Background With the impending legalization of recreational cannabis in Canada, it is important to examine the strength of association between cannabis use and common mental health concerns including depression, anxiety, and suicide and the extent to which these associations have changed over time. It is also important to examine the moderating effects of developmental age and biological sex on these associations. Methods This study uses Statistics Canada data from the 2002 and 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey’s Mental Health Component (CCHS-MH) which represent repeated cross-sectional surveys from nationally representative samples of Canadians 15 years of age and older (2002 n=36,984; 2012 n=25,113). Stepwise multivariate analyses were performed using linear regression for psychological distress and binary logistic regression for Major Depressive Episode (MDE) and suicidal thoughts and attempts. Time was accounted for as a binary indicator (2002 vs. 2012) and an interaction term between cannabis use and time was added to all the models. Additional interaction terms were added to the models to test the moderating effects of cannabis frequency, developmental age, and biological sex. Sensitivity analyses were performed to adjust for other substance use and socioeconomic covariates. Weighting and bootstrapping was utilized to present results reflective of the Canadian population. Results Cannabis use was positively associated with emotional problems, and this association strengthened over time, particularly for depression and suicidal thoughts and attempts. These temporal associations were similar across age groups and for males and females, and remained after controlling for other substance use and socioeconomic status. Conclusions Findings provide a baseline assessment of the Canadian population prior to legalization and direction for health promotion and prevention campaigns. Results highlight the need for awareness and regular monitoring of the cooccurrence of cannabis use and emotional problems and offer guidance for future research. / Thesis / Master of Health Sciences (MSc) / Using Statistics Canada data from the 2002 and 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey’s Mental Health Component, this dissertation determines the strength of association between cannabis use and common mental health concerns including depression, anxiety, and suicide and the extent to which these associations have changed over time. Cannabis use was positively associated with emotional problems, and this association strengthened over time, particularly for depression and suicidal thoughts and attempts. These temporal associations were similar across age groups and for males and females, and remained after controlling for other substance use and socioeconomic status. These results add novel insights to the existing literature about the changing relationship between cannabis use and emotional problems over time and potential mechanisms of this change are discussed. Given the impending legalization of recreational cannabis in Canada, clinical and research implications of results are discussed at length.

Overview: Most of the mental health literature on students focuses on the experiences of undergraduates. In nearly all instances when graduate students are examined, their experiences are typically combined with those of undergraduates, despite graduate students representing a different group of students. Research questions: I asked what are correlates of psychological distress for graduate students? Which services or supports were students accessing? What were the characteristics of students who accessed help? Methods: This study used an online survey conducted during the spring and summer of 2018 that examined the mental health experiences of 389 graduate students at McMaster University. Results: I found that there was no consistent pattern for which groups of graduate students experienced distress markers: year of study did not predict which students would experience distress, and white and non-white students were equally likely to seek help. Students were more likely to seek a combination of formal and informal supports than select one type over the other. Finally, students who experienced stigma were equally likely to seek help as those who did not experience it. Contributions to literature: This thesis has highlighted some important findings about the graduate student population at McMaster University. By providing this information, I have helped extend the mental health literature to the graduate student group that is so often underrepresented or misrepresented. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA) / This project investigated the mental health experiences of graduate students (i.e. Master’s degree or Ph.D. students) at McMaster University through an online survey. This survey was designed with the goal of determining the following: whether students were experiencing distress; what kinds of mental health services McMaster students use; and what some of the characteristics were for the students who seek help. I found that numerous students experienced overwhelming depression and overwhelming anxiety. A person’s racial background did not strongly influence whether they accessed services. Students were more likely to access a combination of supports between talking to a professional and talking to family, friends, or partners about mental health issues. Stereotypes or prejudices around mental health did not strongly influence which students accessed services. This thesis offers some important insights into the mental health experiences of graduate students, a topic which is often ignored in academia.

Workplace bullying is endemic in modern workplaces. It is capable of disrupting employeepsychological ill-health which create pathways to substance abuse, in turn exposes individuals tobecome victims or perpetrator of various crimes. The study investigates the extent to whichworkplace bullying determine the experience of psychological distress and also, explored the roleplayed by resilience and social support as possible mediators of the outcome of psychologicaldistress. The study sampled a total number of 259 participants from non-academic staff of theUniversity of Lagos, Nigeria. The participants responded to the Negative Actions QuestionnaireNAQ which was used to measure workplace bullying, Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10)which assessed psychological distress, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale CD-RISC whichmeasured Resilience, and multidimensional scale of perceived social support (MSPSS) whichmeasured social support. The result showed significant positive correlation between workplacebullying and psychological distress. Workplace bullying explained 32% variance in psychologicaldistress scores. Resilience was negatively related with psychological distress, it explained 11%variance in psychological distress score. Social support was negatively correlated with psychologicaldistress. However, it was not a significant mediator, explaining only 1% of variance in psychologicaldistress score. Workplace bullying has significant impact on the wellbeing of employees.Organizations should do all they can to mitigate its occurrence in their work environment and alsoemployees could also benefit from resilience training aimed at helping them reduce incidences ofvictimization. Social support from both within and outside the workplace can also play a role inreducing the impact of negative events at the workplace.

This project examined psychosocial functioning associated with exposure to a chronic stressor, namely, community violence among randomly selected 8 to 17 year old African-American children and adolescents residing in a relatively high violent crime neighborhood. A structured psychiatric interview, the Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents-Revised, and self-report measures including Sexual Abuse Fear Evaluation, Horowitz Impact of Events Scale, and Children's Depression Inventory were administered. Consistent with previous findings, the results indicate that inner-city African-American children are exposed to a considerable amount of community violence. As predicted, high levels of exposure to community violence was significantly associated with various measures of psychological distress, particularly with externalizing symptomatology. Additionally, regression analyses revealed that exposure to community violence added significant variance above and beyond that contributed by pertinent demographic characteristics. Partial support was found for the hypotheses that number and quality of social supports as well as self-perceived competence (self-esteem) across various domains moderated the relationship between exposure to community violence and psychological distress. Discussion of the relatively low levels of PTSD, fear, and depression are discussed in terms of sample characteristics and cross-cultural relevance of current diagnostic nosology, as well as, instruments measuring psychological distress. Findings are also discussed within the context of the Conservation of Resources Model of stress. / Ph. D.

The onset of COVID-19 and cancellation of collegiate sports may have exacerbated student-athletes' psychological distress. Within a national sample of collegiate student-athletes (N = 5755; 66.7% women; 72.3% White), I determined how gender, race, and sport season related to rates of depression, stress, and counseling use. I used a cross-sectional methodology and collected data in April/May 2020. Overall, 26.5% (n = 1526) and 10.6% (n = 612) of the collegiate student-athletes endorsed clinical and high levels for depression and stress, respectively; 25.1% (n = 1443) and 69.7% (n = 4014) reported subclinical and moderate levels of depression and stress, respectively. Few student-athletes reported counseling use before (17.1%) or after (2.3%) the onset of COVID-19; those who reportedly used services endorsed higher levels of depression and stress than those who did not. Female student-athletes reported higher rates of depression, stress, and counseling use than male student-athletes. There were no race or sport season effects. Student-athletes who competed in spring sports endorsed higher levels of counseling use than student-athletes who participated in a fall season sport. Athletic departments must address their student-athletes' psychological distress by facilitating a higher use of mental health services.

Thesis (MA (Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2008. / Few studies have assessed the prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) associated with the receipt of an HIV-positive diagnosis and no published studies in South Africa have used a structured clinical interview to assess the above-mentioned. The present cross-sectional study assessed the prevalence of HIV-related PTSD among a sample of recently diagnosed patients attending public health clinics in the Boland region of the Western Cape. The PTSD module of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI), together with a battery of self-report instruments assessing symptoms of traumatisation, depression and anxiety were administered to 85 patients who had been diagnosed with HIV in the year preceding data collection. In addition, HIVrelated PTSD and symptomatology were assessed using an adapted version of the PTSD module of the CIDI. The self-report instruments administered were (a) a demographic questionnaire, (b) the Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale (PDS) which assessed current PTSD symptom severity, and (c) the 25-item Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL-25) which assessed psychological distress, and symptoms and intensity of anxiety and depression. The primary aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of HIV-related PTSD among a sample of recently diagnosed HIV-positive individuals attending HIV clinics in the Boland region. The second aim was to determine the lifetime prevalence of PTSD among the sample. The third aim was to determine the percentage of the sample that endorsed the DSM-IV’s PTSD A2 criterion and the subsequent HIV-related PTSD symptomatology among those who did and did not meet full criteria for HIV-related PTSD. The fourth aim was to determine the level of psychological distress reported by the sample. The prevalence of lifetime PTSD was 29.4% (95% confidence interval [CI], 20.7% - 39.8%). Sixty-nine of the eighty-five participants (81.2%) endorsed the DSM-IV’s PTSD A2 criterion. Of the total sample, 34 participants (40%) (95% CI, 30.2% - 50.6%) met the full criteria for HIV related PTSD. The majority of participants reported mild PTSD symptom severity (45.8%). Over half the sample (51.4%) experienced clinically significant distress. Of those participants diagnosed with HIV-related PTSD, 82.4% were clinically distressed, and 76.5% and 58.8% experienced high levels of depression and anxiety, respectively. The present study’s findings suggest that receiving an HIV-positive diagnosis and/or being HIVpositive may be considered a traumatic stressor that frequently results in HIV-related PTSD. Findings of the present study indicate the need for adequate support and care for HIV-positive individuals. Given the various barriers to efficient mental health interventions and services in South Africa, there are significant challenges that need to be addressed in order to ensure that the mental health and welfare of HIV-positive individuals are both adequately assessed and appropriately maintained.

This master’s thesis investigates the contributing factors to Norwegian professional musicians’ psychological distress. Several researchers have pointed out that musicians seem to be a risk group in regards to mental health and work environment. In contrast, research regarding the explanatory variables of their mental health is scarce. Recently, a study indicated a high prevalence of psychological distress in Norwegian musicians. A qualitative study on Norwegian musicians reported a combination of family, social, and personal factors to be of particular importance regarding their mental health. The present study adds to the accumulated research base by conceptualizing contributing factors of musicians’ health in a job demands–resources framework, in which the total model as well as individual predictors are tested with a survey on 1,365 Norwegian professional musicians. Five out of ten hypotheses were supported using a hierarchical multiple regression procedure. Job demands and job control were positively related to psychological distress, whereas job-related social support, emotional stability and sense of mastery were negatively related to psychological distress. Work–nonwork interference, effort–reward imbalance and conscientiousness were not significantly related to the outcome. Unexpectedly, job control was positively related to psychological distress, which may have been influenced by the subjects’ levels of personal resources. Overall, the main findings was that a combination of contextual and personal variables were most influential, but that the work environment concepts investigated were only weakly or non-significantly related to musicians’mental health. The highest single contributors were emotional stability, sense of mastery and general social support, indicating that personal dispositions of emotionality, a strong sense of control over one’s life, and perceived social support from family and friends are of high significance for Norwegian professional musicians’ experience of anxiety and depression-like symptoms.

The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between parent and child factors for mothers of children diagnosed with cystic fibrosis to predict mother's psychological distress. Mothers were surveyed to identify measurement models in areas of Child and Parental characteristics and a Full Causal Model of Maternal distress. Factors related to Child Characteristics include general parental stressors and cystic fibrosis specific parental stressors. Factors related to Parental Characteristics include the mother's sense of parental competence and self-esteem. Additional factors related to the Full Causal Model include social support, major and minor life events, and demographics. Results were analyzed using LISREL IV structural equation modeling. Measurement model analysis found a good fit for the Child Characteristics model (Chi Square = 6.85, df = 4, JD = .144, Goodness of Fit Indices = .972) and Parental Characteristics model (Chi Square = 5.89, df = 3, p = .117, Goodness of Fit Indices = .971), but not for the full causal model of maternal distress (Chi Square = 114.98, df = 66, E = .000, Goodness of Fit Indices = .853)

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Joyce A. Baptist / Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a prevalent, pervasive chronic illness. It is a hereditary condition that affects those of African, Mediterranean, Indian, Middle Eastern, and Hispanic/Latino descent. It causes extreme pain for patients and a myriad of other symptoms and complications. The medical issues associated with and the very nature of SCD has the potential to cause psychological distress and related problems for patients. Parents, caregivers, significant others, and family members are similarly affected by a family member with SCD. Applying the Vulnerability-Stress-Adaptation Model, this qualitative study used heterogeneous sampling and explored the experience of three families with SCD. Three main themes emerged from the data, analyzed using thematic analysis: Stress and Challenges, Adapting to and Coping with the Demands of SCD, and Individual and Family Strengths. The pervasiveness and unpredictability of SCD as well as the strengthening effects of having experienced SCD were shared across families, despite their heterogeneity. Clinical implications for families with SCD are discussed.