The psychometric characteristics of the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6) in help-seeking youth: What do you miss when using it as an outcome measure?

Cotton, Sue; Menssink, Jana M.; Filia, Kate; Rickwood, Debra; Hickie, Ian B.; Hamilton, Matthew; Hetrick, Sarah; Parker, Alexandra; Herrman, Helen; McGorry, Patrick D.; Gao, Caroline X.

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2021.114182

Cited by 29 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Being female was associated with higher levels of psychological distress in this sample population and this was in agreement with past studies [30][31][32]. Studies have attributed this association to either a sexbased bias in K6 responses or a sex-based difference potentially attributable to gender roles and social in uences [33]. Age greater than 20 years, completing or having completed a graduate level course and not living alone were also signi cant in the binomial regression.…”

Section: Principal Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Does social media usage ameliorate loneliness in rural youth? A cross sectional survey

GREGORY¹,

DUTTON²,

OSUAGWU³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Aim: To investigate the relationship between social media use and loneliness and psychological wellbeing of youths in rural NSW Design: This was a web-based cross-sectional survey Methods: Survey consisted of 33 items including demography (12 items), participants’ social media use (9 items), mood and anxiety (6 items), perceived loneliness (6 items), the impact of COVID-19 on social media usage or perceived loneliness(2 items). The participants’ mood and anxiety were evaluated using the K6, while loneliness was measured using the De Jong Gierveld 6-item scale. Total loneliness and psychological distress scores were compared between demographic variables. Results: A total of 47 participants aged 16-24 years took part in the study. The majority were women (68%) and 68% had K6 score that was indicative of psychological distress. About 50% of the participants indicated that FB was their most used social media platform and 2 in 5 participants were on social media within 10 minutes of waking up each day, a little over 30% spent more than 20 hrs per week on social media, and 76.6% sent private messages, images, or videos, multiple times a day. The mean loneliness score was 2.89 (range, 0 to 6), with 0 being ‘not lonely’ and 6 being ‘intense social loneliness’. One-way ANOVA and χ2 analysis results showed that those who reported that FB was their most frequently used social media platform had significantly higher mean scores for loneliness compared to those that used other social media platforms (p=0.015). Regression analysis revealed that those who commonly used FB were more likely to report higher loneliness scores (Coefficient = –1.45, 95%CI –2.63, –0.28, p=0.017), while gender (p=0.039), age (p=0.048), household composition (p=0.023), and education level (p=0.014) were associated with severe psychological distress. Conclusions: The study found that social media usage, as measured by time used and active or passive engagement with the medium, is for the most part not significantly linked to loneliness or psychological distress. There was a significant association between loneliness and FB usage, and psychological distress and social media use within ten minutes of waking. However, loneliness or psychological distress were not associated with rurality in youths.

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Section: Principal Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Does social media usage ameliorate loneliness in rural youth? A cross sectional survey

GREGORY¹,

DUTTON²,

OSUAGWU³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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show abstract

“…For this reason, extreme scores on the Kessler-10 are a valid proxy for population prevalence estimates for serious mental illness 24 . Second, recent evidence suggests that Kessler Psychological Distress Scales may have poor sensitivity to change when employed as a continuous outcome measure, and therefore may have limited utility in detecting subtle differences in psychological distress 25 . For both of these reasons, and given the need to better understand the potential for harm associated with loot box purchasing 19 , we evaluated whether our data showed any evidence for serious mental distress for individuals who had purchased loot boxes based on a categorical assessment of whether reported distress level met thresholds to be considered clinically meaningful.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surprisingly high prevalence rates of severe psychological distress among consumers who purchase loot boxes in video games

Drummond

Hall

Sauer

2022

Sci Rep

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Loot boxes are randomised rewards available in some video games, often purchasable for real-world money. Loot boxes have been likened to conventional forms of gambling and may satisfy legal requirements to be considered bona fide gambling in some jurisdictions. Research has consistently shown that people with problem gambling symptoms report spending more on these mechanisms than people without such symptoms. However, a significant gap in our current understanding is whether engaging with these mechanisms is associated with harm. Here we examine the prevalence rates of severe psychological distress among purchasers of loot boxes relative to non-purchasers. A reanalysis of two cross-sectional surveys collected online via online collection platforms. Participants were 2432 Aotearoa New Zealand, Australian, and United States residents recruited through online survey. Our results show that purchasers of loot boxes are at approximately 1.87 times higher risk of severe psychological distress on a standardised clinical screening tool than people who do not purchase loot boxes. These relative risk rates are not due to gender, age, spending on other video game related purchases, or problem gambling symptoms. Individuals who purchased loot boxes appeared to also have higher risk of severe psychological distress irrespective of demographic characteristics or problem gambling status. Loot boxes appear to be associated with significantly higher risk of experiencing psychological harm even for players without problem gambling symptoms.

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“…K6 has good psychometric properties, according to a recent study. The cut-off usually chosen is 13 to discriminate between the presence or absence of serious mental illness ( Cotton et al, 2021 ). Few studies also used 3 categories: <8 no problem, 8–12 moderate distress and ≥13 high distress ( Furukawa et al, 2003 ; Institut national de and santé publique du Québec, n.d. ; Kessler et al, 2010 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 pandemic's impact on French Health Students: A cross-sectional study during the third wave

Frajerman

Rolland

Falissard

et al. 2022

Journal of Affective Disorders

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The psychometric characteristics of the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6) in help-seeking youth: What do you miss when using it as an outcome measure?

Cited by 29 publications

References 37 publications

Does social media usage ameliorate loneliness in rural youth? A cross sectional survey

Does social media usage ameliorate loneliness in rural youth? A cross sectional survey

Surprisingly high prevalence rates of severe psychological distress among consumers who purchase loot boxes in video games

COVID-19 pandemic's impact on French Health Students: A cross-sectional study during the third wave

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