Adolescent Feelings on COVID-19 Distance Learning Support: Associations With Mental Health, Social-Emotional Health, Substance Use, and Delinquency.

PURPOSE: School social support is associated with improved adolescent wellbeing. However, positive school relationships were potentially disrupted when schools transitioned to distance learning in 2020 to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. This study investigated associations among perceived distance learning school support, mental health, social-emotional wellbeing, substance use, and delinquency among low-income, public high school students. METHODS: We analyzed longitudinal survey data, collected between June 2020 and June 2021, from 372 students attending five large urban public high schools. Mixed-effects regression models examined associations among changes in distance learning support and changes in mental health, social-emotional wellbeing, substance use, and delinquency, controlling for time, social-demographics, and baseline health. RESULTS: In this predominantly Latinx (83%) sample, within-person increases in perceived distance learning support were associated with improved mental health, increased grit, increased self-efficacy, and decreased stress. Between-person differences in distance learning support indicated that students reporting greater support had improved mental and social-emotional outcomes. Although there were no within-person associations among distance learning support and hopelessness or delinquency, students with greater distance learning support (between-person) had lower levels of hopelessness and lower odds of engaging in any delinquent behavior. There were no associations between distance learning support and 30-day substance use. DISCUSSION: School social support, even without students physically on campus, may be critical to adolescent health behaviors and social-emotional outcomes.

Correction: Gender stigma awareness is associated with adolescent risky health behaviors.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251332.].

Gender stigma awareness is associated with adolescent risky health behaviors.

OBJECTIVES: Although racial stigma in school is associated with adolescent risky health behaviors, there are no studies investigating how gender stigma relates to adolescent risky health behaviors among low-income, minority youth. We sought to determine whether gender stigma awareness is associated with adolescent risky health behaviors (delinquency, fighting, and substance use) and whether this association is mediated by school disengagement (low perceived teacher support, low school engagement, cutting classes, and breaking school rules) among low-income, minority students. METHODS: We analyzed cross-sectional survey data, collected from 2017 to 2019, from 412 high school students. Multi-level logistic regressions tested whether gender stigma awareness was associated with delinquency, fighting, and substance use, controlling for covariates, baseline behaviors, and clustering within schools. Mediation analyses tested whether school disengagement (low school engagement, perceived teacher support, cutting class, and breaking school rules) mediated these associations. Secondary analyses explored whether associations differed for male versus female, high-performing versus low-performing, and Latinx versus non-Latinx students. RESULTS: In this predominantly Latinx (83%) sample, gender stigma awareness was associated with delinquency (AOR = 1.48, P< 0.001) and fighting (AOR = 1.15, P< 0.001). School engagement, perceived teacher support, breaking school rules, and cutting classes mediated 42.7% of the association between gender stigma awareness and delinquency and 65.42% of the association between gender stigma awareness and fighting. Gender stigma awareness was also associated with substance use for low-performing (AOR = 1.68, P = 0.003) and non-Latinx adolescents (AOR = 3.80, P = 0.03). School disengagement did not mediate the association between gender stigma awareness and substance use for non-Latinx students but mediated 50% of this association for low-performing students. CONCLUSIONS: Gender stigma awareness is associated with adolescent risky health behaviors. A decreased sense of acceptance in the school community and increased school misbehavior may mediate these associations. School environments that value and accept all students may better support adolescent health.