The longitudinal relationship between well-being comparisons and anxiety symptoms in the context of uncontrollability of worries and external locus of control: a two-wave study.

Background: Anxiety is a prevalent mental health condition. Comparisons of one's own well-being to different aversive standards may contribute to the development and maintenance of anxiety symptoms.

Objectives: Our primary goal was to investigate whether aversive well-being comparisons predict anxiety symptoms and vice versa.

Self-efficacy and locus of control as transdiagnostic factors in Middle Eastern refugees.

Many refugees report high levels of psychopathology. As a countermeasure, some psychological interventions aim at targeting mental health difficulties in refugees transdiagnostically. However, there is a lack of knowledge about relevant transdiagnostic factors in refugee populations.

Assessing Somatic Symptoms With the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-15) in Syrian Refugees.

Somatic symptoms are common among Syrian refugees. To quantify somatic symptom load, sum score models derived from the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-15) have been frequently applied without psychometric justification. Across two studies (total = 776), we (a) tested different PHQ-15 factor solutions in Syrian refugees, (b) investigated measurement invariance (MI) of the factor solutions compared with German residents, and (c) scrutinized whether sum score models adequately represent the data and differ in associations with external validators compared with factor scores.

Refugees' and non-refugee migrants' regret about migration and confidence in integration: The role of forcedness and perils before and during migration.

Refugees typically experience stronger migration forcedness and higher migration-related perils (harm, adversities and hardship) than do non-refugee migrants. We explored how refugees' and non-refugee migrants' perceptions of their own forcedness of migration and related perils before and during migration are associated with regret about leaving their country of origin and their confidence in integration. In two studies conducted with refugee and non-refugee migrants in Germany (total N = 336), we found correlations between perceived forcedness and premigration perils, and perils during migration, with meaningful differences between groups from different countries.

The longitudinal course of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in war survivors: Insights from cross-lagged panel network analyses.

Many war survivors suffer from chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Unraveling the complexities of PTSD symptoms over time is crucial for understanding this condition. Going beyond a common pathogenic pathway perspective, we applied the network approach to psychopathology to analyze longitudinal data from war survivors with PTSD in five Balkan countries approximately 8 years after war in the region and a follow-up assessment 1 year later (N = 698).

Psychotherapy motivation in refugees: The role of alexithymia, stigmatization, self-esteem, and psychotherapy expectations.

Objective: Despite elevated mental health problems, refugees tend to hold more negative attitudes toward psychological help seeking than residents of receiving countries. Therefore, we examined variables expected to be related to different aspects of psychotherapy motivation (psychological distress, knowledge about therapy, and denial of psychological helplessness) in 202 German residents and 200 refugees in Germany.

Method: Participants completed measures of psychotherapy motivation, together with alexithymia, stigmatization toward help seeking, self-esteem, and expectations of therapy as variables with an expected relationship with psychotherapy motivation.

Helping in the context of refugee immigration.

We review psychological approaches of helping behavior in the context of refugee immigration. Refugee migration, compared with nonrefugee migration, is characterized by greater forcedness and related perils. Taking into account perceptions of forcedness and perils, we examine potential helpers' responses at each of four successive stages toward helping people in perilous, distressing, or emergency situations: (1) noticing and recognizing distressing, help-demanding conditions; (2) taking responsibility; (3) knowing how to help; and (4) transfer of one's knowledge into action.

Psychological distress in refugees: The role of traumatic events, resilience, social support, and support by religious faith.

Many refugees have been exposed to potentially traumatic events and report elevated levels of psychological distress. However, refugees vary greatly in the severity of mental health problems. Intra- and interpersonal factors help some refugees to cope effectively.

Unraveling specifics of mental health symptoms in war survivors who fled versus stayed in the area of conflict using network analysis.

Background: War survivors often report symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and somatization. Hence, understanding symptom constellations among different populations of war survivors is critical.

Methods: Using the network approach to psychopathology, we examined symptom centrality for these conditions in war survivors from Balkan countries who had stayed in the area of former conflict compared to those individuals from Balkan countries who had fled to Western European countries (N = 4,167) with the Impact of Events Scale-Revised and the Brief Symptom Inventory.

Which psychological characteristics influence therapists' readiness to work with refugees?

Refugee populations show considerably high rates of mental health problems. Yet many mental health professionals may have reservations to work with refugees due to suspected cultural differences, language barriers and the need to provide additional services. However, little is known about psychotherapists' readiness to work with refugees.

Depressive and anxiety symptoms in refugees: Insights from classical test theory, item response theory and network analysis.

Screening tools developed for Western populations have produced heterogeneous prevalence estimates for depression and anxiety disorders among refugees. The use of these instruments assumes that psychopathological symptoms are manifested similarly across different cultural groups. Here, we scrutinized whether depressive and anxiety symptoms are manifested similarly between German residents and refugees in Germany.

Psychological Antecedents of Refugee Integration (PARI).

The successful management of refugee immigration, including refugee integration in host societies, requires a sound understanding of underlying psychological processes. We propose the psychological antecedents of refugee integration (PARI) model, highlighting perceived forcedness (i.e.

Climate of Hate: Similar Correlates of Far Right Electoral Support and Right-Wing Hate Crimes in Germany.

Since 2015, far right parties drawing heavily on radical anti-refugee rhetoric gained electoral support in Germany while the number of political hate crimes targeting refugees rose. Both phenomena - far right electoral support and prevalence of right-wing hate crimes - have theoretically and empirically been linked with socio-structural and contextual variables. However, systematic empirical research on these links is scattered and scarce at best.

"A letter for Dr. Outgroup": on the effects of an indicator of competence and chances for altruism toward a member of a stigmatized out-group.

The lost letter technique is an unobtrusive method to investigate attitudes in a particular population. Ostensibly lost letters from senders who apparently belong to different groups or addressed to recipients from apparently different groups are dispersed in public places, and return rates represent a measure of altruistic or discriminatory behavior toward one group or another. In two field experiments using the lost letter technique, we investigated the influence of group membership and the presence or absence of a doctorate degree as an indicator of competence on the likelihood of receiving helping behavior.