Editorial: Psychological Distress Among University Students

Purpose: Working women often experience difficulties associated with balancing family and career, particularly if they choose to have children. This systematic literature review aimed at investigating women’s experience in returning to work after maternity leave. Methods: The review was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. The literature search led to the identification of 52 articles, which underwent data extraction and qualitative analysis. Results: Results were organized in 5 categories: (1) Work-life balance; (2) Women’s mental and physical health; (3) Job-related wellbeing and working experience; (4) Breastfeeding. Women’s both mental and physical health seem connected to a longer maternity leave and a greater coworkers’ and supervisors’ support. Returning to work seems to constitute one of the most important barriers for exclusive breastfeeding or breastfeeding continuation. A shorter duration of maternity leave, a higher workload and the lack of occupational policies supporting breastfeeding seem to be hindering factors. Partner and family support, and the opportunity for fathers to work under a flextime system after childbirth seem to increase both breastfeeding initiation and duration. Women who continue breastfeeding after returning to work seem to experience more family-to-work conflict and overload. Conclusions: This paper show that there are still many understudied aspects in exploring women’s experience of returning to work after maternity leave. This represents an important gap in the literature, since returning to work represents a particularly critical time in women’s personal and occupational life, in which challenges and barriers may arise, potentially affecting their experience in the immediate future and years to come.

Objective: Starting university education is a crucial period for the mental health of students, who report higher levels of distress compared to the general population. This study sought to better understand the distress experienced by students by considering contextual facets (e.g., housing conditions) as well as stable clinical variables (e.g., negative affectivity, emotion regulation, and anxiety). Methods: A total of 177 University students (71.2% females) aged 18-29 were administered the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Y, the Beck Depression Inventory-II, the Suicidal History Self-Rating Screening Scale, the Personality Inventory for DSM-5-Brief Form, and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20. Results: University students showed concerning levels of distress, particularly concerning anxiety, and depression. We found that the relationship between negative affectivity and both state and trait anxiety was mediated by alexithymia but housing conditions did not act as a moderator for the indirect effect of negative affectivity on state or trait anxiety through alexithymia. Conclusion: Undoubtedly, university lifestyle can be demanding, but experiencing distress is not inevitable nor inexplicable. The present study sought to gain insight into the anxiety experienced by Italian University students while taking into account the importance of personality and clinical characteristics that have previously been widely underestimated. We found that these characteristics can be of extreme importance for developing preventative and therapeutic interventions tailored to the clinical characteristics of students, as well taking into account their living environment.

Housing has been identified as one of the most important areas related to individual well-being in emerging adults attending a tertiary educational institution. Thus, the purpose of this systematic review is to explore the relationship between students’ housing conditions and students’ psychical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. The review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Outcomes were categorised into 10 categories: 1. homesickness and adaptation to college life; 2. overall health and distress; 3. sleep; 4. depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions; 5. alcohol abuse; 6. substance abuse; 7. tobacco use; 8. internet addiction; 9. eating disorders; and 10. sexual behaviours. Student housing conditions play an important role in a variety of health and health-related problems. These findings underscore the relationship between housing conditions and different facets of students’ mental and physical wellbeing, emphasising the importance of addressing housing conditions in mental health prevention and intervention programmes.

Aim: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine-metabolic disorder. It affects women’s physical well-being and leads to great psychological distress. Indeed, women with PCOS show a compromised quality of life as well as impaired emotional well-being. The aim of this study is to assess personality characteristics, body image and alexithymia in women with PCOS. Materials and methods: A total of 59 women with PCOS and 38 healthy controls were administered the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS), the Body Uneasiness Test (BUT) and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2). Results: The PCOS group showed higher values of alexithymia and a higher body uneasiness. They also showed higher values on many clinical, content and supplementary scales of the MMPI-2. Discussion: It seems that physical appearance and bodily function have a central place in the minds of women with PCOS, as well as in their relationships. However, it is a body they find it hard to feel and with which they mostly feel uncomfortable. Their approach to the outside world seems to be characterized by a certain degree of immaturity, anger, hostility and distrust. Low self-esteem also seems to be connected to a certain tendency toward introversion and withdrawal. This leads to problems in social, professional and intimate relationships.