Search

BackgroundRecently, identifying the psychological mechanism of college students’ loneliness has attracted wide attention because the maladjustment caused by college students’ loneliness is increasingly common. This study explored the relationship and potential mechanism between college students’ neuroticism and loneliness in a large sample.MethodsA total of 4,600 college students completed the Big Five Personality Scale, Loneliness Scale, Self-efficacy Scale and Social Avoidance and Distress Scale.ResultsBy examining the chain mediating roles of self-efficacy, social avoidance and distress (SAD) in the relation between neuroticism and loneliness, the present study found that college students’ neuroticism was positively associated with loneliness via self-efficacy and SAD, respectively, and sequentially.ConclusionsThe results suggest a significant positive association between neuroticism and loneliness, which is influenced by the mediating effects of both self-efficacy and social avoidance and distress (SAD), as well as the chained mediating effects of self-efficacy and SAD.

BackgroundPrevious observational studies have shown an association between smoking and coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with diabetes. Whether this association reflects causality remains unestablished. This study aimed to explore the causal effect of smoking on CAD in patients with diabetes.MethodsGenetic signatures for smoking were extracted from a large genome-wide association study (GWAS), consisted of up to 1.2 million participants. Four smoking phenotypes were included: smoking initiation, cigarettes per day, age at initiation of regular smoking, and smoking cessation. Genetic associations with CAD in patients with diabetes were extracted from another GWAS, which included 15,666 participants (3,968 CAD cases and 11,696 controls). The analyses were performed using the univariable and multivariable Mendelian randomization (MR) method.ResultsMR analysis revealed that smoking initiation was positively related to CAD risk in patients with diabetes (OR = 1.322, 95% CI = 1.114 – 1.568, P = 0.001), but this association was attenuated when adjusted for cardiovascular risk factors (OR = 1.212, 95% CI = 1.008 – 1.457, P = 0.041). Age at initiation of regular smoking was negatively related to CAD in patients with diabetes (OR = 0.214, 95% CI = 0.070 – 0.656, P = 0.007), but this association became insignificant when adjusted for cardiovascular risk factors.ConclusionsThis study supported the effect of smoking initiation on the risk of CAD in patients with diabetes.