Abstract
This study investigated whether school closures and health-related uncertainties in the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic posed risk factors for adolescents’ mental health and whether perceived social support by parents, teachers, and friends functioned as protective factors. In particular, we argued that perceived social support would buffer negative associations between educational and health concerns and mental health. Based on a person-centered approach, we first examined resilience profiles. These profiles reflect configurations regarding the levels of these risk and protective factors and levels of mental health. Second, we analyzed whether these risk and protective factors predicted adolescents’ mental health differently by using a variable-centered approach. The sample consisted of 1’562 adolescents (Mage = 16.18, SD = 1.48, range = 14-20 years; 72% females) in lower and higher secondary education from three regions: German-speaking part of Switzerland, N = 486; Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, N = 760; and Northern Italy N = 316. Results from the person-centered approach revealed three latent profiles characterized by low (19%), average (47%), or high resilience (34%). Lower resilience was associated with higher educational concerns, lower perceived social support, and lower mental health, while high resilience was characterized by lower concerns, higher support, and higher mental health. Importantly, educational concerns varied more between profiles than health concerns, and perceived teacher and family support varied more than perceived friend support. Corroborating these findings, the variable-centered approach (i.e., a path analysis) revealed that educational concerns were a stronger predictor than health concerns and pointed to a higher relative importance of perceived family support for adolescents’ mental health relative to perceived teacher and friend support. Taken together, the findings suggest that adolescents’ educational concerns and perceived family support, respectively, were stronger risk and protective factors for their mental health during school closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, adolescents from regions being more exposed to the COVID-19 pandemic, namely, Italian-speaking part of Switzerland and Northern Italy, were more likely classified in the low or the average rather than in the high resilience profile compared to students from the region with lower exposure, that is, the German-speaking part of Switzerland.
Highlights
In early 2020, the spread of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 led severely affected countries like Switzerland and Italy to take protective and containment measures, such as school closures and the conversion from in-school to distance learning
Regarding protective factors for adolescents’ mental health, we investigated the relative role of perceived social support by teachers, family, and friends
Health concerns were significantly positively correlated with perceived teacher support, r = 0.05, p < 0.1, with perceived family support, r = 0.15, p < 0.001, and with perceived friend support, r = 0.10, p < 0.001, which implies reporting higher health concerns was associated with perceiving higher support from teachers, families and friends
Summary
In early 2020, the spread of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 led severely affected countries like Switzerland and Italy to take protective and containment measures, such as school closures and the conversion from in-school to distance learning. Teacher support was limited during the lockdown, as many teachers had to adjust to their new roles, including the application of new teaching technologies (Beteille et al, 2020; Korzycka et al, 2021) In addition to these educational concerns, adolescents encountered uncertainties about the virus and fear about infection (Brooks et al, 2020). This occurred at a time when they were not able to interact in person with their friends, who could be an important source of support in times of crisis; restricted social support may have exacerbated psychosocial and internalizing problems (Bernasco et al, 2021). Evidence shows that such pandemic-related stressors have been negatively associated with adolescents’ mental health (Guessoum et al, 2020; Shanahan et al, 2020)
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