positive mental health

Despite growing concerns about mental health difficulties among children and youth, limited empirical evidence exists on the extent to which adverse childhood experiences and resilience predict mental health difficulties among school-going children and youth in rural communities. This research explored the prevalence and psychosocial predictors of mental health difficulties among children and youth. The study adopted a correlational and descriptive research design. Respondents consisted of 837 children and youth, who were selected from Johannesburg West Education District. They were assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (ACE-Q), and the Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM) as data-collection instruments. Frequencies and percentages, regression analysis, and moderation analysis were conducted using Hayes' PROCESS Macro. Findings revealed that about 44.4%, 18.3%, and 37.3% of the participants were within the normal, borderline, and abnormal ranges of mental health well-being, respectively. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) significantly predicted mental health difficulties (β = .238, t = 7.071, p < .001), contributing about 5.6% of the variation in mental health difficulties among youth and children. Resilience is also a significant predictor (β = −.121, t = −3.524, p < .001), accounting for about 1.5% of the variation in mental health problems; higher resilience was associated with lower levels of mental health difficulties. Moderation analyses showed that age and gender did not significantly moderate the relationships between ACEs, resilience, and mental health difficulties. The study concludes that ACEs constitute a significant risk factor, whereas resilience serves as a protective factor. The findings highlight the need for trauma-informed interventions, resilience-building programmes, and comprehensive mental health support services to promote positive mental health outcomes among children and youth.

Abstract Governments and organizations increasingly endorse the importance of mental health in all forms of policy, though emphasis in measurement still remains on indicators such as GDP, depression, and other common disorders. In this study of 92 countries ( n = 53,799), we assess the mental health of individuals around the world alongside measures of financial and social well-being. Findings include a trend of languishing mental health across many groups, particularly among younger adults and within higher-income countries. While positive trends are observed for education and income, a number of concerning trends also emerge, particularly the poor results for young adults and generally moderate results for employed individuals. In sum, we find an alarming but perhaps unsurprisingly low level of positive mental health in a substantial number of countries, but also identify specific economic, social, and other indicators that policymakers could target in improving the well-being of the populations they serve.

Background Psychedelic retreats are increasingly used to promote wellbeing outside clinical settings, yet the psychological processes associated with sustained improvements in wellbeing remain poorly understood. From a public mental health perspective, identifying mechanisms that support positive mental health beyond symptom reduction is of growing importance. Methods This naturalistic longitudinal study followed 173 participants attending guided psilocybin retreats conducted within a structured framework of preparation, dosing, and integration. Mental wellbeing was reported before the retreat and across a 12-month follow-up period. Longitudinal changes were examined using linear mixed-effects models. Mediation analyses investigated whether changes in connectedness, neuroticism (anxiety facet), spiritual transcendence, and absorption were associated with changes in wellbeing. Mystical-type experiences were examined as potential predictors of these psychological changes. Results Participants reported substantial and sustained improvements in mental wellbeing over 12 months, moving from levels below Swedish population norms at baseline toward comparable levels at follow-up. Connectedness showed the strongest statistical association with improvements in wellbeing and accounted for the largest proportion of variance in wellbeing change, followed by reductions in the anxiety facet of neuroticism and absorption. Spiritual transcendence was associated with wellbeing improvements when examined separately but did not retain unique effects in the multiple mediation model. More intense mystical-type experiences predicted greater increases in connectedness, spirituality, and absorption, as well as greater reductions in neuroticism (trait anxiety). The association between mystical experiences and wellbeing was substantially attenuated when connectedness was included in the model, suggesting that connectedness may act as a candidate mediator linking mystical-type experiences to longer-term wellbeing, though the observational design precludes causal inference. Conclusions These findings extend prior work on psychedelic-assisted therapy to naturalistic retreat settings, suggesting that connectedness may represent a key psychological process linking psychedelic retreat experiences to sustained improvements in mental wellbeing. From a public mental health perspective, the results highlight the potential importance of social and relational factors in promoting wellbeing beyond the treatment of mental illness. Future controlled studies are needed to clarify the relative contributions of psychedelic, social, and contextual components.

This study examined the cross-sectional associations of self-compassion and psychological distress with mental well-being in a predominantly young student sample and tested whether self-compassion modifies the association between distress and well-being. The dual-continua framework guided the simultaneous consideration of distress and positive mental health. Participants (N = 278) completed the Self-Compassion Scale–Short Form (SCS-SF), General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12), and Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS). The principal analysis used mean-centred continuous predictors in hierarchical multiple regression, followed by simple-slopes and Johnson–Neyman analyses. Heteroscedasticity-consistent standard errors and sensitivity analyses were used to examine robustness. Secondary analyses comprised a median-split ANOVA examining categorical main and interaction effects and stratified Spearman correlations estimating the self-compassion–well-being association within distress groups. Higher self-compassion was associated with greater well-being, B = 0.230, 95% CI [0.126, 0.334], p < .001, whereas greater distress was associated with lower well-being, B = -1.450, 95% CI [-1.685, -1.214], p < .001. The continuous interaction was small, B = -0.028, 95% CI [-0.055, -0.001], ΔR² = .008, p = .039. The negative coefficient indicated that the positive self-compassion–well-being association weakened as distress increased and ran counter to the hypothesised protective buffering effect. The interaction was also sensitive to influential-case exclusions, alternative GHQ-12 scoring, and bootstrap estimation, while the secondary median-split ANOVA interaction was non-significant, p = .875. Higher self-compassion and lower psychological distress were independently associated with greater well-being. The small, specification-sensitive interaction provided no evidence of the hypothesised protective buffering effect. Parallel assessment of distress and well-being is warranted, while causal, clinical, and structural conclusions require longitudinal, experimental, and latent-variable research.

این مطالعه به بررسی روابط مقطعی شفقت به خود و پریشانی روان‌شناختی با بهزیستی روانی در نمونه‌ای عمدتاً متشکل از دانشجویان جوان پرداخت و آزمود که آیا شفقت به خود رابطه بین پریشانی و بهزیستی را تعدیل می‌کند یا خیر. چارچوب دوپیوستاری راهنمای بررسی همزمان پریشانی و سلامت روانی مثبت بود. شرکت‌کنندگان (N = ۲۷۸) مقیاس شفقت به خود–فرم کوتاه (SCS-SF)، پرسشنامه سلامت عمومی-۱۲ (GHQ-12) و مقیاس بهزیستی روانی Warwick–Edinburgh (WEMWBS) را تکمیل کردند. تحلیل اصلی از پیش‌بینی‌کننده‌های پیوسته با میانگین‌مرکزی در رگرسیون چندگانه سلسله‌مراتبی استفاده کرد و سپس تحلیل شیب‌های ساده و Johnson–Neyman انجام شد. برای بررسی استحکام نتایج، خطاهای استاندارد سازگار با ناهمسانی و تحلیل‌های حساسیت به کار رفت. تحلیل‌های ثانویه شامل ANOVA با تقسیم میانه برای بررسی اثرات اصلی و تعاملی طبقه‌ای و همبستگی اسپیرمن طبقه‌بندی‌شده برای برآورد رابطه شفقت به خود–بهزیستی در گروه‌های پریشانی بود. شفقت به خود بالاتر با بهزیستی بیشتر همراه بود، B = ۰٫۲۳۰، ۹۵٪ CI [۰٫۱۲۶، ۰٫۳۳۴]، p < ۰٫۰۰۱، در حالی که پریشانی بیشتر با بهزیستی کمتر همراه بود، B = ‎-۱٫۴۵۰، ۹۵٪ CI [‎-۱٫۶۸۵، ‎-۱٫۲۱۴]، p < ۰٫۰۰۱. تعامل پیوسته کوچک بود، B = ‎-۰٫۰۲۸، ۹۵٪ CI [‎-۰٫۰۵۵، ‎-۰٫۰۰۱]، ΔR² = ۰٫۰۰۸، p = ۰٫۰۳۹. ضریب منفی نشان داد که رابطه مثبت شفقت به خود–بهزیستی با افزایش پریشانی تضعیف می‌شود و برخلاف اثر حفاظتی فرض‌شده بود. این تعامل همچنین نسبت به حذف موارد تأثیرگذار، نمره‌گذاری جایگزین GHQ-12 و برآورد بوت‌استرپ حساس بود، در حالی که تعامل ANOVA ثانویه با تقسیم میانه معنادار نبود، p = ۰٫۸۷۵. شفقت به خود بالاتر و پریشانی روان‌شناختی پایین‌تر به طور مستقل با بهزیستی بیشتر همراه بودند. تعامل کوچک و حساس به مشخصات، شواهدی از اثر حفاظتی فرض‌شده ارائه نکرد. ارزیابی موازی پریشانی و بهزیستی توصیه می‌شود، در حالی که نتیجه‌گیری‌های علّی، بالینی و ساختاری نیازمند پژوهش‌های طولی، آزمایشی و متغیر نهفته است.