Risk for youth anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic: The interactive impact of financial stress and prepandemic electrocortical reactivity to negative self-referential stimuli.

Despite evidence that stress exposure increases risk for internalizing symptoms in youth, it remains unclear which youth are most vulnerable. This study examined whether youth's prepandemic late positive potential (LPP), an electrocortical marker of sustained attention to affective stimuli, exacerbated the impact of stress on prospective increases in depression and anxiety symptoms from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were 29 youth (ages 9-16, 82.8% girls) who completed depression and anxiety symptom measures and an affective words task to assess LPP to positive and negative self-referential stimuli prepandemic onset. Postpandemic onset, approximately 16.03 months (SD = 8.86) after their baseline assessments, youth again completed symptom measures as well as the UCLA Life Stress Interview to assess ongoing social and financial chronic stress. Results indicated a significant interaction between youth LPP to negative words and financial stress. Greater exposure to financial stress during the pandemic predicted greater anxiety symptom increases specifically for youth who demonstrated enhanced prepandemic LPP to negative words. Results were specific to the prediction of anxiety, but not depression, symptoms. If replicated in larger studies, findings highlight enhanced LPP to negative stimuli as a promising target for intervention for youth exposed to greater financial stress.

The effects of rumination on internalising symptoms in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic among mothers and their offspring: a brief report.

As a result of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, anxiety and depressive symptoms have risen among children and adults. However, it remains unclear why the effects of the pandemic are so salient for certain individuals. This study examined rumination, a well-established risk factor for internalising disorders, as a predictor of prospective increases in anxiety and depression symptoms in mothers and their offspring. Change in rumination during the pandemic was also examined as a predictor of symptom transmission at the dyadic level. Fifty-three biological mother-child dyads were recruited from two longitudinal studies that had completed their respective baselines prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mothers and youth (ages 9-15 years, 77.4% female) completed measures of depression and anxiety symptoms and rumination before and during the pandemic. Results revealed baseline rumination was positively associated with internalising symptom changes for mothers, but not youth. Moreover, pre-to-peri pandemic changes in rumination were associated with prospective increases in mother and youth internalising symptoms. Finally, results revealed a significant correlation for pre-to-peri pandemic depressive symptom change among mothers and youth; however, rumination did not mediate this association. Findings highlight changes in rumination as a potential mechanism for internalising symptom risk during the COVID-19 pandemic across development.

The interplay of stress and electrocortical reactivity to reward in the prospective prediction of depression symptoms during COVID-19.

Rates of depression have increased during the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, potentially due to associated stress exposure. However, it remains unclear which individuals are most susceptible. Electrocortical markers of reward processing, such as the reward positivity (RewP), are implicated in depression risk and may provide insights into who is most vulnerable to stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. The current study examined whether pre-pandemic neural correlates of reward reactivity (i.e., RewP) moderated the impact of social and financial stress on changes in youth and mother depression symptoms pre-to-post pandemic onset. Youth (n = 45) and mothers (n = 45) in the current sample were recruited prior to the COVID-19 pandemic as part of a larger study. RewP was assessed pre-pandemic, and depression symptoms were assessed pre- and post-pandemic onset for both youth and mothers. Additionally, social and financial chronic stress severity was assessed post-pandemic onset using a modified version of the UCLA Life Stress Interview. Financial stress was associated with prospective increases in depression for youth exhibiting blunted RewP at baseline. Similarly, family stress was associated with prospective increases in depression symptoms for mothers exhibiting blunted RewP at baseline. Findings suggest reduced reward responsiveness at the neural level may predispose both youth and mothers to future depression symptoms when exposed to higher levels of stress in the context of a pandemic.