Stress and Sensitivity to Frustration Predicting Depression among Young Adults in Poland and Korea - Psychological and Philosophical Explanations

Abstract

The present study examined the differences in the psychological wellbeing of 270 Polish (198 female) and 209 South Korean (87 female) students. Specifically, it tested the difference in depressive symptom severity between Polish and Korean students, and how this difference may be accounted for by stress and sensitivity to frustration. Poles and Koreans were chosen for this investigation as they vary in terms of culture with Koreans being more collectivistic and more dependent on social context. It was hypothesized that Koreans will have higher levels of depressive symptom severity than Poles due to the elevated levels of stress and sensitivity to frustration. Participants in both countries completed a set of questionnaires including the PHQ-9 -Patient Health Questionnaire, the STAR -Situational Triggers of Aggressive Responses Scale, and the Perceived Stress Scale -PSS 10. We found that Koreans were more depressed than Poles due to the higher stress levels and sensitivity to frustration. We discuss our study from two culturally distinct perspectives: psychological and philosophical. As this article addresses the problem of frustration and stress with attention to social context of emotional expression (or restraining from it), a philosophical concept of resentment may turn out to be a promising area of further research and interpretation.

Perceived Stress, Depression and Alcohol Use Disorders in College Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Socio-Economic Dimension

“…Thus, the author [60] identified perceived stress as the most important determinant of depression in college students. This statement is also consistent with the findings of Zajenkowska and her research team [61], who revealed that Korean college students reported higher levels of depression (PHQ 9) due to higher levels of perceived stress (PSS 10) compared to Polish students. Also, Hou and colleagues [62] not only confirmed that the perceived stress score of the 14-item PSS tool was positively related to depression and anxiety, but the authors also found that depression and anxiety were positively related to the problematic use of social networking site.…”

“…All of these findings are consistent with the findings of many international studies focusing on the mental and behavioural disorders of college students and the identification of their perceived stress, depression and alcohol use disorders using the PSS, PHQ 9 and AUDIT tools. Specifically, Kaya [60] and Zajenkowska and her research team [61] confirmed that the PSS score of college students is a significant predictor of depression measured by the PHQ 9 diagnostic tool. Our findings regarding the relations between depressive disorders and alcohol use disorders can also be compared with other studies, in which a significant correlation between the AUDIT score and the PHQ 9 score was confirmed [92,93].…”

“…Due to its brevity and verified psychometric properties, the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) appears to be a very suitable tool for measuring depression [69,70], while Kroenke a Spitzer [71] emphasized the dual purpose of the 9-item version (PHQ 9), namely to diagnose depression and also to assess the severity of depression in individuals. This tool has proven successful in many studies focused on screening for depression in a sample of college students [61,[72][73][74]. Subsequently, Grant and colleagues [75] found that the risk of depression expressed as the PHQ 9 score in students under stress increases.…”

Sex Differences between Young Adults in the Czech and Slovak Republics in the Relationship between Alcohol-Related Consequences and Depression

“…Its reliability and psychometric properties are evidenced by the fact that this measure has been included in many studies on the mental health of university students from various countries, such as Australia [62], the United Kingdom [38], the United States [31] or Croatia [37]. In terms of crosscultural comparison, the usefulness of PHQ-9 was supported by a study at universities in Germany and China [63] and a study focusing on young adults from Poland and Korea [64]. The PHQ-9 consisted of nine survey items with a four-point scale (0 not at all; 1 several days; 3 more than half the days; 4 nearly every day) aimed at screening for depressive disorder among university students.…”

Sickness and sleep health predict frustration and affective responses to a frustrating trigger

“…Frustration may in some cases function as a facilitator to solve and overcome a problem through its energising function 10 . However, it is more often experienced as a negative emotion, contributing to the prevalence of stressful social events 11 . Even a single frustrating situation can have deleterious outcomes, such as inducing destructive behaviour including vandalism and violent crime 12 , 13 .…”