COVID anxiety and its predictors among Slovak adolescents

Abstract

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic and its related restrictions, mainly social distancing, had an impact on the mental health of various groups, including adolescents.MethodsThe main goal of our study was to explore the impact of gender, age, resilience (measured using the Brief Resilience Scale), attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance (both measured using the Experiences in Close Relationships Revised Scale for adolescents), and mental and general health (measured using items of SF-8 Health Survey) on COVID anxiety (measured using the COVID Anxiety Scale) among a sample of Slovak adolescents (N = 1,786, age 15 to 19, mean age = 16.8, SD = 1.2). The data were collected online between 13 April and 24 May 2021.ResultsFour nested linear regression models were fitted to the data and evaluated. The significant predictors that had a greater effect than our smallest effect size of interest (β = 0.10) were gender (β = −0.26, p < 0.001, where boys had lower scores in COVID anxiety), general and mental health (β = −0.13 and β = −0.14, respectively, both with p < 0.001), resilience (β = −0.12, p < 0.001), and attachment avoidance (β = −0.11, p < 0.001). Similarly, age and attachment anxiety were significant predictors with a lower effect size (β = 0.06, p = 0.003, and β = 0.09, p < 0.001, respectively).DiscussionOur results are in line with previous research findings highlighting the importance of prevention and interventions programs focused mainly on preventing loneliness and social disconnection, fostering secure attachment with parents and peers, and increasing the resilience of adolescents, especially in the stressful time of a pandemic, to promote their mental health.

Trajectory of severe COVID anxiety and predictors for recovery in an 18-month cohort

“…Previous studies have identified a host of factors which appear associated with the severity of COVID fear during the pandemic including older age, non-White ethnicity, personality traits, female gender, general level of both physical and mental health. (16,18,34,35,36) Our study builds on this by suggesting that increasing age and being from an at-risk ethnic background also appear to prolong the severity of COVID anxiety, but that other factors which contribute to individuals' COVID-19 risk profile, including having an at-risk health condition and vaccination status, do not appear to affect the trajectory of severe COVID anxiety.…”

Initial Psychological Reactions to COVID-19 of Middle Adolescents in Portugal

“…In the specific case of anxiety, where gender was no longer a significant predictor, it is possible that the levels displayed by the adolescents were directly associated with pandemic COVID-19 (a COVID-19-related anxiety), which would explain why only the number of symptoms in the past few days and the self-reported health status would predict anxiety, and why gender would not. Despite this, some studies have reported higher levels of COVID-19-related anxiety in girls [59,60], and this merit further investigation in the future.…”