Frontiers in Psychiatry最新文献

Aim: Our study utilized the Rasch analysis to examine the psychometric properties of the Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC) in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Methods: A total of 3,319 children (44.77 ± 23.52 months) were included. The Rasch model (RM) was utilized to test the reliability and validity of the ABC. The GPCMlasso model was used to test the differential item functioning (DIF).

Result: The response pattern of this sample showed acceptable fitness to the RM. The analysis supported the unidimensionality assumption of the ABC. Disordered category functions and DIF were found in all items in the ABC. The participants responded to the ABC items differently depending not only on autistic traits but also on age groups, gender, and symptom classifications.

Conclusion: The Rasch analysis produces reliable evidence to support that the ABC can precisely depict clinical ASD symptoms. Differences in population characteristics may cause unnecessary assessment bias and lead to overestimated or underestimated symptom severity. Hence, special consideration for population characteristics is needed in making an ASD diagnosis.

Background: Attitudes toward suicide are essential in suicide prevention, as suicide is socio-culturally nuanced. Although the relationship between individual attitudes and suicidal behavior has been extensively studied, the effect of community attitudes-aggregated by region-on suicide mortality remains ambiguous. This study explored the association between community attitudes and real-world suicide mortality.

Methods: Data on attitudes toward suicide from the 2018 Korea National Suicide Survey (N = 1500) and individual mortality data from the MicroData Integrated System were obtained. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a factor structure with three factors: "Permissiveness," "Unjustified behavior," and "Readiness to help/Preventability." Thirty regional units in South Korea aggregated the data for ecological analysis. We used negative binomial models to examine the association at the regional level, and stratified analysis by gender and age group was conducted.

Results: "Permissiveness" was associated with reduced suicide rates in a univariate model (P < 0.001). Adjusting for gender, age, and additional sociodemographics did not alter the association. Additionally, this relationship was observed in males and individuals under 60 years of age after stratification. However, "Unjustified Behavior" and "Readiness to help/Preventability" exhibited no significant association with suicide in any model or stratum.

Conclusion: The observed inverse association between permissive community attitudes and suicide contradicts the findings of previous research that links permissive individual attitudes to increased suicidal behavior. Our findings suggest that attitudes may operate differently at the individual and group levels. Although the cross-sectional design and single-country focus of this study warrant further investigation, our findings indicate that attitudes are significant contextual factors in the process of suicide, which could lead to novel approaches in suicide prevention.

Purpose: Social media (SM) has become a common activity for today's young people. It is sometimes overused and potentially results in SM addiction. This study aims to assess SM addiction and its associated factors in medical students and to examine its relationship with dimensions of personality global self-esteem, and social self-esteem.

Materials and methods: We carried out a cross-sectional study among a sample of medical students in the region of Sfax in Tunisia. Social Media Addiction Scale-Student Form (SMAS-SF), Big Five Inventory, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and Social Self-Esteem Inventory were used to collect data.

Results: Overall, 116 medical students were included in the survey. The median age of the participants was 26 years, and 91 students (78.4%) were female. Almost half of them (55.20%) were enrolled in the third cycle. The most widely used SM was Facebook (98.3%). Students with the highest SMAS-SF scores had a significantly younger age of first use (p=0.011, r=-0.235), spent more time on their favorite SM (p=0.005, r=0.260), and performed more activities on SM, namely: making comments (p=0.005), browsing SM profiles (p=0.018), and posting videos (p=0.007) or pictures (p=0.002). The need to establish an identity was significantly associated with higher SMAS-SF scores (p=0.011). We also found that neuroticism and a low level of conscientiousness were linked to high SMAS-SF scores (p=0.006, r=0.252 and p=0.050, r=-0.183, respectively). Moreover, high SMAS-SF scores were significantly related to lower global and social self-esteem scores (p=0.015, r=-0.226 and p=0.032, r=-0.199, respectively).

Conclusion: Our results highlight the critical need to take into consideration the evaluation and intervention of self-esteem and personality dimensional issues to target interventions for SM addiction among medical students.