Research has linked specific COVID-19-related stressors to the mental health burden, yet most previous studies have examined only a limited number of stressors and have paid little attention to their clinical significance. This study tested the hypothesis that individuals who reported greater COVID-19-related stressors would be more likely to have elevated levels of anxiety, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and serious psychological distress. Methods: An online survey was administered to a convenience sample from 18 June to 19 July 2020, in US states that were most affected by COVID-19 infections and deaths at the time. Individuals who were 18 or older and residents of five Northeast US states were eligible to participate (N = 1079). In preregistered analyses, we used logistic regression models to test the associations of COVID-19 stressors with symptoms on the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), Impact of Event Scale-Revised, and K6, adjusting for sociodemographic covariates. Results: COVID-19-related stressors (i.e., essential worker status, worry about COVID-19 infection, knowing someone hospitalized by COVID-19, having children under 14 at home, loneliness, barriers to environmental rewards, food insecurity, loss of employment) were associated with meeting thresholds (i.e., positive screening) for anxiety, posttraumatic stress, and/or serious psychological distress. Loneliness and barriers to environmental rewards were associated with all mental health outcomes. Limitations: We used a non-probability sample and cannot assume temporal precedence of stressors with regard to development of mental health symptoms. Conclusions: These findings link specific stressors to the mental health burden of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The present study investigated the respective roles of withdrawal, language, and context-inappropriate (CI) anger in the development of emotion knowledge (EK) among a subsample of 4 and 5 year-old preschoolers (n = 74). Measures included parent-reported withdrawn behavior, externalizing behavior, and CI anger, as well as child assessments of receptive language and EK. Ultimately, findings demonstrated that receptive language mediated the relationship between withdrawn behavior and situational EK. However, CI anger significantly interacted with receptive language, and, when incorporated into a second-stage moderated mediation analysis, moderate levels of CI anger rendered the indirect effect of withdrawn behavior on situational EK via receptive language insignificant. Cumulatively, these findings demonstrate a mechanism by which withdrawal may impact EK. They also indicate that such an effect may be attenuated in children with moderate levels of CI anger. Implications of these findings are discussed.