Pre-Pandemic Peer Relations Predict Adolescents’ Internalizing Response to Covid-19

Abstract

The goal of the current longitudinal study was to investigate the role of adolescents’ peer victimization and aggression prior to COVID-19 on the change in their depressive and anxious symptoms from pre- to mid-pandemic. We hypothesized that, although adolescents overall would display an increase in internalizing symptoms from pre- to mid-pandemic, this response would be weakened or perhaps even reversed when adolescents experienced high levels of victimization or aggression prior to the pandemic. Participants included 96 racially/ethnically diverse adolescents (42 males, 53 females; 1 other) with an average age of 16.79 years ( SD = 0.60). At Time 1 (T1; June 2019 through February 2020; pre-pandemic), adolescents completed self-report measures of their peer relations (aggression, victimization) and internalizing symptoms (depressive, anxious). At Time 2 (T2; May through July 2020; mid-pandemic), adolescents completed self-report measures of their internalizing symptoms (depressive, anxious). On average, adolescents’ anxious and depressive symptoms increased from T1 to T2, although they exhibited substantial variability, with reports ranging from decreasing symptoms to increasing symptoms. Although on average adolescents reported increases in anxious symptoms from T1 to T2, adolescents with higher T1 peer victimization reported less positive change in anxious symptoms. Similarly, although on average adolescents reported increases in depressive symptoms from T1 to T2, adolescents with higher levels of T1 aggression reported less positive change in depressive symptoms from T1 to T2. Discussion focused on restrictions on in-person peer interactions necessitated by COVID-19 that may reduce adolescents’ distress when their pre-pandemic daily lives were characterized by negative peer relations.

The role of late adolescents' emotion regulation in the experience of COVID‐19 lockdown: A longitudinal study

“…Moreover, adolescents' anxiety states on average increased from T1 to T2. This finding is consistent with recent studies in which adolescents reported more anxious symptoms in response to COVID-19 and that anxiety states tended to worsen during lockdown (e.g., Mlawer et al, 2022). For many late adolescents, the social restrictions accompanying COVID-19 likely have been partially…”

Annual Research Review: The impact of Covid‐19 on psychopathology in children and young people worldwide: systematic review of studies with pre‐ and within‐pandemic data

“…The individual findings from this group of studies were mixed. Four studies, from Australia, Israel, the United States and the Netherlands reported overall increases from prepandemic to within‐pandemic (Luijten et al., 2021 ; Magson et al., 2021 ; Mlawer, Moore, Hubbard, & Meehan, 2022 ; Shoshani & Kor, 2022 ). These studies collected follow‐up data under conditions of high restriction stringency and included adolescents.…”

“…Nine studies that were not included in the meta‐analysis reported increases in symptoms of depression from prepandemic to during the pandemic (Bignardi et al., 2020 ; De France, Hancock, Stack, Serbin, & Hollenstein, 2021 ; Ertanir, Kassis, & Garrote, 2021 ; Gadassi Polack et al., 2021 ; Hollenstein et al., 2021 ; Luijten et al., 2021 ; Mlawer et al., 2022 ; Shoshani & Kor, 2022 ; Zhang et al., 2020 ). Three of these studies included younger children (under 11 at baseline); the rest included predominantly younger adolescents.…”

Impacts of COVID-19 quarantine and isolation on adolescent social functioning

“…Authors speculated that this finding may have resulted from adolescents being more selective in the peers that they interacted with (e.g., closer friends, romantic partners), underscoring the importance of high-quality social interactions rather than just the number of socialization opportunities. Interestingly, research suggests that adolescents who experienced negative peer relations pre-pandemic actually were more resilient during the pandemic [ 35 ].…”