Psychometric comparison of two short versions of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4) in a representative sample of the German population.

Perceived stress is a construct of crucial importance to health and well-being, necessitating the provision of economic, psychometrically sound instruments to assess it in routine clinical practice and large-scale survey studies. Two competing short versions of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), each consisting of four items, have been proposed. In the present study, we compare the two in a sample representative of the German general population ( = 2,527).

Somatic symptom disorder and the role of epistemic trust, personality functioning and child abuse: Results from a population-based representative German sample.

Background: A growing body of evidence explored symptom burden of somatic symptom disorder (SSD) and its complex etiology involving psychosocial aspects. Child abuse has been linked to numerous psychopathologies including somatic symptoms as well as impaired personality functioning and disruptions in epistemic trust. This work aims to investigate personality functioning and epistemic trust in the association between child abuse and somatic symptom burden.

Psychometric evaluation and community norms of the PHQ-9, based on a representative German sample.

Background: The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) is a popular tool for assessing depressive symptoms in both general and clinical populations. The present study used a large representative sample of the German adult population to confirm desired psychometric functioning and to provide updated population norms.

Methods: The following psychometric properties were assessed: (i) Item characteristics (item means, standard deviations and inter-item correlations), (ii) Construct validity (correlations of the PHQ-9 sum-score with scores obtained from instruments assessing depression, anxiety and somatization (GAD-7, BSI-18), (iii) Internal consistency (coefficient omega), (iv) Factorial validity (via confirmatory factor analysis of the assumed one factorial model) as well as (v) Measurement invariance (via multi-group confirmatory factor analyses across gender, age, income and education).

Demoralization's link to depression and anxiety symptoms: A network analysis.

Demoralization represents a clinical syndrome conceptualized as maladaptive coping to a stressor associated with discouragement, feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, and a loss of meaning in life. It is a prevalent comorbidity in individuals with severe physical illnesses and affects a substantial proportion of the general population when facing global stressors like the COVID-19 pandemic. The main aim of the study was to test whether demoralization and features of depression and anxiety might reflect distinct entities within the general population, specifically in older adults, and to explore symptom interconnections, using a network psychometrics approach.

[Institutionalised Pre-School Childcare and Reported Maltreatment: A Survey in East Germany].

Child abuse increases the risk of adult mental health problems. Limited research explores the association of early institutional childhood care in the GDR with experienced childhood abuse and mediates anxiety and depression in adulthood. The sample includes N=1743 individuals born in the GDR (1949-1983).

Household income is associated with attack frequency, but not with the prevalence of headache: an analysis of self-reported headache in the general population in Germany.

Background: Headache disorders are among the most prevalent neurological disorders worldwide. However, whether groups differing in socioeconomic position (SEP) are disproportionately affected by headache disorders has not yet been adequately clarified. Our aim was to analyse (1) the headache prevalence by socioeconomic position (SEP) and (2) the attack frequency by SEP in a German population-based adult sample.

New norm values of the brief resilience scale (BRS) from the German general population with new post-COVID-19 data.

Background: The concept of psychological resilience has spurred extensive research across various fields, with the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) emerging as a concise tool to measure an individual's ability to rebound from stress. It has been translated into multiple languages, including German, but the validation of the German version occurred prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to examine new norm values and psychometric properties of the BRS.

Development and validation of a brief three-item form of the perceived social support questionnaire (F-SozU K-3).

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to develop and validate a brief screening instrument (F-SozU K-3) for the measurement of perceived social support in large scale surveys by shortening a well-established German questionnaire (F-SozU K-6).

Method: First, a brief three-item version of the F-SozU was developed based on a representative sample of = 2482 respondents using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Second, the newly developed brief three-item questionnaire was evaluated and standardized in an independent second representative population sample ( = 2501).

Prevalence of child maltreatment in a nationwide sample of 18 to 31 year-olds in Germany.

Background: Child maltreatment (CM) can have devastating and potentially lifelong effects for those affected and is a major contributor to mental health problems. To tackle public health problems it is crucial to have reliable data on CM. The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence and predictors of CM in a nationwide sample of the German population of young adults.

Compounded Effects of Multiple Global Crises on Mental Health: A Longitudinal Study of East German Adults.

The early 2020s witnessed an unprecedented overlap of multiple global crises. This longitudinal study examined the compounded effects of multiple intersecting global crises on mental health outcomes in a representative cohort of East German adults. We investigated how perceived threats (PT) from climate change (PT-CLC), COVID-19 (PT-COV), the Russia-Ukraine War (PT-RUW), and rising costs of living (PT-RCL) will impact various aspects of mental health from 2021 to 2022.

Psychometric evaluation of the Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS) over the course of the pandemic in a large German general population sample.

Background: The Brief Resilience Coping Scale (BRCS) is a brief instrument suitable for epidemiological studies. The aims of this paper were to analyze changes in BRCS depending on time, sex, age group, relationship status, as well as risk of poverty, to test the psychometric properties including test-retest reliability and measurement invariance, and to determine associations with psychosocial stress, depressiveness, anxiety, social support, as well as subjective mental and physical health. As the data from this study was collected during the pandemic, an additional sensitivity analysis was performed with pre-pandemic data.

[Aspects of Utilization of Psychotherapy in Germany in Times of the GDR and Later].

Objective The aim of the study was to examine real differences in the use of psychotherapy in the New Federal States during the GDR era and today. In addition, differences according to the willingness seeking psychotherapy as well as barriers in opinions and contact to the mentally ill between people from the New Federal States, the Old Federal States and people who moved from the New Federal States to the Old Federal States (internal migrants) should be recorded, taking into account generational effects (experience of the Cold War - birth before / after January 1, 1980). Methods To investigate these questions, the data from a representative survey in the New Federal States of N=2729 people as well as the data from a second online based survey of people from the New and Old Federal States as well as internal migrants with a total of N=4789 participants were evaluated.

Dealing with the challenges of the pandemic - results of a population-based survey during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic contrasting benefits and burden.

Background: The pandemic and the associated consequences have been ongoing stressors with severe impacts on the population and particularly on families. Research focusing on groups dealing well with the challenges of the pandemic is scarce. Here, we aimed to identify groups being well-adjusted during the pandemic and associated predictors.

Socially isolated, but not lonely in lockdown: Exploring the role of reflective functioning as a protective factor in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany.

Introduction: Loneliness is a pressing public mental health issue. So far, there has been a paucity of investigations focused on the individual differences modulating this subjective feeling in the face of difficult circumstances, e.g.

Corrigendum: Epistemic trust and personality functioning mediate the association between adverse childhood experiences and posttraumatic stress disorder and complex posttraumatic stress disorder in adulthood.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.

Utilization of Mental Health Provision, Epistemic Stance and Comorbid Psychopathology of Individuals with Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders (CPTSD)-Results from a Representative German Observational Study.

: Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) is a severely debilitating recently added symptom cluster in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). So far, only limited information on mental health treatment-uptake and -satisfaction of individuals with CPTSD is available. The aim of this study is to investigate these aspects in a representative sample of the German general population.

Psychometric evaluation of the patient health questionnaire stress scale.

The "Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)" is a screening instrument, designed for time-efficient detection and severity assessment of depression, anxiety, and other syndromes in medical settings. Besides the questions on psychological symptoms, there are items on psychosocial functioning, on stressors and critical life events. However, for the stress items there are no psychometric properties available until now.