Vulnerabilität und psychische Erkrankung

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_C8B1D0537B7C
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Vulnerabilität und psychische Erkrankung
Journal
Swiss Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry
Author(s)
Stassen H.H., Delfino J.P., Kluckner V.J., Lott P., Mohr C.
ISSN
0258-7661
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2014
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
165
Number
5
Pages
152-157
Language
german
Abstract
Vulnerability and psychic illness
Based on a sample of 1701 college and university students from four different sites in Switzerland, the U.S., and Argentina, this study investigated the interrelationships between insufficient coping skills under chronic stress and impaired general health. We sought to develop standardised means for "early" identification of students at risk of mental health problems, as these students may benefit from "early" interventions before psychiatric symptoms develop and reach clinically relevant thresholds. All students completed two
self-report questionnaires: the Coping Strategies Inventory "COPE" and the Zurich Health Questionnaire "ZHQ", with the latter assessing "regular exercises", "consumption behavior", "impaired physical health", "psychosomatic disturbances", and "impaired mental health". This data was subjected to structure analyses based on neural network approaches, using the different study sites' data subsets as independent "learning" and "test" samples. We found two highly stable COPE scales that quantified basic coping behaviour
in terms of "activity-passivity" and "defeatism-resilience". The excellent reproducibility across study sites suggested that the new scales characterise socioculturally independent personality traits. Correlation analyses for external validation revealed a close relationship between high scores on the defeatism scale and impaired physical and mental health, hence underlining the scales' clinical relevance. Our results suggested in particular: (1.) the proposed method to be a powerful screening tool for early detection and prevention of psychiatric disorders; (2.) physical activity like regular exercises to play a critical role not only in preventing health problems but also in contributing to early intervention programs.
Keywords
chronic stress, insufficient coping skills, affective disorders, early detection, prevention, students
Create date
06/05/2014 12:49
Last modification date
20/08/2019 16:43
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