ABSTRACT
Theoretical background: From spring 2020 to the present day, the COVID-19 pandemic led to widespread limitations in daily life, including school closures, as well as to negative effects on the mental health of adolescents in the German-speaking countries. Objective: This study examined the associations between family support, psychological distress, and concern for others' health as aspects of solidarity among adolescents in Austria and Switzerland. We expected positive associations between family support and adolescents' reported concern for others' health and negative associations between family support and psychological distress. We further explored whether the two national samples differed in these aspects. Method: Adolescents (N = 458) aged 14 to 18 years from Austria (n = 158) and Switzerland (n = 300) completed an online survey in April and May 2020 on the three constructs "Concern for other's health," "Psychological distress," and "Family support." We conducted the statistical analyses using structural equation modeling. Results: We found measurement invariance between the two samples regarding all assessed constructs. As hypothesized, in both countries family support was positively related to concern for others' health and negatively related to psychological distress. Swiss adolescents reported higher concern for others' health and lower psychological distress than the Austrian sample. Discussion and Conclusion: The results feed into the theory of family resilience, suggesting that family support plays a crucial role in adolescents' well-being during a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. Family support may also be related to adolescents' solidarity. However, the variance explained in our study was small indicating that other protective factors should be considered as well. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) Abstract (German) Theoretischer Hintergrund: Die Familie stellt in Krisen einen zentralen Schutzfaktor fur Jugendliche dar. Fragestellung: Diese Studie untersuchte die Zusammenhange zwischen familiarer Unterstutzung, der Sorge um die Gesundheit anderer und der psychischen Belastung von Jugendlichen. Methode: Daten einer Online-Studie zum Ende des 1. Lockdowns 2020 in Osterreich und der Schweiz wurden mittels eines Strukturgleichungsmodells analysiert. Ergebnisse: Familiare Unterstutzung hing positiv mit der Sorge um die Gesundheit anderer und negativ mit psychischer Belastung zusammen. Die Schweizer Jugendlichen berichteten hohere Sorge um die Gesundheit anderer sowie eine geringere psychische Belastung. Diskussion und Schlussfolgerung: Die familiare Unterstutzung spielt eine wichtige Rolle im Befinden und Erleben von Jugendlichen wahrend der Pandemie. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
(German) Theoretischer Hintergrund: Die Familie stellt in Krisen einen zentralen Schutzfaktor fur Jugendliche dar. Fragestellung: Diese Studie untersuchte die Zusammenhange zwischen familiarer Unterstutzung, der Sorge um die Gesundheit anderer und der psychischen Belastung von Jugendlichen. Methode: Daten einer Online-Studie zum Ende des 1. Lockdowns 2020 in Osterreich und der Schweiz wurden mittels eines Strukturgleichungsmodells analysiert. Ergebnisse: Familiare Unterstutzung hing positiv mit der Sorge um die Gesundheit anderer und negativ mit psychischer Belastung zusammen. Die Schweizer Jugendlichen berichteten hohere Sorge um die Gesundheit anderer sowie eine geringere psychische Belastung. Diskussion und Schlussfolgerung: Die familiare Unterstutzung spielt eine wichtige Rolle im Befinden und Erleben von Jugendlichen wahrend der Pandemie. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
This study investigated whether school closures and health-related uncertainties in the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic posed risk factors for adolescents' mental health and whether perceived social support by parents, teachers, and friends functioned as protective factors. In particular, we argued that perceived social support would buffer negative associations between educational and health concerns and mental health. Based on a person-centered approach, we first examined resilience profiles. These profiles reflect configurations regarding the levels of these risk and protective factors and levels of mental health. Second, we analyzed whether these risk and protective factors predicted adolescents' mental health differently by using a variable-centered approach. The sample consisted of 1'562 adolescents (Mage = 16.18, SD = 1.48, range = 14-20 years; 72% females) in lower and higher secondary education from three regions: German-speaking part of Switzerland, N = 486; Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, N = 760; and Northern Italy N = 316. Results from the person-centered approach revealed three latent profiles characterized by low (19%), average (47%), or high resilience (34%). Lower resilience was associated with higher educational concerns, lower perceived social support, and lower mental health, while high resilience was characterized by lower concerns, higher support, and higher mental health. Importantly, educational concerns varied more between profiles than health concerns, and perceived teacher and family support varied more than perceived friend support. Corroborating these findings, the variable-centered approach (i.e., a path analysis) revealed that educational concerns were a stronger predictor than health concerns and pointed to a higher relative importance of perceived family support for adolescents' mental health relative to perceived teacher and friend support. Taken together, the findings suggest that adolescents' educational concerns and perceived family support, respectively, were stronger risk and protective factors for their mental health during school closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, adolescents from regions being more exposed to the COVID-19 pandemic, namely, Italian-speaking part of Switzerland and Northern Italy, were more likely classified in the low or the average rather than in the high resilience profile compared to students from the region with lower exposure, that is, the German-speaking part of Switzerland.
ABSTRACT
This study explored characteristics of young adults' solidarity during the Covid-19 pandemic by identifying three different profiles, characterized by low (23%), average (54%), and high solidarity (23%). Based on longitudinal Swiss panel data (NT1 = 797, Mage T1 = 12.15 years, 51% female; 28% migration background representing diverse ethnicities; NT2 = 707, Mage T2 = 15.33 years; NT3 = 596, Mage T3 = 18.31 years), the study combined person- and variable-centered approaches to examine whether sympathy, social trust, and peer exclusion at earlier phases in development predicted membership in pandemic-related solidarity profiles (NT4 = 300, Mage T4 = 20.33 years). All developmental predictors were significantly associated with the likelihood of expressing solidarity during the pandemic as young adults.