.
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January 30, 2024
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in BMC Public Health looked at married women’s decisions to delay childbearing, as well as loneliness, severe psychological distress, and suicidal ideation under crisis during the pandemic. “This study intended to find out how pregnancy decisions affect the well-being of women,” study author Midori Matsushima told us. “We used the COVID-19 pandemic as a natural experiment that affected the population as a whole.”
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October 31, 2023
by Elizabeth Pratt
People who bought firearms at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic have higher rates of mental health problems and political extremism.
Research published in PLOS One found those who bought firearms during the pandemic had higher rates of self harm, suicidal thoughts and intimate partner violence when compared with those who don’t own firearms or other firearms owners who bought firearms outside the height of the pandemic.
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September 30, 2023
by Elizabeth Pratt
Rates of prolonged grief disorder are likely to be higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Researchers from the UK found that rates of prolonged grief disorder are already three times higher than pre pandemic.
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May 23, 2023
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in PLOS ONE looked at the effectiveness of a brief online resilience intervention during the COVID-19 lockdown. “Our study aimed to test a new positive psychological intervention, SPARK Resilience® @Work,” study author Evgeny Osin told us. “It is a programme that aims to help employees understand, activate, and develop the psychological resources and strategies that are important to deal efficiently with stressful situations and to maintain high well-being and high performance at work.”
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May 9, 2023
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders looked at the social and cognitive vulnerability to COVID-19-related stress in pregnancy. “We were interested to find out whether being pregnant during the pandemic was associated with postpartum mental wellbeing of the mothers and their babies,” study author Susanne Schweizer told us. “In particular, we were interested whether the experiencing stress related to the pandemic (including, stressors such as economic and health-related worries) would be associated with more postpartum depression and anxiety in the mothers and poorer affect in the children.”
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March 31, 2023
by Elizabeth Pratt
The number of children and adolescents visiting the emergency department for attempted suicide and suicide ideation rose sharply during the pandemic.
Research publish in The Lancet Psychiatry found that while pediatric emergency department visits decreased overall during the pandemic, suicide related visits among youth rose by 22%.
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