The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have affected the psychological well-being and mental health of many people. Data on prevalence rates of mental health problems are needed for mental health service planning. Psychological well-being and prevalence of clinically significant mental distress were measured in a large sample from Wales 11–16 weeks into lockdown and compared to population-based data collected in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected using an online survey disseminated across Wales and open to adults (age 16+) from 9th June to 13th July 2020. Psychological well-being was indexed via the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale, and psychological distress was indexed via the K10. Data from 12,989 people who took part in this study were compared to that from April 2018 - March 2019, gathered by the National Survey for Wales ( N = 11,922). Well-being showed a large decrease from 2019 levels. Clinically significant psychological distress was found in around 50% of the population (men = 47.4%, women = 58.6%), with around 20% showing “severe” effects (men = 17.0%, women = 20.9%): a 3–4-fold increase in prevalence. Most affected were young people, women, and those in deprived areas. By June-July 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic had dramatic effects on the mental health of people living in Wales (and by implication those in the UK and beyond). The effects are larger than previous reports. This probably reflects that the current data were taken deeper into the lockdown period than previous evaluations. Mental health services need to prepare for this wave of mental health problems with an emphasis on younger adults, women, and in areas of greater deprivation.

Attachment avoidance is characterized by discomfort with closeness and a reluctance to develop intimacy with romantic partners, which contribute to heightened general negativity and lower satisfaction and self-disclosure in and out of their relationships. Recent research, however, has begun to uncover circumstances in which romantic partners and positive relationships buffer more avoidantly attached individuals against deleterious individual and relationship outcomes. Across three studies, using a multi-method approach encompassing both experimental and dyadic longitudinal diary methods, we investigated the effects of positive, intimacy-related relationship experiences on more avoidant persons' positive and negative affect, relationship quality, selfdisclosure, and attachment security immediately and over time. Results revealed that more avoidant individuals exhibit a reduction of general negative affect in particular (Studies 1-2) and report greater relationship quality (Studies 2-3) in response to positive relationship experiences, and, following intimacy-promoting activities with their partner, engage in greater self-disclosure over time and demonstrate decreased attachment avoidance one month later (Study 3). These findings identify novel circumstances in which more avoidant persons' negative expectations of relationships may be countered, and suggest that relatively simple techniques can have potentially important short-and long-term implications for more avoidant individuals and their relationships.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, first responders and health care workers faced elevated virus-related risks through prolonged contacts with the public. Research suggests that these workers already experienced lower levels of psychological well-being linked to occupational risks. Thus, the pandemic's impact might have particularly affected mental health in these groups. This paper analysed data from a large-scale Welsh population study (N = 12,989) from June to July 2020. Levels of psychological distress were compared across various occupations, including police, fire and rescue, and NHS health care workers. Resilience was also indexed, and its role considered as a protective factor for psychological distress. Surprisingly, health care workers reported lower distress levels than the general population. Further, fire and rescue and police groups had lower distress than most groups and significantly higher resilience. Within police officers, higher resilience levels were protective for distress. Fire and rescue workers were half as likely as others to report distress, even accounting for demographic factors and resilience. The findings offer an optimistic view of psychological resilience in these critical occupations. They illustrate potential benefits to one's mental health of playing a crucial societal role during crises and reiterate the importance of enhancing resilience within groups who encounter high-risk situations daily. Practitioner pointsOur findings provide evidence that health care workers and first responders showed lower levels of psychological distress than the general population during the first period of lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. This may indicate that playing a critical role in society during an episode of crisis, and acting to help others, may be protective of one's own mental health. The research also provides an optimistic view of the psychological resilience of critical first responders and health care workers during a period early on in the COVID-19 pandemic (June-July 2020). ThisThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the mental health and wellbeing of populations across the world. This study aimed to examine: (1) which specific aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with the presence of suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and(2) the extent to which participants' hopelessness and resilience moderated the relationship between COVID-19 related stress and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Method: We administered an online survey to 12,989 adult (16þ) participants across Wales from the 9th June to the 13th July 2020. Participants completed a series of questionnaires measuring the stressors they had experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, their levels of hopelessness over the past two weeks, their levels of resilience, and whether they had experienced suicidal thoughts or behaviors since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Our findings revealed that: (1) food insecurity, domestic abuse, relationship problems, redundancy, social isolation and financial problems were the COVID-19 related stressors most strongly associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and (2) that both hopelessness and resilience moderated the relationship between COVID-19 stress and suicidal thoughts, such that the relationship between COVID-19 stress and the presence of suicidal thoughts was much stronger for individuals with high hopelessness and low resilience. Conclusions: These results highlight the aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic that are closely related to suicidal thoughts and behaviors and demonstrate the important role that hope for the future and resilience play in protecting individuals against the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. HIGHLIGHTSStressors caused by the pandemic are linked to increased suicidal thoughts. Hope protects individuals against the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Resilience also protects people from the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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