The bond an individual had with their caregivers in childhood can influence their mental health in adulthood. A body of literature suggests that parental bonding is believed to have significant...Show moreThe bond an individual had with their caregivers in childhood can influence their mental health in adulthood. A body of literature suggests that parental bonding is believed to have significant influence on the possible development of various psychopathologies, such as alcohol use and loneliness. This study examined the influence of parental bonding on alcohol use and loneliness. The participants of this study were part of the longitudinal NESDA study (N = 1685). Parental bonding, specifically care and overprotection, was measured with the parental bonding instrument (PBI). Two mediation analyses were run: parental care and overprotection were expected to predict alcohol use, mediated by loneliness. To control for confounders, depression and anxiety symptoms were included as covariates. The results demonstrated that both low parental care and high overprotection predict loneliness. However, loneliness was not associated with alcohol use and did not mediate the relationship between parental bonding and alcohol consumption. Surprisingly, low overprotection was associated with higher alcohol use. Meanwhile, parental care was not significantly related to alcohol consumption. This study offers new insights to the relationship between parental bonding and alcohol use. Demonstrating that low parental overprotection does predict alcohol use while parental care does not. Further research should take sociability of participants and gender differences into account.Show less
Background: High numbers of suicide occur per year, and discovering causes of suicidal ideation (SI) may level up preventive care. Numerous studies show the importance of parental bonding on the...Show moreBackground: High numbers of suicide occur per year, and discovering causes of suicidal ideation (SI) may level up preventive care. Numerous studies show the importance of parental bonding on the likelihoods of SI, while others found an association between SI and having insomnia. Other research suggests that the parent-child relationship also associates with insomnia. Objective: To investigate the relationship between parental bonding (PB; maternal and paternal care and control), insomnia and SI; and explore the mediation effect of insomnia on the association between PB and SI in female young adults. Methods: 187 female volunteers participated in this study. Participants were asked to fill out an online survey. PB was measured using the Parental Bonding Instrument, yielding retrospective maternal and paternal care and control scores. Insomnia was measured using the Insomnia Severity Index, and SI with the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation. Results: High maternal and paternal care were associated with low insomnia, and high maternal and paternal control were associated with high insomnia. High insomnia was associated with high SI. High maternal and paternal care and low maternal control were associated with low SI, and no association between paternal control and SI. Full mediation via insomnia was found between maternal control and paternal control with SI, respectively. Insomnia did not mediate maternal care and SI, and insomnia only partially mediated paternal care and SI. Conclusions: This study suggests that insomnia plays a mediating role between parental overcontrol and SI, and that inadequate parental care (especially maternal) can be directly linked to a heightened risk of SI in female young adults.Show less
Sexist discrimination is a social issue that has a negative impact on the mental health of females. Some studies have suggested that activism may be an adaptive coping strategy in facing...Show moreSexist discrimination is a social issue that has a negative impact on the mental health of females. Some studies have suggested that activism may be an adaptive coping strategy in facing discrimination. The objectives of the current study were to explore activism as a protective factor against the effects of sexist discrimination on depression and anxiety symptoms in female students. The study used data of 189 Leiden University female students who completed a survey with the following scales: Sexist Discrimination, Conventional Activism (CA), High-Risk Activism and Loneliness. Two hierarchical regression analyses and two moderation analyses were conducted on the mental health outcomes: anxiety and depressive symptoms. Results showed that experiencing sexist discrimination was positively correlated to depression and anxiety symptoms. However, CA was not related to depression and anxiety. In addition, CA was not found as a moderator in the relationship between sexist discrimination and the mental health outcomes. This may be explained by the assumption that activism serves as an adaptive coping strategy in certain social groups only when it matches specific discrimination. The current study is a reminder of the impact of sexist discrimination on female students' mental health and emphasizes the importance of addressing it in society and therapy. The current study does not support that activism protects the mental health of female students in facing sexist discrimination. However, the research of activism as a coping strategy is only in its beginning stages and future research is needed.Show less
Background: Previous studies have shown that parental bonding (PB) is directly and in interaction with stressful events linked to mental health outcomes. Sexism affects many young women and is...Show moreBackground: Previous studies have shown that parental bonding (PB) is directly and in interaction with stressful events linked to mental health outcomes. Sexism affects many young women and is often associated with psychopathology. This research aimed to further investigate the relation between PB, sexual discrimination and mental health outcomes. Non-optimal maternal and paternal bonding styles and higher frequency of sexual discrimination were expected to be related to greater depressive and anxiety-related symptoms. Furthermore, PB was examined as a moderator on the sexism-symptomatology (depression and anxiety) links. Methods: In a cross-sectional study design, female university students (N = 186) self-reported perceived PB, sexist events, and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Results: Regression analyses revealed that compared to optimal PB, both maternal and paternal affectionless control and neglectful parenting significantly predicted depressive symptoms, whereas symptoms of anxiety were only significantly higher in paternal affectionless control profiles. Frequent sexual discrimination significantly predicted greater depression and anxiety symptomatology, and paternal but not maternal bonding moderated these relations. Non-optimal paternal bonding strengthened the relationships of sexism with symptoms of depression and anxiety, while for optimal paternal bonding, no significant link between sexism and depression was present. Conclusion: The findings indicate direct associations of both non-optimal PB and sexual discrimination with symptoms of depression and anxiety, and provide preliminary evidence that the sexism-symptomatology link might be more pronounced in non-optimal than optimal paternal bonding profiles. This study highlights the centrality of positive father-daughter relationships and sets implications for future research, parenting practices and intervention programs.Show less
The Covid-19 pandemic has been widely associated with an increase in depression levels in the student population. Recent studies have investigated loneliness and hopelessness as predicting factors...Show moreThe Covid-19 pandemic has been widely associated with an increase in depression levels in the student population. Recent studies have investigated loneliness and hopelessness as predicting factors for depressive symptoms during the pandemic. However, little research has been conducted to explore the possible mediating role of the students’ resilience in these associations. This study aimed to investigate the association between loneliness and depressive symptoms, and between hopelessness and depressive symptoms in students during the pandemic. A further aim was to investigate whether the students’ resilience played an important mediating role in both associations. University students (N=215) from Leiden University filled out an online questionnaire measuring their loneliness, hopelessness, resilience, and depressive symptoms during the Covid-19 pandemic. Two mediation analyses were conducted using Process macro in SPSS. Results showed that both loneliness and hopelessness were positively associated with depressive symptoms. Resilience was found to play a mediating role in the loneliness-depressive symptoms association. However, resilience was not confirmed as a mediator in the hopelessness- depressive symptoms association. The results of this study imply a call for universities to provide accessible resources to students that help strengthen their resilience when faced with a major stressful life event. As resilience was found to be a mediator between loneliness and depressive symptoms, strategies to increase the students’ resilience could possibly prevent loneliness from further developing into depression. Strategies should also focus on decreasing loneliness and hopelessness levels in students as those factors were found to be associated with depressive symptoms during the Covid-19 pandemic.Show less
The quality of early relationships is thought to form the basis of maintaining mental well-being later in life. The aim of this study was to examine the role of parental bonding, loneliness and...Show moreThe quality of early relationships is thought to form the basis of maintaining mental well-being later in life. The aim of this study was to examine the role of parental bonding, loneliness and hopelessness in the development of PTSD symptomatology in a young adult sample. Participants who study at Leiden University was asked to fill-out questionnaires about parental bonding, loneliness, hopelessness and PTSD. According to participants’ scores on parental bonding inventory (PBI), they were assigned either to secure or insecure attachment groups. A mediation analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between parental bonding and PTSD symptomatology by coding hopelessness and loneliness as potential mediators in this relationship. The results revealed that insecure attachment was associated with higher levels of hopelessness, loneliness and PTSD symptomatology whereas secure attachment was associated with lower levels of hopelessness, loneliness and PTSD symptomatology. Furthermore, loneliness and hopelessness mediated the relationship between parental bonding and PTSD symptomatology. These findings could help in identifying individuals who are more or less vulnerable to develop trauma-related symptoms after a traumatic or an adverse situation.Show less
