Autistic traits and gender modulate emotion changes before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show an enhanced response to stressors, and gender plays an important role in stress response. Thus, autistic traits (ATs) in the general population and gender may regulate the emotion changes before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the present study, participants were divided into higher and lower ATs groups. The generalized linear models were used to estimate the effects of the independent variables (e.g. the COVID-19 pandemic status (before, during), gender (male, female), and AT groups (higher ATs, lower ATs) and their interactions on emotions measured by the Positive and Negative Affect scales. The results showed that the COVID-19 pandemic reduced positive emotions and increased fear and anger. Furthermore, compared with the status before the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals with higher ATs and females experienced stronger anger and fear than individuals with lower ATs and males during the pandemic. The present study revealed the emotional impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and greater emotional susceptibility to the pandemic among individuals with higher ATs and females. Our findings provide prospective evidence for understanding the ASD/ATs-related enhanced response to pathogen threat-related stressors and have implications for COVID-19 crisis interventions.

Coping and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms among Chinese youth in the peak and remission periods of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed emergent vulnerability to adolescents' mental health. This longitudinal study investigated the association between coping at the peak of the COVID outbreak (T1) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms concurrently, and at the remission periods of COVID in China three months (T2) and six months (T3) later in a sample of 6th to 12th-grade students (N = 782). The results showed that forward-focus coping was negatively associated with PTSD symptoms across all three timepoints and predicted reduced risk for more PTSD symptoms at T2, and trauma-focus coping was positively associated with PTSD symptoms across all three timepoints and predicted higher risk of PTSD symptoms both at T2 and T3. There was an interaction effect of trauma-focus coping and T1 symptoms on later symptoms (T3) - trauma-focus coping was more detrimental for those who had more initial symptoms. The results showed the beneficial effects of future-oriented coping and harmful effects of trauma-focus coping for Chinese youth during the epidemic. Clinical implications of the results were discussed.

Parental psychosocial factors predicting adolescents' psychological adjustment during the surging and remission periods of COVID-19 in China: A longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND: Parents play a critical role in adolescents' psychological adjustment, especially in stress response. Few studies have investigated parental impact on adolescents' psychological adjustment in the pandemic. The longitudinal study examined how parental psychosocial factors at the surging period of the pandemic (T1) in China predicted adolescents' anxiety and depression concurrently and at the remission periods three (T2) and six months (T3) later. METHODS: Middle and high school students and their parents from three schools in Shanghai, China, completed online surveys on March 10, 2020 (T1), June 16, 2020 (T2), and Sep 25, 2020 (T3). Adolescents' anxiety/depression levels were assessed by matching self- and parent-reports at T1, T2, T3, and parents reported their psychological state (emotion and psychopathology), pandemic response (appraisal and coping), and perceived social support (PSS) at T1. RESULTS: Parental positive/negative emotions, anxiety, depression, control-appraisal, forward- and trauma-focus coping style and PSS were all significantly related to their children's anxiety/depression at T1. All factors, except coping style, predicted adolescents' anxiety/depression at T2 and T3, even after controlling for T1 adjustment levels. Parental positive emotion and depression had the strongest impact on adolescents' adjustment. LIMITATIONS: Some participants didn't complete the surveys at later time points, and the participants were only recruited in Shanghai. CONCLUSIONS: The study found that parents' psychosocial factors played a pivotal role on adolescents' psychological adjustment during COVID-19, highlighting the need to provide help to parents who were suffering from potential psychological distress.

Autistic traits and COVID-19-related post-traumatic stress disorder symptom: sex difference and the role of anxiety sensitivity

Background Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and high autistic traits (ATs) are at a higher risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following exposure to social traumatic events. However, the association between ATs and PTSD symptoms following exposure to pathogen threat-related traumatic situations, the role of sex differences in this association, and the mediating mechanism are yet unexplored. This study explored the effects of ATs, sex, and their interaction on COVID-19-related PTSD symptoms, as well as the possible mediating role of anxiety sensitivity (AS) between ATs and PTSD symptoms. Method In total, six hundred ninety-six valid participants (379 women) completed questionnaires assessing their ATs, COVID-19-related PTSD symptoms, and AS. Generalized linear model and mediation effects analyses were conducted. Results Our results showed higher levels of COVID-19-related PTSD symptoms in the high ATs group, especially in women with high AT, compared to the low ATs group. ATs also exerts a significant indirect effect on COVID-19-related PTSD symptom through AS. Conclusions The results indicate an increased vulnerability of individuals with high ATs (especially females) to COVID-19-related PTSD and the mediating mechanism of the co-occurrence of ATs-PTSD. These findings have implications for PTSD interventions for individuals with high ATs and ASD in the current COVID-19 pandemic.

The Prevalence of Psychological Status During the COVID-19 Epidemic in China: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis.

The COVID-19 is creating panic among people around the world and is causing a huge public mental health crisis. Large numbers of observational studies focused on the prevalence of psychological problems during the COVID-19 pandemic were published. It is essential to conduct a meta-analysis of the prevalence of different psychological statuses to insight the psychological reactions of general population during the COVID-19 epidemic in China. Sixty six observational studies about the psychological statuses of people during the COVID-19 were included, searching up to 1 December 2020. Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) was used to evaluate the quality of the included studies. OpenMeta[Analyst] was used for the data analysis. High prevalence of acute stress and fear symptoms were observed in the early period of the epidemic. Additionally, anxiety and depression symptoms continued at a high prevalence rate during the epidemic. It should alert the lasting mental health problems and the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental disorders. Systematic Review Registration: PROSPERO CRD 42020171485.

Prevalence and dynamic features of psychological issues among Chinese healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review and cumulative meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has placed tremendous pressure on healthcare workers who are at the frontline in the battle against it, causing various forms of psychological distress. AIMS: To outline the prevalence and dynamic changing features of medical workers' psychological issues and to review the related national policies during the COVID-19 pandemic in China. METHODS: We systematically searched for studies on the psychological states of Chinese medical staff from 1 January 2020 to 8 May 2020. The aggregate prevalence of each psychological issue was calculated and plotted to observe the changes over time. Policies on psychological support for medical staff during the pandemic were reviewed to explore their link to the prevalence of psychological problems. RESULTS: In total, 26 studies were included in this study. A total of 22 062 medical workers were surveyed from 31 January to 27 February 2020. Medical staff exhibited a substantial prevalence of anxiety symptoms, depression symptoms, stress-related symptoms and sleep problems during the survey period, with aggregate prevalence rates of 27.0%, 26.2%, 42.1% and 34.5%, respectively. Cumulative meta-analyses revealed that the prevalence of psychological distress peaked at the beginning of the pandemic and subsequently exhibited a slow downward trend. CONCLUSION: Chinese medical staff displayed significant psychological disturbance during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was especially severe at the early stage. Implementing supportive policies may help alleviate ongoing psychological problems in healthcare workers.

Functional Connectome Prediction of Anxiety Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: Increased anxiety in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been widely noted. The purpose of this study was to test whether the prepandemic functional connectome predicted individual anxiety induced by the pandemic. METHODS: Anxiety scores from healthy undergraduate students were collected during the severe and remission periods of the pandemic (first survey, February 22-28, 2020, N=589; second survey, April 24 to May 1, 2020, N=486). Brain imaging data and baseline (daily) anxiety ratings were acquired before the pandemic. The predictive performance of the functional connectome on individual anxiety was examined using machine learning and was validated in two external undergraduate student samples (N=149 and N=474). The clinical relevance of the findings was further explored by applying the connectome-based neuromarkers of pandemic-related anxiety to distinguish between individuals with specific mental disorders and matched healthy control subjects (generalized anxiety disorder, N=43; major depression, N=536; schizophrenia, N=72). RESULTS: Anxiety scores increased from the prepandemic baseline to the severe stage of the pandemic and remained high in the remission stage. The prepandemic functional connectome predicted pandemic-related anxiety and generalized to the external sample but showed poor performance for predicting daily anxiety. The connectome-based neuromarkers of pandemic-related anxiety further distinguished between participants with generalized anxiety and healthy control subjects but were not useful for diagnostic classification in major depression and schizophrenia. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate the feasibility of using the functional connectome to predict individual anxiety induced by major stressful events (e.g., the current global health crisis), which advances our understanding of the neurobiological basis of anxiety susceptibility and may have implications for developing targeted psychological and clinical interventions that promote the reduction of stress and anxiety.

Autistic traits and negative emotions in the general population during COVID-19: Mediating roles of the behavioural immune system and COVID-19 risk perception.

Identifying the susceptibility factors of the emotional response to COVID-19 is highly significant for the psychological epidemic-crisis intervention, and autistic-related traits (ATs) is likely to be one of the candidate factors. The current study explored the relationships between ATs, emotional response to COVID-19, and the behavioural immune system (BIS) measured by trait pathogen avoidance and COVID-19 risk perception in the general population. The results showed that ATs predicted increased negative emotions directly and indirectly by enhancing the activation tendency of BIS and COVID-19 risk perception. The findings provide a candidate hypothesis for the reaction characteristics to pathogen threats in individuals with ASD and expand the understanding of individual differences in response to COVID-19.