The current study examined the psychometric properties and correlates of three measures assessing individual differences in mattering among people from Palestine assessed in January, 2024. This study uniquely considers mattering as a resource and feelings of not mattering as a risk factor among people experiencing traumatizing life circumstances. Our sample consisted of 950 Palestinian adults (305 men and 645 women). They completed the General Mattering Scale, the Anti-Mattering Scale, the Fear of Not Mattering Inventory, and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21). Extensive psychometric tests supported these measures as each having one factor with adequate reliability and validity. Examination of means indicated significantly elevated levels of fear of not mattering, anxiety, depression, and stress. Regression analyses further established that each measure predicted significant unique variance in anxiety, depression, and stress. The findings attest to the further use of these measures and how feelings of mattering can be vital resource as the need for resilience and adaptability escalates due to traumatizing events.

This paper examines the items of two scales, the Random Events Knowledge Test (REKT) and the Chance Test, and examines their relationship with problem gambling (N = 1375). Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the REKT was broken down into four sub-scales: Due to Win, Counterintuitive Nature of random chance, Odds Do Not Improve, and Biases and Wins. The Chance Test was broken down into three sub-scales: abstract Odds, Table Odds, and Chance Odds. These sub-scales were regressed onto of problem gambling severity and revealed that more knowledge about random chance on all sub-scales of the REKT and Abstract Odds from the Chance Test were negatively related to problem gambling. On the other hand, we found that higher score on the Table Odds and Chance Odds from the Chance Test were positively related to problem gambling. The results illustrate that compared to people who do not have a gambling problem, problem gamblers have a more accurate understanding of some aspects of the chances of winning specific games, but have a poorer understanding of various implications of the independence of random events. The findings suggest potential strategies for the prevention and treatment of problem gambling.

The importance of complete mental health in school context has recently begun to attract a lot of attention. Positive psychology interventions are often associated with improvement in mental health outcomes, but few studies have examined whether story reading is an intervention that is linked with indicators of complete mental health. This study investigated the effects of story reading interventions on both positive and negative indicators of mental health over time for a group of Turkish grade 10 high school students (n = 53). These included 33 students in a story reading group and 20 in a control group for comparison. The results showed that story reading led to improvement in students' mindfulness, optimism, happiness, and positive emotions, and also caused reduction in depression, anxiety, pessimism, and other negative emotions over a 5-week period, with a small to large effect sizes. The obtained results are discussed in the context of their implications for potential psychological interventions in high school settings.

The psychological health of people all around the world is severely affected due to the COVID-19 outbreak. This study examined a moderated mediation model in which college belongingness mediated the relationship between coronavirus anxiety and psychological adjustment, and this mediation effect was moderated by social media addiction. A total of 315 undergraduate students (M = 21.65±3.68 years and 67% females) participated in this study. The results demonstrated that college belongingness partially mediated the association between coronavirus anxiety and psychological adjustment. The mediating part from coronavirus anxiety to college belongingness was moderated by social media addiction. In comparison with the high level of social media addiction, coronavirus anxiety had a stronger predictive effect on college belongingness under the low and moderate levels of social media addiction condition. Our findings highlight that college belongingness is a potential mechanism explaining how coronavirus anxiety is related to psychological adjustment and that this relation may depend on the levels of social media addiction.

In recent decades, perfectionism has generated growing interest from the scientific community in understanding exercise addiction, due to the explicative contributions offered its characteristics that can make individuals more susceptible to unhealthy and compulsive exercise. There have been limited studies of such constructions in sports contexts. With the purpose of identifying the most relevant evidence on the constructs in sports contexts, the main links between perfectionism and exercise addiction in athletes were described. Taking into account the principles established by the PRISMA and AMSTAR statements for the qualitative and quantitative description of findings in systematic reviews, a compendium of original articles in English, French and Spanish published on the Web of Science electronic platforms and databases is presented, Scopus, ProQuest, MEDLINE and EBSCO-HOST, and included major resources such as PSY Articles, PsycINFO, LWW, ERIC, SportDISCUS, PubMed, ERIC, Dialnet, PubMed, ISOC, the Cochrane Library and Google Scholar. Of the 754 articles identified, only 22 met the established inclusion criteria. Finally, the relationship between exercise addiction and perfectionism, and the risk function of certain personality traits, such as narcissism, in this association is confirmed.

Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of foreign students toward the use of medical cannabis (MC) for pain management. Methods: This study uses data collected from 549 foreign students from India (n = 289) and Middle Eastern countries mostly from Egypt, Iran, Syria, and Jordan (n = 260) studying medicine in Russia and Belarus. Data collected from Russian and Belarusian origin medical students (n = 796) were used for comparison purposes. Pearson's chi-squared and t-test were used to analyze the data. Results: Foreign students' country of origin and gender statuses do not tend to be correlated with medical student responses toward medical cannabis use. Students from Russia and Belarus who identified as secular, compared to those who were religious, reported more positive attitudes toward medical cannabis and policy change. Conclusions: This study is the first to examine the attitudes, knowledge, and beliefs toward medical cannabis among foreign students from India and Middle Eastern countries studying in Russia and Belarus, two countries who oppose its recreational and medicine use. Indian and Middle Eastern students, as a group, tend to be more supportive of MC than their Russian and Belarusian counterparts. These results may be linked to cultural and historical reasons. This study provides useful information for possible medical and allied health curriculum and education purposes.

Commentary by Masood Zangeneh, Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Mental Health & Addiction.

Access to and use of digital technology promise positive impacts on young adults with developmental disabilities’ social and economic integration, and on supporting their autonomy, and facilitating their inclusion into society. We conducted a scoping review, applying Arksey and O’Malley’s (International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 8(1), 19-32, Arksey and O’Malley 2005) approach, of peer-reviewed journal articles, to examine the barriers to access and utilization of digital technology to support the transition stage needs (in relation to education, daily living, community integration, and employment) of young adults with developmental disabilities. A total of 29 studies were located that met the review’s inclusion criteria. Identified barriers included training, affordability, availability, infrastructure, design, lack of fit with needs, access to community activities, literacy, and accommodations. We applied a socio-ecological approach (Bronfenbrenner & Ceci, Psychological Review, 101(4), 568–586, Bronfenbrenner and Ceci 1994) in interpreting our findings. The review highlights the importance of facilitators for promoting digital inclusion of young adults with developmental disabilities.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global health crisis that continues to grow. It is a source of mounting stress and anxiety that is exacting an overwhelming toll on individual people. It is during times like these that psychological resources are just as important as the tangible resources available to people. We focus in this commentary on the key psychological resource of feelings of mattering to other people. Mattering is a core element of the self and identity that is especially relevant during transitions. We present the argument that mattering is a key resource when faced with a broad public health crisis such as the current pandemic. In this commentary, we briefly review the concept of mattering and how it is distinguished from related concepts such as belongingness and social support. We also discuss the vital role of mattering in combating feelings of loneliness and safeguarding the health and mental health of people of all ages at all times but especially when in crisis situations. A substantial focus in our commentary is on the need to promote a sense of mattering in the community and the benefits derived from actions and programs that leave people with a core sense that their community cares about them. More generally, we discuss the public health implications of promoting this sense of mattering and steps that can be taken by individuals, organizations, and governments to mobilize mattering as an essential resource for all people, but especially for those individuals who have felt marginalized and perhaps forgotten. When viewed through a mattering lens, exceptional acts of selflessness, volunteerism, and altruism are reframed as acts of mattering that underscore the importance of both having value and giving value to others during times of crisis.

Alcohol use is attributed to about 25% of the total deaths among youth and young adults. Harmful alcohol use among youth has been overshadowed by the preoccupation with widespread use of other substances including cannabis and prescription drugs. A crosssectional cohort of 1,327 residential program and high school youth were compared regarding binge drinking habits and risk factors. Data was collected from 2004 to 2016. Residential program youth binge drinking predictors were substance abuse within the last month, alcohol availability, causing harm to others (e.g., fighting, stealing and possessing a weapon), unstructured day activity, and being a passenger in a car where the driver had been drinking. Binge drinking predictors among high school were smoking within the last month and alcohol availability. Effective risk behavior prevention involves a wide range of factors including the need to control alcohol access among those under the legal drinking age. An eco-systems approach involving youth and people they are in contact with is a viable prevention approach. However, conflicting personal and economic factors regarding alcohol use, among others, are a daunting barrier to overcome.

Protection of privacy of information for young adults with developmental disabilities and their families is essential to promote quality of life, well-being, empowerment, and inclusion. Despite this, the young adults' information privacy rights are increasingly at risk. This paper provides a scoping review, applying Arksey and O'Malley's (2005) approach, of all published peer-reviewed journal articles and gray literature to examine the barriers and facilitators in utilization of legislation that protects the collection, use, disclosure, and access of personal information in Canada. The scoping review process was further expanded with a rigorous reliability method and applied a socio-ecological framework to the final 47 studies. National and international policy and legislation (macro level), organization-based factors (meso), young adults and community interactions (exo), and individual disability related factors (micro) are examined. The review identifies the barriers and highlights the importance of facilitators for acting on personal privacy rights.

Background: Pharmaceutical companies conduct clinical trials to show the efficacy and safety of new medications for the treatment of schizophrenia. After the new medications are marketed, clinicians treating patients with schizophrenia discover that a considerable number of patients do not respond to these new medications. The goals of the review are to examine the methodology and design of recent antipsychotic clinical trials, identify common flaws, and propose guidelines to fix the flaws and improve the quality of future clinical trials of antipsychotic medications. Methods: A review of recent antipsychotic clinical trials was conducted using a PubMed search. Ten recent trials published in the past four years were reviewed and their methods analyzed and critiqued. Results: The authors identified six major methodological flaws that may explain the suboptimal response in many patients after a drug is approved. Most of the flaws are related to eligibility criteria, the misuse of the Positive and Negative Syndromes Scale (PANSS) and the lack of consensus on how to define remission, response and exacerbation in schizophrenia. Proposed guidelines for a more rigorous use of the PANSS are presented and recommendations are proposed for using uniform criteria for remission, response and exacerbation in schizophrenia. Conclusions: The authors recommend using standardized diagnostic interviews to screen patients for eligibility criteria and using the PANSS according to the author's recommendations and the proposed guidelines. Uniform criteria to define remission, response and exacerbation are recommended for clinical trials examining the efficacy and safety of antipsychotic drugs in schizophrenia. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

............................................................................................................................................................ III ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................................................... IV CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTER ONE ........................................................................................................ 1 1.2 BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2.1 A BRIEF HISTORY OF CANADIAN IMMIGRATION ....................................................................................................... 1 1.2.1.1 Patterns of Canadian immigration ................................................................................................................................................. 2 1.2.2 MULTICULTURAL VERSUS MELTING POT POLICY ...................................................................................................... 7 1.2.3 IRANIANS IN CANADA ................................................................................................................................................. 10 1.3 OVERVIEW OF THE PROBLEM ................................................................................................................ 14 1.3.1 SCHOLARLY SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY .............................................................................................................. 17 1.3.2 PERSONAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ................................................................................................................ 19 1.4 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS ................................................................................................................... 20 1.5 THEORECTICAL FRAMEWORK ............................................................................................................... 21 1.5.1 ACCULTURATION ......................................................................................................................................................... 21 1.5.2 CULTURE AND ETHNICITY .......................................................................................................................................... 30 1.5.2.1 Cultural identity and ethnic identity are distinct ................................................................................................................. 31 1.5.2.2 Role of ethnicity in acculturation ................................................................................................................................................ 33 1.5.3 ACCULTURATION AND PROBLEM BEHAVIOUR ........................................................................................................ 34 1.5.3.1 Gambling disorder ............................................................................................................................................................................. 36 1.5.3.2 Youth ethnic identity, acculturation, and drug use ............................................................................................................. 37 1.5.4 GENDER AND ACCULTURATION ................................................................................................................................. 40 1.6 CHAPTER ONE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................ 42 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................................................... 43 2.1 INTRODUCTION TO CHAPTER TWO ..................................................................................................... 43 2.2 MIGRATION .................................................................................................................................................. 43 2.3 ACCULTURATION RESEARCH ................................................................................................................. 48 2.3.1 COMPONENTS OF ACCULTURATION .......................................................................................................................... 49 2.3.1.1 Strategies for coping with acculturation .................................................................................................................................. 50 2.3.1.2 Directionality and dimensionality of acculturation research ......................................................................................... 55 2.3.2 ACCULTURATION AND MENTAL HEALTH ................................................................................................................. 56 2.3.3 ACCULTURATION AND ADDICTION ........................................................................................................................... 61 2.4 YOUTH ............................................................................................................................................................ 63 2.4.1 IMMIGRANT YOUTH AND ACCULTURATION ............................................................................................................. 64 2.4.1.1 Immigrant youth and problem gambling ................................................................................................................................ 70 2.5 GENDER AND ACCULTURATION ............................................................................................................ 71 2.6 MOTIVATION ................................................................................................................................................ 75 2.6.1 EXTERNAL VERSUS INTERNAL MOTIVATION .......................................................................................................... 76 2.6.2 MOTIVATION AND CULTURE ...................................................................................................................................... 77 2.6.2.1 Motivational orientation ................................................................................................................................................................. 78 2.6.2.2 Motivational orientation and second language learning (SLL) ...................................................................................... 80 2.6.2.3 Additional factors for second language learning (SLL) ..................................................................................................... 82

Although clinical interest has predominantly focused on mindfulness meditation, interest into the clinical utility of Buddhist-derived loving-kindness meditation (LKM) and compassion meditation (CM) is also growing. This paper follows the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines and provides an evaluative systematic review of LKM and CM intervention studies. Five electronic academic databases were systematically searched to identify all intervention studies assessing changes in the symptom severity of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (text revision fourth edition) Axis I disorders in clinical samples and/or known concomitants thereof in subclinical/healthy samples. The comprehensive database search yielded 342 papers and 20 studies (comprising a total of 1,312 participants) were eligible for inclusion. The Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies was then used to assess study quality. Participants demonstrated significant improvements across five psychopathology-relevant outcome domains: (i) positive and negative affect, (ii) psychological distress, (iii) positive thinking, (iv) interpersonal relations, and (v) empathic accuracy. It is concluded that LKM and CM interventions may have utility for treating a variety of psychopathologies. However, to overcome obstacles to clinical integration, a lessons-learned approach is recommended whereby issues encountered during the (ongoing) operationalization of mindfulness interventions are duly considered. In particular, there is a need to establish accurate working definitions for LKM and CM.

Work-related mental health issues such as work-related stress and addiction to work impose a significant health and economic burden to the employee, the employing organization, and the country of work more generally. Interventions that can be empirically shown to improve levels of work-related mental health—especially those with the potential to concurrently improve employee levels of work performance—are of particular interest to occupational stakeholders. One such broad-application interventional approach currently of interest to occupational stakeholders in this respect is mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs). Following a brief explication of the mindfulness construct, this paper critically discusses current research directions in the utilization of mindfulness in workplace settings and assesses its suitability for operationalization as an organization-level work-related mental health intervention. By effecting a perceptual-shift in the mode of responding and relating to sensory and cognitive-affective stimuli, employees that undergo mindfulness training may be able to transfer the locus of control for stress from external work conditions to internal metacognitive and attentional resources. Therefore, MBIs may constitute cost-effective organization-level interventions due to not actually requiring any modifications to human resource management systems and practises. Based on preliminary empirical findings and on the outcomes of MBI studies with clinical populations, it is concluded that MBIs appear to be viable interventional options for organizations wishing to improve the mental health of their employees.

While much research has been conducted towards understanding the basis of visual hallucinations in Parkinson's disease, little has focused on characterizing the content and patients' emotional experience. These factors are likely very influential on a patient's decision to seek treatment, a critical aspect of any symptom from the clinical perspective.