Richard Andrew Burns

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the mental health trajectories of Australia’s emerging adults in the years prior, during and post the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Participants ( n = 4,983) were from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) study who provided at least one observation between 2017 and 2024 and aged between 18 and 25. Mental health was operationalised with the four subscales of the SF-36 Mental Health Component: Mental Health Index (MHI), Vitality, Role Emotion, and Social Functioning. Multi-level regression models estimated the trajectory of each subscale. Analysis examined whether trajectories were moderated by sex, education or employment status. Results: There was limited decline in mental health prior to the pandemic but declines in mental health between 2019 and 2020 were substantive. For example, the MHI reported declines of b = −3.24 (SE = 0.42) from 2019 to 2020. From 2021, mental health outcomes stabilised and there was limited evidence for a recovery to pre-pandemic levels. There was some evidence that trajectories were moderated by sex and employment status, but this was inconsistent for different mental health outcomes. Conclusions: The impact of the events surrounding COVID-19 on the mental health of emerging Australian adults has been clear and substantive. There has been no substantive improvement since 2020 to pre-pandemic levels. It is likely that concerted public policy will be needed to focus on those social and economic factors that will likely support mental health to return to pre-pandemic levels.

The brain is vulnerable to DNA damage and cardiometabolic risk. Yet, whether genetic variation in DNA repair interacts with cardiometabolic factors to explain cognitive variability remains unclear. Participants ( n = 376,533) of white-British ancestry from the UK biobank with cognitive, neuroimaging, and whole-exome sequencing data were included. Six cognitive outcomes were assessed: fluid intelligence (FIQ), symbol-digit matching task (SDMT), visual matching (MATCH), trail making (TRAIL1 and TRAIL2), and prospective memory (PMEM). Seven brain regions of interest were assessed: total brain (TBV), grey matter (GMV), left and right white matter (LWM/RWM), left and right hippocampi (LHC/RHC), and white matter hyperintensities (WMH) volumes. A total of 3487 genetic variants across 39 DNA repair genes were tested. SNP and gene/gene-set level associations were tested using regression models adjusted for age, sex, APOE ε4, ancestry, and outcome-specific covariates. Genetic interactions with a multidimensional cardiometabolic risk index (CMRI), encompassing established risk factors, were assessed. We detected 107 genetic variants (mostly extremely rare) across 36 DNA repair genes associated at Bonferroni-significance ( p ≤ 1.4 × 10 ⁻⁵ ) with neurocognitive and brain outcomes. Most associations were observed for WMH (43 variants across 27 genes) and SDMT (26 variants across 17 genes). Most associations (60.8% of variants) were identified only in interaction models with CMRI. Associations across 35 of the 36 previously identified genes were also observed ( p < 0.05) for dementia. Interactions between rare genetic variants involved in DNA repair mechanisms and cardiometabolic risk may explain some of the observed cognitive variability. Graphical Abstract

In the literature exploring the associations between problematic social media use (SMU) and sleep, the majority of studies focus on problematic SMU as a predictor of poorer sleep outcomes. There is currently a scarcity of empirical investigation of the reverse causal direction. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the impact of sleep (insomnia and sleep quality) on problematic social media use and the mediating role of motives for SMU. The eMediate study participants (young adult social media users from Bangladesh) who completed four surveys of SMU, sleep, and mental health at three‐month intervals were included ( n = 426, 49.8% female, mean age = 22.61 ± 1.83 years). Multilevel mediation analyses were conducted to examine the impact of sleep problems on problematic social media use through motives for SMU. Sleep problems significantly predicted SMU for coping, conforming, escapism, social support seeking, and decreasing negative emotions motives, as well as problematic social media use . Motives mediated 41% of the effect of insomnia symptoms and 71% of the effect of poor sleep quality on problematic social media use . SMU for coping and escapism motives mediated the associations between sleep problems and subsequent problematic social media use . SMU for coping with sleep problems and escaping from associated worries arising from sleep problems and real‐life difficulties may reinforce use by providing short‐term relief and leading to reliance on SMU.

Aims It is purported that tertiary students are at greater risk for poor mental health outcomes in comparison with their non-tertiary peers and those not in education, although the evidence for this is mixed. This paper examines the mental health differences between tertiary and non-tertiary students, and those not enrolled in study, and then examines the changes in mental health in the years prior to, during and post the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Participants were from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, a longitudinal household panel survey. For this study, N = 21,385 participants provided at least one observation on the relevant education and mental health measures between 2017 and 2023. Mental Health was operationalised with the four mental health subscales from the Short Form-36 and included the MHI-5, a measure of psychological distress, Vitality, Social Functioning, and Role Emotion subscales. Results Over the study period, there were no differences in levels of Vitality or Social Functioning between education status. Those enrolled in undergraduate programs reported lower MHI-5 (b = -1.17 (SE = 0.38); P = .011) and Role Emotional (b = -2.49 (SE = 0.79); P = .010) scores, but these differences were substantively smaller than the differences reported between age, employment and sex. There were substantive changes in all mental health outcomes with the onset of COVID, particularly for Role Emotion. Two-way interactions between education and time were reported for the MHI, Vitality and Social Functioning subscales with those enrolled in undergraduate and postgraduate reporting slightly larger declines. Conclusions In comparison with the magnitude of differences between sex, employment and age groups, there was only weak evidence for differences between education levels. There was weak evidence for changes in mental health between education levels over the study period. Stabilisation in more recent years suggest some adaptation to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite fatigue being a common and debilitating symptom of Multiple Sclerosis (MS), it is poorly understood. Here we report on facilitated workshops and surveys to capture the needs and preferences of people with MS to inform further work towards fatigue survey Apps.

Background: The experience of flourishing (i.e. high wellbeing) is informing our understanding of psychological health beyond psychopathology. Aims: This study examines whether community members define their sense of flourishing in terms of the presence of wellbeing and/or the absence of psychopathology. Methods: Participants ( n = 1,094) were stratified by sex and age (18–39 years, 40–59 years and 60 years+), resided in Australia, the United Kingdom, Singapore, South Africa and Malaysia. Participants were presented with 12 items from the European Social Survey Wellbeing Module and 9 symptoms from the Diagnostic Statistical Manual for Major Depressive Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder; mental health items were rephrased to reflect an absence of psychopathology. Respondents selected and ranked the five statements that best reflected their sense of flourishing. Results: Wellbeing statements were the most frequently endorsed items for example, ‘Feeling calm and peaceful’, ‘Life is valuable and worthwhile’, ‘Having people who care’ and ‘Feeling positive about oneself’, but they were only endorsed by approximately 35% to 38% of respondents. Three pathology items were amongst the top 10 items endorsed. Conclusions: That not one indicator was endorsed by the majority of respondents suggests that flourishing definitions of positive mental health need to be defined by both the presence of wellbeing and absence of psychopathology. Notably, there were few between-nation differences in items endorsed, and those differences reported were not of a large magnitude suggesting consistency in the endorsement of indicators between nations.