College students experience a high prevalence of mood disorders, largely due to unstable life structure. This group encounters multiple barriers in accessing mental health treatment, including a...Show moreCollege students experience a high prevalence of mood disorders, largely due to unstable life structure. This group encounters multiple barriers in accessing mental health treatment, including a demanding schedules limited time, stigma, and a tight budget. Moodpep, an online eHealth intervention designed to address depressive symptoms, helps overcome these barriers. This study investigated the effectiveness of Moodpep, a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy based online intervention for students with depressive symptoms, and examined whether its effects persisted during follow-up. Additionally, this study explored the impact of gender, concurrent treatment, and the differential improvement between clinically and subclinically depressed participants. The sample consisted of 255 students from 9 universities in the Netherlands. Repeated measures ANOVA and independent samples t-tests were used for data-analysis. The findings indicated that depressive symptoms significantly reduced after completing Moodpep, with these improvements maintained at the six-month follow-up. Gender and concurrent treatments did not have a significant effect on the outcomes. Notably, participants with clinical levels of depression showed greater improvement compared to those with subclinical symptoms. Despite these promising results, the study faced limitations, including high dropout rates, uncertainty regarding the reasons for dropout, lack of a control group and regression toward the mean. Future research should focus on understanding dropout causes, conducting randomized controlled trials, evaluating long-term effects, and exploring the integration of eHealth interventions with traditional face-to-face treatments. Moodpep offers a promising early intervention for depressive symptoms by providing an anonymous, travel-free, flexible treatment option accessible to all students. The practical implication could be increased by raising awareness of Moodpep's availability.Show less
The aim of the present study was to investigate the moderating effect of self-compassionate coping on the association between academic stress and depressive symptoms in Dutch secondary vocational...Show moreThe aim of the present study was to investigate the moderating effect of self-compassionate coping on the association between academic stress and depressive symptoms in Dutch secondary vocational education (MBO) students and whether this effect differed on gender. This cross- sectional study consisted of an online questionnaire, completed by 158 MBO students and which measured academic stress, related constructs and coping strategies. Data was investigated through two multiple linear regressions: one investigating the whole sample and one investigating men and women separately. An independent samples t-test analyzed gender differences in self-compassion. Results indicated a positive association between academic stress and depressive symptoms in both the total sample and the two gender groups, as well as a negative association between self-compassionate coping and depressive symptoms. Self- compassionate coping was found not to have a moderating effect in the total sample, nor in either gender group. Moreover, no significant gender differences were found in either the amount of self-compassion students experienced, or its moderating effect. Findings showed that non- university students experience many of the same issues as university students do. Despite no moderating effect being found, a direct negative association between self-compassionate coping and depressive symptoms was established. These findings indicate that existing interventions for academic stress in university students need to be applied to non-university students, as such interventions could be of help in reducing this student population’s mental health issues. Additionally, interventions aimed at non-university students’ mental health should take self- compassionate coping into account as a possible protective factor for depressive symptoms.Show less
Background: The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic led to uncertainty, stress, significant losses, and concern for physical and mental health. University students are a vulnerable subgroup affected by the...Show moreBackground: The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic led to uncertainty, stress, significant losses, and concern for physical and mental health. University students are a vulnerable subgroup affected by the outbreak. It has adversely affected their academic and social lives. Previous findings indicate heightened anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms. Negative coping strategies such as alcohol consumption were used to overcome the effects of pandemic fear. The aim of the study is to investigate the link between pandemic fear and negative mental health issues, and alcohol use. Methods: The study had a cross-sectional design, involving 139 university students. Online self-report measures were used to assess pandemic fear, alcohol use, depressive, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms. The covariates age, gender, and educational level were controlled for in the statistical analyses. Multiple linear regression was used to examine the relationship between pandemic fear and depressive, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms. Moderated regression was used to examine the moderating effect of alcohol use on the above-mentioned link. Bonferroni correction was used to adjust alpha levels. Results: Pandemic fear was positively linked with depressive, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms among university students. However, although alcohol use might be used as a negative coping strategy, its moderating role on the link between pandemic fear and mental health outcomes was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Overall, as pandemic fear increased, mental health issues increased in university students. Future studies with longitudinal design and larger statistical power that considers other covariates, and has measures other than self-report might be more reliable in evaluating this further.Show less
Individuals who experienced childhood adversity (CA) are at higher risk to develop depressive symptoms in adolescence and young adulthood. Different factors are thought to be involved in this...Show moreIndividuals who experienced childhood adversity (CA) are at higher risk to develop depressive symptoms in adolescence and young adulthood. Different factors are thought to be involved in this association, including the immune system. Of the two most important immune markers, IL-6 has repeatedly been confirmed to be involved in the association between CA and depressive symptoms. Yet studies investigating the potential role of TNF-α are limited and show inconsistent results. This master thesis investigated the relationship between CA and depressive symptoms, along with the potential moderating effect of TNF-α on this relationship. The study used a cross-sectional design and included an online assessment (session 1) and an in-unit assessment at Addenbrooke’s hospital (Cambridge, UK) (session 2). Severity of CA and depressive symptoms were assessed during session 1 with the use of self-report questionnaires. Baseline TNF-α levels were assessed during session 2 through blood venepunctures. As expected, results revealed that the severity of CA significantly predicts depressive symptoms in adolescence (r2 = .07, p = .02). However, TNF-α levels did not predict depressive symptoms, and TNF-α levels did not moderate the relationship between severity of CA and depressive symptoms in adolescence and young adulthood.Show less
In recent years suicidal behavior has become more prevalent among students, especially in cases of depression. The Interpersonal Theory of Suicide has suggested that feelings of thwarted...Show moreIn recent years suicidal behavior has become more prevalent among students, especially in cases of depression. The Interpersonal Theory of Suicide has suggested that feelings of thwarted belongingness and burdensomeness can precede suicidal ideation. Both concepts are rooted deeply in the social world and research suggests that social support may alleviate these feelings offering a promising avenue of research for suicide prevention. The current study aims to explore the relationship between social support and suicidal ideation in the context of depressive symptoms among students by using a network analysis. A network of 11 nodes was computed using a Gaussian Graphical model. Nodes represented depressive symptoms (suicide ideation, low energy, sleep problems, weight/appetite changes, psychomotor changes, concentration problems, guilt, sadness and loneliness), perceived social support and objective social support. Participants (N = 453) were recruited as part of the WARN-D program and suicide ideation, level of social support and depressive symptoms were assessed using various questionnaires. Contrary to our expectation, no relationship was found between suicide ideation and social support or loneliness. Loneliness emerged as the most central node in the network. Guilt was found to have the most connections with other variables in the network. Further research is needed to clarify the role social support can play in preventing suicide ideation and in depression in general.Show less
Research master thesis | Psychology (research) (MSc)
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Purpose. The current study aimed to research the relation between teleworking and distress levels, depressive symptoms, workload, work functioning and need for recovery. Age and gender were further...Show morePurpose. The current study aimed to research the relation between teleworking and distress levels, depressive symptoms, workload, work functioning and need for recovery. Age and gender were further tested as moderators on these relations, and workload was tested as a mediator between telework and distress level, depressive symptoms, work functioning and need for recovery. Methods. A sample of 87 employees working at a Dutch telecom organization were included. The group of employees who exclusively worked at the office (teleworkers; N = 37) was compared to the group of employees who worked remotely some of their time (teleworkers; N = 50) on all outcomes using independent t-tests. The indicators were measured cross-sectionally. Results. There was no significant difference between teleworkers and nonteleworkers in distress level (p = .161, d = 0.33), depressive symptoms (p = .575, d = 0.12), workload (p = .886, d = 0.01), work functioning (p = .266, d = 0.24) and need for recovery (p = .964, d = 0.01). Moreover, age and gender did not have a moderating effect on any of these relations. Results showed lastly that workload was not a significant mediator between telework and all four outcomes. Conclusion. The current study suggests that there is no difference between teleworkers in distress levels, depressive symptoms, workload, work functioning and need for recovery. Also, characteristics of the employees such as gender and age do not seem to relate to relations of telework with these outcomes. Results furthermore suggest that workload does not explain the effects of telework on the included outcomes.Show less
Depression and insomnia are prevalent disorders which are often found to occur comorbidly. Compared to suffering from one disorder alone, a comorbidity is related to a higher symptom burden and...Show moreDepression and insomnia are prevalent disorders which are often found to occur comorbidly. Compared to suffering from one disorder alone, a comorbidity is related to a higher symptom burden and reduced treatment success. Still, only a number of studies focus on the psychological risk factors for the onset and maintenance of depression and insomnia. This study hypothesized that high levels of perfectionism and rumination can predict an increase in depressive symptoms and sleep disturbances. In a sample of 69 healthy university students, an online survey with a series of self-report questionnaires was administered. The study confirmed the already established finding of a comorbidity between depressive symptoms and sleep disturbances. Regarding the main hypotheses of this study, multiple regression analyses yielded that rumination significantly predicts depressive symptoms as well as sleep disturbances, while perfectionism was not a significant predictor of an increase in depressive symptoms and sleep disturbances. Existing literature suggests that this could be either explained by 1) the mediating effect of rumination between perfectionism and sleep disturbances or depressive symptoms and that 2) maladaptive, but not adaptive, perfectionism has detrimental effects on mood and sleep. Future research should investigate these hypotheses and additionally examining whether other factors, for instance worry or stress, might be relevant in predicting depressive symptoms and sleep disturbances. Further knowledge about the mechanisms behind the comorbidity between depression and insomnia is relevant in order to improve existing treatment approaches as well as establish prevention measures which target these risk factors.Show less
Up to a third of children experience childhood maltreatment (CM), which is abuse and/or neglect by a caregiver. CM is a robust risk factor for depression, and adolescent depressive symptoms seem to...Show moreUp to a third of children experience childhood maltreatment (CM), which is abuse and/or neglect by a caregiver. CM is a robust risk factor for depression, and adolescent depressive symptoms seem to increase during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study therefore investigated whether childhood maltreatment was associated with a further increase in adolescent depression in response to the pandemic, and what role self-esteem and loneliness play in this association. We examined depressive symptoms before (up to March 2020) and during the pandemic (April 2020), in a sample of 79 adolescents (16-26 years old) of which 67.1% were female and non were non-binary (REACT study; Smith et al., 2021). We found that CM was predictive of depression during the pandemic, but not of depression before the pandemic, nor of an increase in depressive symptoms. Furthermore, we found that loneliness was a significant mediator of the relationship between CM and depression during the pandemic, whereas self-esteem was found to be an independent predictor of depression increase. Based on these findings depression prevention/intervention programs are advised to identify CM survivors and to target loneliness and low self-esteem.Show less
Intellectual deficits have been known as a core feature of bipolar disorder for decades and are hypothesized to be responsible for the unfavorable psychosocial outcome and high unemployment rates....Show moreIntellectual deficits have been known as a core feature of bipolar disorder for decades and are hypothesized to be responsible for the unfavorable psychosocial outcome and high unemployment rates. Those alterations seem to be permanent and are present not only during active- but also during euthymic phases. The focus of this study was on investigating a possible link between mood symptoms, assessed through the clinician-rated questionnaire YMRS and the self-rated QIDS, and the IQ together with cognitive abilities in four different domains. Measured was the performance of 50 recently diagnosed patients participating in the BINCO-study. Furthermore, the focus was on observing differences in scoring between different symptomatic states and the two types of disorder. The impact of confounders, including the intake of antipsychotic medication, benzodiazepines, and the educational level, were considered. While no significant association between depressive symptoms and the subscale-derived IQ could be detected, a quadratic relation was found between manic symptoms and SDIQ score, pointing towards lower scoring in patients with subclinical symptoms and higher performance in patients with mild to moderate symptoms. The QIDS-score significantly impacted the performance in the sub-scale „information”, which provides the verbal comprehension index. The YMRS- score again showed a curvilinear association with the same subtest. The intake of antipsychotic medication seemed to show the greatest confounding effect on the dependent variable. Further research is needed to elucidate the effect of manic symptoms on IQ and verbal comprehension, as well as the role of antipsychotic medication. Also, larger sample sizes would determine the actual impact of each mood phase on the IQ.Show less
Depression is a worldwide problem and therefore it is very important to do research on its possible predictors or early symptoms. Studies have shown that the occurrence of depressive symptoms is...Show moreDepression is a worldwide problem and therefore it is very important to do research on its possible predictors or early symptoms. Studies have shown that the occurrence of depressive symptoms is related to certain personality characteristics such as optimism and neuroticism. However, there is not much research that takes both of these factors into consideration when looking at the occurrence of depressive symptoms. In this study, the role of neuroticism in the relationship between optimism and depressive symptoms was investigated. It was hypothesized that the degree of neuroticism will at least partially mediate the relationship between the level of optimism and depressive symptoms. The Patient Health Questionnaire, the Life Orientation Test-Revised, and the neuroticism subscale of the Big Five Inventory were used to measure depressive symptoms, optimism, and neuroticism, respectively. The results of the mediation analysis in PROCESS macro confirmed the hypothesis that the degree of neuroticism partially mediates the relationship between the level of optimism and depressive symptoms, b = -.29, BCa Cl [-.40, -.21]. The main limitation of the study was the cross-sectional study design which prevented making any inferences about the directionality of the found relationships. Nonetheless, the results have implications for both the research and the clinical field as they encourage further research to assist in the development of intervention strategies.Show less
The COVID-19 pandemic and its negative consequences for psychological health are omnipresent. Increased poor sleep quality and depressive symptoms, which are knowingly interrelated, have been...Show moreThe COVID-19 pandemic and its negative consequences for psychological health are omnipresent. Increased poor sleep quality and depressive symptoms, which are knowingly interrelated, have been reported amongst the general public. From previous research we know that social support can have a protective function and diminish the negative consequences of stressful life situations, such as the pandemic. We hypothesized that poor sleep quality during the COVID-19 pandemic was linked to depressive symptoms. We also assumed perceived social support to moderate this association. This cross-sectional study included 3484 students with Mage= 22.1 and SD = 3.1; 73,5 percent were female; 26.5 percent were male. Three multiple regression analyses were conducted, a moderation term was added to the equation. The post hoc analysis was a subgroup analysis. A positive association between experiencing poor sleep quality during COVID-19 and depressive symptoms was found (β = .38, p < .001). Perceived social support was a statistically significant moderator of poor sleep quality during COVID-19 and depressive symptoms (β = -.03, p = 025). However, only when comparing the beta value of the high social support group (β = .36, p < .001) with the medium-high social support group (β = .33, p < .001) a mitigating effect of perceived social support was identified. In conclusion, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, poor sleep quality and depressive symptoms co-occurred. Also, the study suggested that perceived social support had a protective effect concerning both, poor sleep quality during COVID-19 and depressive symptoms, a moderating role on the association was not confirmed.Show less
Objective: The present study aims to better understand possible multidirectional interactions between depressive symptoms, sleep quality and stress response. Although a significant amount of...Show moreObjective: The present study aims to better understand possible multidirectional interactions between depressive symptoms, sleep quality and stress response. Although a significant amount of research has been done studying the effect of sleep quality and depression on stress response, they provided mixed results and showed large methodological differences. We extend previous research by testing three hypotheses: (a) Poor sleep leads to increased stress responses; (b) Higher levels of depressive symptoms lead to increased stress responses; and (c) The effect of minimal levels of depressive symptoms on stress reactivity is greater for individuals with poor sleep. Method: In 46 participants (69,60% female; 18–29 years), we assessed sleep quality using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (and depressive symptoms using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), a psychosocial stress task, was used to induce moderate stress in a controlled environment in order to assess stress reaction. Results: Participants with poorer sleep quality did not have elevated salivary cortisol response after being exposed to a social stressor compared to participants with better sleep quality. Also, no proof was found for (minimal) depressive symptoms being a predictor of salivary cortisol response to psychosocial stress. The results further indicated that individuals with poor sleep quality did not experience a greater effect of (minimal) depressive symptoms on stress reactivity. Conclusion: No support was found for a role of sleep quality and depressive symptoms in cortisol stress response. Future research should take person- and situation-specific characteristics into account when analyzing cortisol responses to psychological stress.Show less
Using data from a standard health monitor of 14749 adolescents (M = 14.32, SD = 1.23) from Gelderland, we examined whether adolescents with a mentally ill family member showed more depressive...Show moreUsing data from a standard health monitor of 14749 adolescents (M = 14.32, SD = 1.23) from Gelderland, we examined whether adolescents with a mentally ill family member showed more depressive symptoms than adolescents with a somatically ill family member. Hereby, the effects of gender, age, family composition and educational level on depressive symptoms were also investigated. Depressive symptoms were measured with the Major Depression Inventory. As expected from our hypotheses, we found that both adolescents with a somatically (H1) and mentally (H2) ill family member showed more depressive symptoms than the controls. We also found that adolescents with a mentally ill family member showed more depressive symptoms than adolescents with a somatically ill family member (H3). Further, when taken the mental and somatic group together, girls scored higher on depressive symptoms than boys (H4), and older adolescents scored higher on depressive symptoms than younger adolescents (H5). We found that especially older girls scored higher on depressive symptoms (H6). Furthermore, adolescents from a non-intact family scored higher on depressive symptoms than adolescents from an intact family (H7), and the lower educational levels were associated with more depressive symptoms compared to pre-university education level (H8). Results were significant but yielded a small explained variance. Based on this study, we recommend professionals to pay special attention to depressive symptoms of caregiving older adolescents, girls, adolescents with low educational level and adolescents from non-intact families.Show less
