Maternal Anxiety Symptoms and Chinese Adolescents' Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Protective Role of Adolescents' Self-Compassion

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak triggered dramatic changes to family life. Parents, especially mothers, were found to experience more psychological distress during the pandemic, which may have had an impact on their children's mental health. The primary goal of this study was to examine the potential protective role of adolescents' self-compassion in the relationship between maternal anxiety and adolescents' mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants included 5,720 adolescents (48.9% girls; Mage = 11.60, SDage = 1.36) and their mothers from Zhengzhou city, Henan province, in Mainland China. Adolescents reported their level of self-compassion, PTSD symptoms, and negative affect during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mothers reported their own anxiety symptoms and their children's depression and anxiety symptoms. Results indicated that older female adolescents reported higher levels of PTSD symptoms and negative affect and lower levels of self-compassion than their counterparts. Maternal anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic was consistently positively associated with adolescents' psychological maladjustment. These associations were buffered by adolescents' self-compassion. Specifically, adolescents with higher levels of self-compassion were found to be less psychologically affected by their mothers' anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings highlighted the possibility of improving adolescents' mental health through fostering their self-compassion during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Government crisis communication innovation and its psychological intervention coupling: Based on an analysis of China’s provincial COVID-19 outbreak updates

“…Some investigated the impact of an online intervention program on anxiety and depression levels, as well as physical symptoms, in frontline nurses fighting the COVID-19 pandemic to provide an empirical basis for crisis psychological interventions for frontline medical staff ( He et al, 2022 ). Some found that parents, especially mothers, experienced more psychological stress during the outbreak, which may have had an impact on their children’s mental health, while adolescents with higher levels of self-compassion were less psychologically affected by their mothers’ anxiety ( Zhou et al, 2022 ).…”

Parental psychosocial factors predicting adolescents' psychological adjustment during the surging and remission periods of COVID-19 in China: A longitudinal study

“…Similarly, studies conducted during the surging period of COVID-19 in Italy showed that parental active coping was positively associated with young children's adaptive behaviors ( Petrocchi et al, 2020 ), and poorer quality of parent-child relationship was associated with higher levels of psychopathological symptoms among adolescents ( Cimino and Cerniglia, 2021 ). A recent study from China provided comparable results that adolescents' negative affect, PTSD symptoms, anxiety, and depression during the initial outbreak of the pandemic were related to maternal anxiety ( Zhou et al, 2022 ).…”

The relationship between self-compassion, coping style, sleep quality, and depression among college students

“…According to cognitive theory, a lack of self-compassion may lead to negative emotions and self-denial, further affecting the development of depression ( Beck, 1964 ). Self-kindness and mindfulness are important components of self-compassion, and they can help individuals remain caring and accepting of themselves, which can alleviate depression ( Kuyken et al, 2010 ; Joeng et al, 2017 ; Kurebayashi, 2020 ; Zhou et al, 2022 ). In conclusion, studies have shown significant correlations between self-compassion and sleep quality.…”