People had to adjust their daily lives as a result of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, which emerged in December 2019, and was declared a pandemic in March 2020. Uncertainty about the future...Show morePeople had to adjust their daily lives as a result of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, which emerged in December 2019, and was declared a pandemic in March 2020. Uncertainty about the future and social distancing rules had a significant influence on individual’s mental wellbeing. Previous research suggests that the pandemic is expected to have a consequential impact on mental health. This research looks at the complex relationship between the subjective feeling of loneliness and mental health variables among university bachelor students at Leiden University during the third wave of Covid-19 infections and its associated restrictions. The research began in late March 2021and started with a baseline assessment to acquire basic information of the participants. Over the course of 15 days an Ecological Momentary Assessment was used to measure the mental health of 66 students, four times a day. The surveys included questions from the DASS-21 and UCLA Loneliness scale. Through the use of a network analysis a vicious loop between mental health variables and isolation was discovered, as well as loneliness being a potential predictor for mental health problems. The study points out that loneliness is an important component when tackling mental health issues in students.Show less
Introduction: University students are at particular risk for developing mental health problems due to life changes and age of onset. One variable that often influences mental health is fatigue....Show moreIntroduction: University students are at particular risk for developing mental health problems due to life changes and age of onset. One variable that often influences mental health is fatigue. Prior research has found a strong association between fatigue and psychiatric disorders. The study investigated if the level of fatigue influences depression, anxiety, and stress or vice versa. Method: For 15 days and 4 times a day, students were asked questions on their smartphones regarding symptoms of depression, stress, anxiety, and fatigue. With this data, network models estimated the relationship between those variables. Results: Sample descriptives, mental health descriptives, time series data, and network models were made. The network models show that the strongest relationships between variables are between stress and anxiety and between depression items. The temporal network shows a bidirectional link between fatigue and having a bad outlook on the future. Discussion: In spite of its limitations, conclusions about the link between fatigue and outlook on the future can be drawn.Show less
In light of the growing mental health crisis in university students and increased social media usage in this population, we conducted the present study to investigate a potential relationship....Show moreIn light of the growing mental health crisis in university students and increased social media usage in this population, we conducted the present study to investigate a potential relationship. Previous research reports conflicting results about the psychological consequences of social media use. Findings differ depending on the user’s engagement with social networking sites. Active social media use, commenting, and messaging, versus passive use, lurking, and browsing, may benefit mental health. The present study used Ecological Momentary Assessment to collect data at different time points during the day. The sample consisted of Leiden University students (N=63) who were recruited online. Participants reported about their social media use and filled out the DASS-21 before answering four questionnaires per day for fifteen days through a smartphone application. Throughout the length of the study, participants were asked two DASS-21 items for depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms each and how much time they spend with active SNS activities in the last three hours. Analysis and visualization were provided via a contemporaneous and a temporal model, showing partial correlations and predictions. Depressive and anxiety symptoms did not relate to active social media use on the contemporaneous level. However, one stress symptom, feeling irritable, related to using social media in an active way. No relations between depressive and stress symptoms and active social media use were found on the temporal level. One anxiety symptom, worrying, predicted using social media actively and vice versa. The current findings are discussed in terms of possible explanations and implications for future research.Show less
Placebo-toepassingen als aanvulling of vervanging van een behandeling kunnen bijdragen aan een verbetering van de zorg voor kinderen. In de zorg is het belangrijk om transparant te zijn naar de...Show morePlacebo-toepassingen als aanvulling of vervanging van een behandeling kunnen bijdragen aan een verbetering van de zorg voor kinderen. In de zorg is het belangrijk om transparant te zijn naar de patiënt over de behandeling. De mate van dit belang zou per leeftijdscategorie kunnen verschillen. Dit transparantieprincipe botst met bepaalde kenmerken van placebo toepassingen. Onderzoek naar de mening van ouders ontbreekt en is cruciaal voor de ontwikkeling van de zorg voor kinderen. Ouders worden namelijk betrokken in het maken van beslissingen voor en met hun kind. Met een cross-sectioneel vragenonderzoek werd data verzameld van tien ouders met kinderen (0-18 jaar) die een ziekenhuisbehandeling hebben gehad in het laatste jaar voor een chronische of acute reden. Ouders vonden het belangrijk dat er transparantie is naar het kind toe (M = 8.90, SD = 0.88 op een 0-10 schaal) en dit hing niet significant samen met leeftijd van het kind (p = .33). Verder was er geen verschil tussen de twee typen placebo-toepassing (behandelversterkend vs. behandelvervangend) wat betreft invloed op de verwachte transparantie (p = .70). Het blijkt dat er een grote variëteit is in de beoordeling van ouders betreffende de transparantie naar het kind bij het toevoegen van een placebo-toepassing die niet samenhangt met de reden van behandeling, chronisch of acuut, de leeftijd van het kind tijdens deze behandeling of het type placebo-toepassing. Er is meer onderzoek nodig om te kunnen bepalen of de bevindingen van dit onderzoek kunnen bijdragen aan de bereidheid om placebo-toepassingen toe te voegen in de zorg voor kinderen.Show less
Research findings on the interrelationships between stress and sleep, stress and optimism, optimism and sleep have been found in the literature. However, a possible relationship between all three...Show moreResearch findings on the interrelationships between stress and sleep, stress and optimism, optimism and sleep have been found in the literature. However, a possible relationship between all three of these variables together remains unstudied. Understanding this relationship and whether these relationships are interdependent, may provide new prevention and intervention opportunities for sleep- or stress-related health problems. The current study aimed to investigate whether the relationship between perceived stress and sleep quality depends on the level of optimism. The study employed a quantitative and quasi experimental design, with data collected cross-sectionally via online self-report questionnaires. The Life Orientation Test Revised was administered to measure the level of optimism, the Perceived Stress Scale was administered to measure the level of stress, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was administered to assess sleep quality. To examine the hypothesis that the level of optimism will moderate the relationship between level of perceived stress and sleep quality, a moderated hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis was conducted on data from 250 respondents. The results revealed that the level of perceived stress was able to predict sleep quality (b = .14, p < .001), but the level of optimism failed to predict sleep quality (b = -.05, p > .05) and no evidence was found for the moderating role of optimism in the relationship between perceived stress and sleep quality (b = .002, p > .05). It is possible that the baseline sleep quality was not poor enough, and there were not enough people with low levels of optimism to detect whether the level of optimism could interfere with the relationship between perceived stress and sleep quality. However, the role of optimism within this relationship can be studied more in the future, with better-informed research designs.Show less
Different studies have researched the effect of optimism on health-related quality of life in various patient groups. The relationship between these two constructs in a healthy population has not...Show moreDifferent studies have researched the effect of optimism on health-related quality of life in various patient groups. The relationship between these two constructs in a healthy population has not been studied yet and thus the aim of this study was to look at the potential effects of optimism on different aspects of health-related quality of life in a healthy population. This was tested with an independent samples t-test using data from online self-administered questionnaires. These were the Life Orientation Test-Revised, which measures optimism, and the 12 Item Short Form Survey (SF-12), which measures health-related quality of life. The main finding was that higher scores on optimism were associated with significantly better ratings of health-related quality of life. This significant association was found for both components of health-related quality of life assessed in the SF-12. Those with higher optimism scores had both a significantly higher physical component score (p < .05) and a significantly higher mental component score (p < .001) than those with lower optimism scores. A possible explanation for this finding is argued to be that the relation between optimism and health-related quality of life is mediated by engagement in health-enhancing behaviors. A limitation was that the research design of the study was cross-sectional, limiting the interpretations that could be made about the directionality of the established association. A longitudinal and experimental design would be beneficial in future research to examine whether optimism has a direct effect on health-related quality of life.Show less
Social functioning is a health outcome, but unlike many other health outcomes, its relation to optimism has not been studied before in a healthy population. In this study, the Life Orientation Test...Show moreSocial functioning is a health outcome, but unlike many other health outcomes, its relation to optimism has not been studied before in a healthy population. In this study, the Life Orientation Test-Revised was used to measure levels of optimism and the Social Functioning Questionnaire was used to measure levels of social functioning. The final sample consisted of 250 respondents and they were divided into two groups (low and high) according to their optimism scores. It was hypothesized that there would be a significant difference between the low optimism and high optimism groups in their level of social functioning. An independent samples t-test was conducted and the results showed that the individuals in the high optimism group had significantly better social functioning scores than the individuals in the low optimism group (p < .001). Although an association between the level of optimism and social functioning has been found, the main limitation of the study was that the data were collected cross-sectionally and the level of optimism was not manipulated experimentally, meaning that no causal inferences could be made from the data. Conducting an experimental and longitudinal study could show whether there is such a direct effect and reveal the direction of this potential effect.Show less
Research on optimism has increased in the past years. Optimism is known to have a positive relationship with several health outcomes. Additionally, optimism has also been established as a predictor...Show moreResearch on optimism has increased in the past years. Optimism is known to have a positive relationship with several health outcomes. Additionally, optimism has also been established as a predictor of various mental and physical health outcomes. Whilst the relationship between optimism and executive functioning has been discussed, little is known about optimism as a predictor of success in executive functioning. In this study, data from 250 respondents was collected through online questionnaires to study whether optimism is a significant predictor of success in executive functioning in general, as well as in separate aspects of attention, self-control and self-monitoring, and planning. The measuring instruments that were used were the Life-Orientation Test-Revised for optimism and the Amsterdam Executive Function Inventory for executive functioning and its aspects. Four simple linear regression analyses were conducted to analyze the data. The results showed that optimism is a significant predictor of executive functioning in general (b = .22, p < .001), as well as of attention (b = .13, p < .001) and planning (b = .06, p < .05), but not of self-control and self-monitoring (p > .05). The main limitation in this study was that data were collected cross-sectionally instead of longitudinal. For self-control and self-monitoring, further research could be beneficial to understand what made this outcome differ from the others. These outcomes could be helpful to further investigate possible implications for the treatment of neuropsychological problems.Show less
Coronavirus disease 2019 has negatively affected the general population, and especially university undergraduates. Attending to and being aware of the present moment in an open, accepting and...Show moreCoronavirus disease 2019 has negatively affected the general population, and especially university undergraduates. Attending to and being aware of the present moment in an open, accepting and compassionate manner (i.e. mindfulness) has been shown to decrease depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms, and increase positive affect. In our present study, we used network analysis to examine the associations between anxiety, depression, stress, mindfulness and joy. An observational research design was used with a convenience sample of 66 undergraduate students aged 18 to 34 years who completed an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) on their phones. They were asked eight questionsーtwo psychological constructs and six subclinical psychopathology symptomsーfour times a day for two weeks. Network analysis resulted in temporal and contemporaneous network models, indicating that mindfulness at time t does not significantly predict any variable at later time t+1 on the temporal level. At the contemporaneous level, mindfulness is associated with depression, anxiety, stress, and joy. Given the limitations of the present study and the hypothesis generating nature of network analysis, we conclude that the significant partial correlations between mindfulness, psychological well-being and joy in the contemporaneous network may indicate potential causal relations worth following up on in future research.Show less
The scientific community is trying uncover and understand the underlying mechanisms of music, movement and social cognition. As an attempt to do so, this thesis proposes an interactive model that...Show moreThe scientific community is trying uncover and understand the underlying mechanisms of music, movement and social cognition. As an attempt to do so, this thesis proposes an interactive model that hypothesizes a relationship between tapping ability and interpersonal synchrony, moderated by musicality and interpersonal synchrony. Furthermore, this study predicts that there is a relationship between these two moderators as well and that musicality predicts empathic perspective-taking. A sample of 209 participants was recruited to take part in an online experiment that included questionnaires on empathy and music, as well as a tapping task in which participants tapped along to music with another person on the screen and rated their feelings of synchrony with them. The results showed that even though the interaction of tapping ability and musicality and that of tapping ability and empathic perspective-taking were not significant, the full model did turn out to be significant. In addition, musicality significantly predicted the scores on empathic perspective-taking. These results strengthen the existing literature on the socially adaptive effects of synchrony and the connection between the mechanisms present in movement to music and empathic abilities. It is concluded that the knowledge from this study can be applied to treatment and non-clinical populations, but that more research is needed to uncover the underlying mechanisms of music, movement and social cognition by exploring different interaction models.Show less
Emotion is one of the most important reasons why people listen to music. The present study looked at how perceived and felt emotions are elicited by music by measuring valence and arousal, and the...Show moreEmotion is one of the most important reasons why people listen to music. The present study looked at how perceived and felt emotions are elicited by music by measuring valence and arousal, and the effect of tempo on this ratings. The role of empathy in the relationship between perceived and felt emotions was also investigated. 153 participants were recruited and asked to listen to positive, neutral, and negative music pieces by completing a tapping task. The results showed that there is an association between tempo and perceived and felt emotions and that there are differences between perceived and felt emotions for positive, neutral, and negative music pieces. Furthermore, it was shown that empathy acts a moderator for the differences between perceived and felt emotions. In this way, how different emotions are evoked by music was studied and the role of empathy in this mechanism. This has important implications for understanding how emotions are used during social interactions and can be helpful for the development of therapeutic approaches that make use of music.Show less
