Which factors shielded young adults from negative outcomes due to the COVID-19 pandemic?

*The JRP research team: supervisor Ann Skinner, Leyla Çiftçi, Sierra Jones, Eva Klotz, and Tamara Ondrušková*

2020-21 JRP team published study in Social Sciences

We are excited to announce that one of our teams from the 2020-21 JRP cohort has just published an article in Social Sciences!

Led by Ann Skinner, the team’s project examined adolescent depression and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a special focus on the role of parents and adolescents‘ thoughts about the future.

Together with their co-authors, the group has now published parts of their research in Social Sciences.

Disruptions in the COVID-19 pandemic – which protective factors shielded young adults from negative psychological outcomes?

The study sheds light on the connection between COVID-19-related disruptions and perceived anxiety and depression of young adults. In particular, it examines which protective factors shielded young adults from negative pandemic-related outcomes.

For this, the team analyzed a longitudinal dataset, including more than 1.300 participants at Time 1, and more than 800 of those participants at Time 2. The sample consisted of adolescents and young adults from 9 countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States).

The authors identified three factors that shielded young adults from increases in depression and anxiety during the lockdown: Adolescents’ positivity and future orientation, as well as parental psychological control during late adolescence served as protective factors.

By showing pathways of how potential negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic were dampened, the team’s research is not only an important theoretical contribution to the field, but also provides crucial policy implications for future crises.

We congratulate the authors on this important contribution and are excited for their future projects!

Citation:

Skinner, A. T., Çiftçi, L., Jones, S., Klotz, E., Ondrušková, T., Lansford, J. E., … & Yotanyamaneewong, S. (2022). Adolescent Positivity and Future Orientation, Parental Psychological Control, and Young Adult Internalising Behaviours during COVID-19 in Nine Countries. Social Sciences, 11(2), 75. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11020075.