Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Depression in Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Mediating Roles of Feelings of Safety and Rumination.

The study aimed to examine the mechanism underlying the effect of basic psychological needs satisfaction (BPNs) on depression via feelings of safety or rumination in adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Self-report questionnaires were distributed to 683 middle school students from Hubei province in China. Structural Equation Modelling was used to analyse the data. The results showed that basic psychological needs satisfaction exerted negative effects on adolescents' depression in both a direct and an indirect way. In specific, basic psychological needs satisfaction not only directly reduced depression, but also indirectly reduced depression by the mediating role of feelings of safety, but not by rumination. Moreover, autonomy and relatedness, but not competence need satisfaction, indirectly reduced depression by the multiple mediating path from feelings of safety to rumination. The findings indicate satisfaction of basic psychological needs is important in increasing adolescents' feelings of safety, reducing negative cognitions, and alleviating their depression level during the pandemic.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Mobile Phone Dependence, and Academic Boredom in Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has threatened adolescents' mental health and even elicited their academic problems. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the most common negative psychological reactions, and academic boredom is a typical academic problem to the pandemic. PTSD might be related to academic boredom, but the underlying mechanism of this potential relation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic remains unclear. Aims: Under the framework of the job demands-resources model and the model of compensatory internet use, this study aims to examine the mediating role of mobile phone dependency in the relation between PTSD and academic boredom. Methods: Six hundred and thirty-one middle school students in Hubei Province were investigated using self-report questionnaires. SPSS19.0 and Mplus7.0 were used for data analysis. Results: PTSD symptoms were associated positively with academic boredom, and mobile phone dependence played a mediating role in the relation between PTSD and academic boredom. Specifically, adolescents with severe PTSD symptoms tended to report greater dependency on mobile phones, and hence show higher levels of boredom in learning. Conclusion: PTSD symptoms of adolescents directly aggravated their academic boredom, and indirectly affected academic boredom by increasing their dependence on mobile phones.