Intolerance of Uncertainty and Health-Related Anxiety in Youth amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Understanding and Weathering the Continuing Storm.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a public health crisis that continues to impact individuals worldwide. While children may be less susceptible to severe medical complications, they are nonetheless vulnerable to stress and anxiety associated with the pandemic. However, current understanding of psychological functioning and potential strategies to mitigate distress amid a pandemic is naturally limited. Consequently, this article is an attempt to fill that gap. Existing literature on pandemics, health-related anxieties, intolerance of uncertainty, and psychopathological sequelae is summarized within the context of the COVID-19 outbreak. Conclusions from the empirical data and emerging theoretical models are reviewed and synthesized. Finally, several potentially engaging and effective examples of developmentally appropriate interventions targeting intolerance of uncertainty and health-related anxieties in pediatric patients during the peri- and post-pandemic periods are described.

Acute stress, depression, and anxiety symptoms among English and Spanish speaking children with recent trauma exposure.

A growing literature suggests the clinical importance of acute stress disorder symptoms in youth following potentially traumatic events. A multisite sample of English and Spanish speaking children and adolescents (N = 479) between the ages of 8-17, along with their caregivers completed interviews and self-report questionnaires between 2 days and 1 month following the event. The results indicate that children with greater total acute stress symptoms reported greater depressive (r = .41, p < .01) and anxiety symptoms (r = .53, p < .01). Examining specific acute stress subscales, reexperiencing was correlated with anxiety (r = .47, p < .01) and arousal was correlated with depression (r = .50, p < .01) and anxiety (r = .55, p < .01). Age was inversely associated with total acute stress symptoms (r = -.24, p < .01), reexperiencing (r = -.17, p < .01), avoidance (r = -.27, p < .01), and arousal (r = -.19, p < .01) and gender was related to total anxiety symptoms (Spearman's ρ = .17, p < .01). The current study supports the importance of screening acute stress symptoms and other mental health outcomes following a potentially traumatic event in children and adolescents. Early screening may enable clinicians to identify and acutely intervene to support children's psychological and physical recovery.

"Impulsivity": relations between self-report and behavior.

The trait of "impulsivity" is difficult to place within a personality framework due to the many potential pathways to impulsive behavior and the lack of consensus regarding the structure of the trait(s). This lack of consensus also hinders systematic investigation into relations between "impulsivity" and its behavioral manifestations. Undergraduates (Sample 1 N = 507) completed a battery of self-report measures, all purporting to assess trait "impulsivity"; a subset (n = 408) and Sample 2 (N = 388) also completed a retrospective questionnaire about specific behaviors they may have engaged in over the past year, and another subset of Sample 1 agreed to complete (n = 208) and actually completed (n = 152) a 2-week prospective measure of impulsive behaviors. Finally, a subset of Sample 1 (n = 321) and Sample 2 completed an omnibus self-report inventory in a follow-up study. Structural equation modeling confirmed a 3-factor structure of what we call impulsigenic traits-traits that are manifested in impulsive behavior. This finding is consistent with previous research and supports the growing consensus that "impulsivity" is a colloquial label attached to a group of distinct traits that have phenotypically similar behavioral manifestations. Each of these impulsigenic traits relates differentially to impulsive behavior and to broad temperamental dimensions. The results also show clear 2-factor structures of both daily and less frequent (yearly/semiyearly) impulsive behaviors. Finally, a unique method of data collection permitted an investigation of relations between the impulsigenic and other personality traits and observed behaviors, demonstrating the predictive utility of personality traits to discrete, in situ behaviors.

Relationships between discretionary time activities, emotional experiences, delinquency and depressive symptoms among urban African American adolescents.

Using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM), this cross-sectional study examined mediated and moderated associations between different types of discretionary time activities and depressive symptoms and delinquency among a sample of 246 (107 boys, 139 girls) fifth through eighth grade urban African American adolescents. More time spent in passive unstructured activities was associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms only for adolescents residing in less dangerous neighborhoods, whereas more time spent in active unstructured activities was associated with higher levels of delinquency only if adolescents resided in more dangerous neighborhoods. Alienation was positively associated with depressive symptoms and delinquency, but neither alienation nor positive affect mediated the relationship between activities and adjustment. These findings suggest the importance of considering neighborhood environment issues when determining what types of discretionary time activities are most beneficial for urban African American young adolescents.