A little help from my friends: Lack of social interaction predicts greater boredom during the COVID-19 pandemic

Were people bored during the pandemic, and if so why? One possibility is lack of social interaction due to restrictions on social activity intended to slow the spread of communicable disease. In a 3-week daily diary study (n = 438; international community sample) social interaction predicted boredom and its consequences. People felt more bored on days when they engaged in less social interaction than usual (in-person or virtually), largely driven by a lack of meaning. In turn, boredom predicted lower well-being concurrently, and more virtual interaction the next day; people dispositionally higher in trait boredom also reported more solitary (but not partnered) sexual activity. In conclusion, this study suggests that maintaining social connections, even during a pandemic, may be important to mitigate boredom and improve overall well-being.     

Pandémie de COVID-19 : attachement,anxiété, régulation émotionnelle et stratégies de coping chez les enfants d’âge scolaire

IntroductionAn impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the emotions and behaviors of children has been found in several studies. However, this impact is not found in all studies. Attachment could be linked to different reactions and levels of anxiety.ObjectiveThe main aim of this study was to analyze the links between children's insecure attachment and variables related to anxiety, emotional and behavioral management of children during the pandemic.MethodStudy participants (n = 83 parents and their child aged 6 to 12) completed anonymously online questionnaires assessing attachment insecurity, state-anxiety, coping strategies and emotional regulation. They also answered socio-demographic questions related to their context of life and experience of the pandemic.ResultsState-anxiety is significantly related to children's emotional dysregulation but not to emotion-oriented coping strategy. Significant links were observed between attachment insecurity on the one hand, and children's state-anxiety, emotion-oriented coping strategy and children's emotional dysregulation on the other hand. Emotional dysregulation mediates the link between disorganized attachment and state anxiety.ConclusionThe links between attachment insecurity and children's state-anxiety on the one hand, and the emotion-oriented coping strategy on the other hand highlight the importance of taking individual and interactional factors into account in children's socio-emotional manifestations during the COVID-19 pandemic.     

Longitudinal effects of two individual career counseling interventions on clients’ career decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic over a 1-year follow-up

This study assessed the effects of two individual career counseling interventions during the COVID-19 pandemic over a 1-year follow-up. Participants (n = 71) engaged either in four individual humanistic–psychodynamic (during winter 2021) or cognitive career counseling (during winter 2022) sessions at a university counseling clinic. Latent growth models indicated that clients experienced a significant reduction in their career decision difficulties and psychological distress and a significant increase in their life satisfaction over sessions and the 12 months following. Clients who received cognitive career counseling sessions experienced larger effects. Results highlight the utility of individual career counseling in times of crisis.     

Ensuring Liberties: Understanding State Restrictions on Religious Freedoms

Promises of religious freedoms have become the standard in national constitutions. Yet, despite these assurances, religious freedoms are routinely denied. Combining new data collections with expanded theoretical explanations, this research explores how dimensions of governance and measures of the religious economy contribute to government restrictions on religion. Consistent with recent work on the judicialization of politics, we find that the absence of an independent judiciary is an important predictor of government restrictions on religious freedoms, whereas free elections and government effectiveness are insignificant in our full models. Consistent with the religious economy theory, we find that social restrictions and government favoritism toward a religion(s) are persistent predictors of the government's restrictions. Although the proportion of the population Muslim holds a strong bivariate association with government restrictions (r = .57), the relationship is reduced to insignificance in our full models. We briefly discuss the implications of these findings.     

The Passion to Heal: A Theological Pastoral Approach to HIV/AIDS

Abstract. The global pandemic of HIV/AIDS is the most significant challenge of our time. The ongoing conversation between religion and science comes to a critical juncture in this pandemic. The global community has not yet found a vaccine or cure for this virulent virus, which will likely claim five million more lives in the coming year. The global statistics challenge even the most sophisticated imagination, with projections in the tens of millions of people dead, orphaned children, and many more living in various stages of incapacitation or diminished lives. There is a common prophetic religious imperative among Western faith communities that urgently requires both science and religion to respond. Both disciplines define their scope and purpose as universal, and the global pandemic provides a significant challenge to that universal claim. Regardless of the many differences among the nations and peoples challenged by this pandemic, there is a common moral foundation to which the Western religious and scientific traditions must respond. Religion and science cannot deny their respective social responsibilities by claiming the role of neutral bystander. There are several critical ethical choices to be made in response to the pandemic, and the disciplines of religion and science are critical in formulating those choices.     

大流行性流感:古老的疾病,人类的灾难

300年来,有10次全球性流感大流行。流感大流行有一定的周期性、不可预见性、灾害性、持久性,至今人类依然没有找到准确预见、避免一场新的流感大流行的良策。2003年末以来,高致病性H5N1禽流感呈现前所未有的暴发,席卷整个亚洲、部分欧洲国家,尽管人类采取积极的控制措施,但H5N1在亚洲已经顽固地存在下来,成为地方病,并且病毒不断进化(宿主范围扩大、病毒致病性增强、环境中耐受力增强)、人类病例不断出现,已使世界比1968年以来任何时刻都更加靠近一场流感大流行。因此,人类紧迫地需要通力合作、全力准备、从容应对,延缓、减弱或避免这场大浩劫。     

An outbreak of xenophobia: Perceived discrimination and anxiety in Chinese American college students before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, reports of xenophobic and racist incidents directed at Chinese Americans have escalated. The present study adds further understanding to potential psychosocial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by comparing self-reported questionnaire data from two groups of Chinese students attending a public university in western United States: the group who participated in the study before the outbreak of COVID-19 (Pre-COVID, N = 134), and the group who participated at the beginning (during-COVID, N = 64). The aim of the study was to: (a) compare mean differences in perceived discrimination and anxiety between the two groups, (b) test whether COVID-19 moderated the link between perceived discrimination and anxiety, and (c) examine whether media exposure portraying Chinese individuals negatively mediated relations between COVID-19 and discrimination. Results showed that the During-COVID group reported higher perceived discrimination and anxiety than the Pre-COVID group. The link between perceived discrimination and anxiety was stronger for the During-COVID group. Mediation analyses suggested that negative Chinese media exposure partly accounted for the group difference in perceived discrimination. Results suggest that future studies on the psychosocial implications of the COVID-19 pandemic should consider the role of discrimination in understanding the mental health of Chinese American college students.     

Using telehealth to provide outpatient follow‐up to children with avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder

The COVID‐19 global health crisis compelled behavior analysts to consider alternatives to face‐to‐face services to treat children with feeding disorders. Research suggests telehealth is one method behavior analysts could use to initiate or continue assessment of and treatment for feeding disorders. In the current paper, we conducted pilot studies in which we analyzed chart records of patients with Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder; who graduated from an intensive, day‐treatment program; and transitioned to an outpatient follow‐up program. In Experiment 1, we analyzed the data of participants who received follow‐up both in‐clinic and via telehealth. In Experiment 2, we analyzed goal attainment for participants who received outpatient follow‐up either in‐clinic exclusively or via telehealth exclusively. Results of both studies showed that outcomes were equivalent along most dimensions for in‐clinic and telehealth services. We provide recommendations for telehealth feeding services and discuss other considerations relevant to telehealth service delivery.     

Together – apart: in touch in a time of separation

This paper explores the experience of working as a Jungian analyst through the various phases of the global COVID-19 pandemic, examining the importance of the physical containing space alongside the analyst’s internal mind and how technology can both help and hinder understanding. A number of clinical vignettes illustrate the challenge of communicating over a distance, paying particular attention to the way countertransference phenomena can become re-attuned. Reference is made to mythology and symbols of hope, and consideration given to the meaning and purpose of the pandemic.     

Ethical Problems in Planning for and Responses to Pandemic Influenza in Ghana and Malawi

Ethical problems are addressed in various ways within countries in planning for and response to pandemic influenza. Here we report on a qualitative study, in which 46 policymakers in Malawi and Ghana were interviewed on how they identified and resolved ethical problems. The study results revealed that ethical problems involving conflicts of values and choices were raised in reference to the extent and role of resources (inequities) and nature of public health interventions (intrusive measures), including the extent and processes of decision making, reasoning, and justification. There is a need for an ethical framework within pandemic preparedness plans to resolve and avert these problems.