Approach and withdrawal from cognitively effortful activities: Development, validation, and transdiagnostic clinical utility of a cognitive motivation scale.

Background: Deficits in cognition and motivation predict functioning in depressive and psychotic disorders. However, experimental tasks of cognitive motivation are inconsistently correlated with functioning, time-intensive, and not intuitive in clinical practice. We aimed to develop and validate a self-report instrument to assess motivation processes pertinent to engagement with cognitive activities in daily life.

Relation of hippocampal volume and SGK1 gene expression to treatment remission in major depression is moderated by childhood maltreatment: A CAN-BIND-1 report.

Preclinical research implicates stress-induced upregulation of the enzyme, serum- and glucocorticoid-regulated kinase 1 (SGK1), in reduced hippocampal volume. In the current study, we tested the hypothesis that greater SGK1 mRNA expression in humans would be associated with lower hippocampal volume, but only among those with a history of prolonged stress exposure, operationalized as childhood maltreatment (physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse). Further, we examined whether baseline levels of SGK1 and hippocampal volume, or changes in these markers over the course of antidepressant treatment, would predict treatment outcomes in adults with major depression [MDD].

Transitions to campus mental health care in university students: Determinants and predictors.

Access to university mental health services is poorly characterized. Our objectives were to (1) assess patterns of access and (2) explore predictability of contact with student mental health services. Data derived from the U-Flourish study, which includes a survey of successive cohorts of incoming undergraduate students attending Queen's University, located in Ontario, Canada (Cohort 1: 2018, Cohort 2: 2019).

Childhood Adversity and Mental Health Outcomes Among University Students: A Longitudinal Study.

Background: Mental health concerns are common among university students and maybe elevated among those with specific risk exposures. The study examined the association between childhood adversities and mental health outcomes among undergraduate university students and assessed whether psychosocial and behavioral factors mediate those associations.

Methods: The Queen's University Student Well-Being and Academic Success Survey identified two large cohorts of first-year undergraduate students entering university in Fall 2018 and 2019 ( = 5,943).

Sexual, Physical, and Emotional Maltreatment in Childhood Are Differentially Associated With Sexual and Physical Revictimization in Adulthood.

Childhood maltreatment increases risk for sexual and physical revictimization in adulthood. The goal of the current study was to examine whether this risk is associated with specific maltreatment types (i.e.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of First-Year Undergraduate Students Studying at a Major Canadian University: A Successive Cohort Study.

Objective: To examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on first year undergraduate student mental health.

Methods: As part of the Queen's University study, three successive cohorts of students entering undergraduate studies in 2018 (pre-pandemic), 2019 (transitional), and 2020 (during pandemic) completed electronic surveys at entry and completion of first year. Validated self-report measures were used to assess mental health status including symptom levels of anxiety, depression, and insomnia, self-harm and frequency of substance use.

Psychological predictors of insomnia, anxiety and depression in university students: potential prevention targets.

Background: Perfectionism, low self-esteem and external locus of control are psychological constructs linked to insomnia, anxiety and depression. Examining how these constructs impact mental health and serve as risk factors for the development of clinically significant symptoms may help direct psychological support resources and preventative measures for university students.

Aims: To longitudinally examine associations between the aforementioned psychological constructs and symptoms of insomnia, anxiety and depression in a large representative sample of first-year university students.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the experience and mental health of university students studying in Canada and the UK: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives: To explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the experiences and mental health of university students.

Design: A cross-sectional study consisting of an electronic survey about students' experiences and concerns during the pandemic and the associated impact. In addition to the quantitative analysis, free-text responses were extracted and analysed using a framework technique.

Environmental Contributions to Anhedonia.

Anhedonia is a core feature of psychopathological conditions that have recent exposure to stress and trauma as central to their etiology. Indeed, evolutionary accounts of depression suggest that decreased motivation to pursue reward may be an adaptive strategy in the face of social stress, in particular, as it may serve to defuse interpersonal conflict. Through a review of rodent models and research with humans, we show that exposure to stress, particularly when it is chronic, repeated, and/or involves themes of social rejection or defeat, is consistently associated with reduced hedonic capacity ("liking"), motivation to pursue reward ("wanting"), and ability to learn from reward ("reward learning").

Cortisol reactivity to stress predicts behavioral responsivity to reward moderation by sex, depression, and anhedonia.

Depression is associated with blunted reactivity to acute stress, as well as blunted responsivity to rewards. However, the extent to which responses to stress are associated with responses to reward in individuals meeting criteria for a depressive disorder is unknown. The goal of this study was to examine the relation of responses to stress and reward, and to determine if this relation is moderated by depression diagnosis, anhedonia, and sex.

Social Media and Depression Symptoms: a Meta-Analysis.

Social Networking Sites (SNS) have close to 3 billion users worldwide. Recently, however, SNS have come under media scrutiny for their potential association with depression. Two previous meta-analyses failed to find evidence for a robust concurrent association between SNS use and depression symptoms.

Childhood maltreatment and the clinical characteristics of major depressive disorder in adolescence and adulthood.

Childhood maltreatment is widely implicated as the strongest developmental risk factor for depression onset. The current research is novel in examining the fine-grained associations of childhood emotional versus physical versus sexual maltreatment to indices of the severity, course, and presence of anxiety and trauma-related psychopathology in depression. An amalgamation across 6 previous investigations resulted in a sample of 575 adolescents and adults (76% female; age range 12-70, = 27.

Mental health need of students at entry to university: Baseline findings from the U-Flourish Student Well-Being and Academic Success Study.

Aim: Transition to university is associated with unique stressors and coincides with the peak period of risk for onset of mental illness. Our objective in this analysis was to estimate the mental health need of students at entry to a major Canadian university.

Methods: After a student-led engagement campaign, all first year students were sent a mental health survey, which included validated symptom rating scales for common mental disorders.

U-Flourish university students well-being and academic success longitudinal study: a study protocol.

Introduction: Over 30% of Canadians between the ages of 16 and 24 years attend university. This period of life coincides with the onset of common mental illnesses. Yet, data to inform university-based mental health prevention and early intervention initiatives are limited.

Maternal- versus paternal-perpetrated maltreatment and risk for sexual and peer bullying revictimization in young women with depression.

Background: Childhood maltreatment is one of the strongest predictors of sexual and peer bullying re-victimization. However, it is not clear which types of maltreatment are associated with the greatest risk.

Objective: The current study examined the differential relations of maternal- versus paternal-perpetrated emotional maltreatment, neglect, and physical maltreatment, as well as sexual maltreatment, to sexual victimization and peer bullying victimization outside the home.