In this paper generalized moment functions are considered. They are closely related to the well-known functions of binomial type which have been investigated on various abstract structures. The main purpose of this work is to prove characterization theorems for generalized moment functions on commutative groups. At the beginning a multivariate characterization of moment functions defined on a commutative group is given. Next the notion of generalized moment functions of higher rank is introduced and some basic properties on groups are listed. The characterization of exponential polynomials by means of complete (exponential) Bell polynomials is given. The main result is the description of generalized moment functions of higher rank defined on a commutative group as the product of an exponential and composition of multivariate Bell polynomial and an additive function. Furthermore, corollaries for generalized moment function of rank one are also stated. At the end of the paper some possible directions of further research are discussed.

The COVID-19 pandemic is related to changes in rates of suicide and suicide attempts in many countries, and some differences have been observed regarding the prevalence of suicidal behaviours in different age and gender groups. The aim of this study is to analyse the number of suicides and suicide attempts per 100,000 people between 2019 and 2021 in Poland. Using police and government data on suicide and suicide attempts in Poland, three age categories were investigated: 13–24 years old, 25–65 years old, and above 65 years old, and the analysis encompassed the whole population and the populations of men and women separately. Study results indicated an increase in suicide attempts in the two younger age categories (aged 7–24 years and 25–65 years) between 2021 and 2019–2020. There was an increase in suicide among women in all age categories during the study period, whilst no increase was observed in suicide in men in any age group. The differences in the prevalence of suicide and attempted suicide in Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic in different age and gender groups indicate the need for tailored suicide prevention activities.

Depression is the most common disorder in people who attempt suicide or die by suicide. Research review indicate that therapy of depression (including psychoeducation) is one of the main factors in the prevention of suicidal behavior. In this paper we examine the intensification of search interest for the terms “depression” and “suicide” in Google search engine with regard to the time of day and day of the week in Poland, Germany, Great Britain and Italy. The goal of the study was to determine if there are any days of the week or hours when search for “suicide” and “depression” particularly increases. Numerous studies focusing not only on the seasonality of suicidal behavior, but also on the days of the week and hours, indicate that it is most often undertaken on Mondays in the night and early morning hours. The results of the research being the basis of this paper show a certain time coincidence: first, the increase in search interest for “suicide” and “depression” and then undertaking suicidal behavior (suicide and suicide attempts). Searching for terms “suicide” and “depression” usually took place (except in Italy) at weekends and most often in the late evening hours and at night. The conclusions from the research can be used in suicide prevention activities, for example in determining the hours of operation of individual helpline numbers.

The research undertaken in this article uses the Google Trends tool to study the degree of interest in prayer and general spirituality during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland and Europe. The authors assumed that for people interested in prayer during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Internet served as a virtual prayer book. The main research questions addressed the frequency of typed queries, referring not only to the word “prayer” but also to specific types of prayer. In addition, interest in prayer was compared with interest in the word “prophecy” to explore the relationship between religiosity and interest in the supernatural sphere in its broadest sense. The analysis shows that there is distinct recurrence regarding the terms searched, with some of them noticeably intensifying with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings also show that keywords related to prophecies were searched more frequently at significant moments in Polish history (2005—the death of John Paul II, 2010—the plane crash in which the President of Poland died) than in the months of 2020 when the pandemic struck and escalated. At that time, searches related to religion were more frequent. It can also be concluded that the outbreak of the pandemic contributed to an increase in the religious activity of Poles. The article is interdisciplinary in nature, referring primarily to Religion Studies and Mass Media and Communication Studies.