Pre-COVID-19 predictors of low-income women's COVID-19 appraisal, coping, and changes in mental health during the pandemic.

Study examined predictors and mental health consequences of appraisal (threat, support satisfaction) and coping (active, avoidant) in a sample of low-income women during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Pre-COVID-19 contextual risk and individual resources and COVID-19-specific risk factors were examined as predictors of COVID-19 appraisal and coping, which, in turn, were tested as predictors of changes in depression and anxiety across the pandemic. Pre-COVID-19 resilience predicted more active coping, whereas pre-COVID-19 anxiety and depression predicted more avoidant coping and lower support satisfaction, respectively. Increases in anxiety were predicted by lower pre-COVID-19 self-compassion and higher concurrent threat appraisal and avoidant coping. Increases in depression were related to lower pre-COVID-19 self-compassion, active coping and support satisfaction, and higher COVID-19 hardships and health risk. Findings highlight contextual and individual factors and processes that contribute to mental health problems in a vulnerable population during community-level stressors, with implications for prevention and intervention.

Mental-Health Trajectories of U.S. Parents With Young Children During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Universal Introduction of Risk.

Parents of young children were a subgroup of the population identified early in the pandemic as experiencing significant mental-health symptoms. Using a longitudinal sample of 3,085 parents from across the United States who had a child or children age 0 to 5, in the present study, we identified parental mental-health trajectories from April to November 2020 predicted by pre-COVID-19 cumulative risk and COVID-19-specific risk factors. Both growth-mixture modeling and latent-growth-curve modeling were used to test the relationship between risk factors and parent mental health. Pre-COVID-19 cumulative risk and COVID-19-specific risks of financial strain, decreased employment, and increased family conflict were salient risk factors predicting poor mental-health trajectories across both modeling approaches. These finding have public-health implications because prolonged exposure to mental-health symptoms in parents constitutes a risk factor for child development.

Promoting youth mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal study

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced novel stressors into the lives of youth. Identifying factors that protect against the onset of psychopathology in the face of these stressors is critical. We examine a wide range of factors that may protect youth from developing psychopathology during the pandemic. We assessed pandemic-related stressors, internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, and potential protective factors by combining two longitudinal samples of children and adolescents (N = 224, 7-10 and 13-15 years) assessed prior to the pandemic, during the stay-at-home orders, and six months later. We evaluated how family behaviors during the stay-at-home orders were related to changes in psychopathology during the pandemic, identified factors that moderate the association of pandemic-related stressors with psychopathology, and determined whether associations varied by age. Internalizing and externalizing psychopathology increased substantially during the pandemic. Higher exposure to pandemic-related stressors was associated with increases in internalizing and externalizing symptoms early in the pandemic and six months later. Having a structured routine, less passive screen time, lower exposure to news media about the pandemic, and to a lesser extent more time in nature and getting adequate sleep were associated with reduced psychopathology. The association between pandemic-related stressors and psychopathology was reduced for youths with limited passive screen time and was absent for children, but not adolescents, with lower news media consumption related to the pandemic. We provide insight into simple, practical steps families can take to promote resilience against mental health problems in youth during the COVID-19 pandemic and protect against psychopathology following pandemic-related stressors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Maternal mental health mediates the effects of pandemic-related stressors on adolescent psychopathology during COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: This study examined whether COVID-19-related maternal mental health changes contributed to changes in adolescent psychopathology. METHODS: A community sample of 226 adolescents (12 years old before COVID-19) and their mothers were asked to complete COVID-19 surveys early in the pandemic (April-May 2020, adolescents 14 years) and approximately 6 months later (November 2020-January 2021). Surveys assessed pandemic-related stressors (health, financial, social, school, environment) and mental health. RESULTS: Lower pre-pandemic family income-to-needs ratio was associated with higher pre-pandemic maternal mental health symptoms (anxiety, depression) and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems, and with experiencing more pandemic-related stressors. Pandemic-related stressors predicted increases in maternal mental health symptoms, but not adolescent symptoms when other variables were covaried. Higher maternal mental health symptoms predicted concurrent increases in adolescent internalizing and externalizing. Maternal mental health mediated the effects of pre-pandemic income and pandemic-related stressors on adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that adolescent mental health is closely tied to maternal mental health during community-level stressors such as COVID-19, and that pre-existing family economic context and adolescent symptoms increase risk for elevations in symptoms of psychopathology.

Maternal Mental Health and Child Adjustment Problems in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Families Experiencing Economic Disadvantage.

Parents living in low-income contexts shouldered disproportionate hardships during the COVID-19 pandemic with consequences to maternal mental health and child adjustment. The current study uses a sample of first-time mothers (N = 147) of young toddlers, all living in low-income contexts, to examine the roles of pre-pandemic and COVID-19-specific risk and individual resilience factors in the prediction of changes to maternal mental health coinciding with the onset of the pandemic. Maternal mental health symptoms, in turn, were examined as predictors of child adjustment problems across 6 months of the pandemic and as a potential mechanism conferring pandemic risks to children. While pre-pandemic cumulative contextual risk (i.e., low income, single parent status, adolescent parent status, financial instability) did not predict changes in maternal mental health from prior to during the pandemic, COVID-19-specific health risks predicted changes in maternal mental health from before the pandemic, as well as across 6 months of the pandemic. Regarding individual resilience factors to changes in maternal mental health, pre-pandemic self-compassion predicted better maternal mental health during the pandemic, as did COVID-19-specific appraisal and coping strategies. In turn, maternal mental health predicted children's early pandemic levels of adjustment problems and changes in adjustment problems across 6 months of the pandemic, with maternal mental health serving an indirect pathway of COVID-19-specific health risks to children's adjustment. The findings highlight pathways of risk and resilience during a global health crisis and point to targets for interventions in community level crises to promote maternal and child mental health.