Characterization of Wellbeing and its Relationship with Exposure to Violence in Mexican and Chilean Early and Late Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The current COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has generated negative psychological effects on the global population. In this context, one of the most vulnerable groups is adolescents, who have faced a range of challenging scenarios. The consequences of this pandemic for the wellbeing of adolescents need to be researched across countries. From this perspective, this study aims to characterize the wellbeing of adolescents from Mexico and Chile during the pandemic and delve into the relationship between victimization and the hedonic and eudaimonic types of wellbeing. Data from adolescent students (n = 3,275) were used, with the support of the Global Research Alliance. Descriptive and regression analyses were conducted and their results indicated that: 1) Late adolescents scored lower on flourishing, and males scored higher than females. There was also a higher prevalence of languishing in late adolescents from both countries, as well as high levels of languishing in non-binary adolescents, especially in Chile; 2) There was a high prevalence of poly-victimization, with the highest percentage reported by females and the late adolescent group in both countries; 3) Non-victims had a higher probability of being in the flourishing group than victims in both countries; 4) Poly-victimization especially had an effect on the eudaimonic wellbeing of early adolescents and on the hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing of late adolescents in both countries. Implications related to the mental health policies for adolescence are discussed in terms of how to increase adolescent wellbeing.

Sibling Bullying, School Bullying, and Children’s Subjective Well-Being Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesia

“…In contrast, boys and older children were more likely to report being bullied than girls and younger children before COVID-19, except for sibling bullying. These results aligned with a study in Mexico and Chile that revealed girls experienced a higher prevalence of bullying victimisation during the COVID-19 pandemic (Bravo-Sanzana et al, 2022 ), although in contrast, late adolescents experienced a higher prevalence of bullying victimisation (Bravo-Sanzana et al, 2022 ). Results of the current study also aligned with a study in Canada that revealed girls were more likely to report being bullied during the COVID-19 and elementary school students reported higher bullying involvement than secondary school students (Vaillancourt et al, 2021 ).…”

“…COVID-19 has been an ongoing pandemic since then. It has not only affected the physical health of people worldwide but also affected mental health and well-being in adults (O’Connor et al, 2021 ) and children and adolescents (Borualogo & Casas, 2021a ; Bravo-Sanzana et al, 2022 ; Cowie & Myers, 2021 ; Ravens-Sieberer et al, 2021 ). Effects of the pandemic are experienced not only in high-income countries (Cowden et al, 2021 ; Kohls et al, 2021 ; Pancani et al, 2021 ; Pieh et al, 2021 ) but also in low- and middle-income countries (Kola et al, 2021 ; Wang et al, 2021 ).…”

Polyvictimization, polystrengths, and their contribution to subjective well-being and posttraumatic growth.

“…Subjective well-being has been variously conceptualized as an indication of an individual's satisfaction with their quality of life and degree of happiness (McGillivray & Clarke, 2006). Research has found that polyvictimization is negatively related to well-being (Bravo-Sanzana et al, 2022), which is further exacerbated in the context of more persistent and diverse victimization (Mitchell et al, 2020). More research on overcoming the effects of victimization needs to incorporate digital victimization in estimates of victimization dosage, which would broaden understanding of the cumulative burden of such polyvictimization.…”

Understanding and Measuring Child Well-being in the Region of Attica, Greece: Round Five

“…Studies on the negative impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the well-being of children have been conducted all over the world (Branquinho et al, 2022 ; Bravo-Sanzana et al, 2022 ; Chzhen et al, 2022 ; Gao et al, 2022 ; Gierczyk et al, 2022 ). However, the only diachronic study that researched the same in the region of Attica, Greece, have been conducted in the third round of an on-going research by Leriou et al ( 2022b ) as well as in the fourth round of the same aforesaid research by Leriou ( 2022 ).…”