The Impact of Pre-Pandemic Stressful Life Events on Depressive Symptoms During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Topic - Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

Depression, a leading cause of impairment, increases significantly in girls during adolescence (Cyranowski, Frank, Young, & Shear, 2000). Stressful life events (SLEs) are associated with risk for adolescent depression (Abela & Skitch, 2006); adolescents who have experienced more SLEs report more depressive symptoms than those who have experienced no or few SLEs. The stress sensitivity model posits that previous stressful experiences increase one’s sensitivity to stress, making it more likely for subsequent stressors to trigger an episode of psychopathology (Post, 1992; Monroe & Harkness, 2005). The COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown is a novel SLE that could overwhelm the coping capacity of previously stressed adolescent girls and trigger increased depressive symptoms. In this project, the stress sensitivity model is investigated in a sample of adolescent girls during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hypothesize that girls with more SLEs prior to the pandemic will report more depressive symptoms during the pandemic than their less stressed peers.
As the Pennsylvania stay-at-home order took effect on March 23rd, 2020, measures administered before and after that date will be categorized as pre-pandemic and pandemic, respectively. Ninety-two adolescent girls (ages 11-17 years; M=15) enriched for variability in risk for social anxiety and depression based on shy/fearful temperament reported on pre-pandemic SLEs using the Adolescent Life Events Questionnaire (ALEQ). Participants also self-reported pre-pandemic and pandemic depressive symptoms using the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ). Race, total income, risk status, time elapsed between predictor and outcome measures and pre-pandemic depressive symptoms were included as covariates.
In a sequential linear regression, pandemic depressive symptoms were significantly predicted by pre-pandemic depressive symptoms (β = 0.32, p < 0.01; table 1). No covariates were significant. Pre-pandemic SLEs significantly and positively predicted pandemic depressive symptoms above and beyond pre-pandemic depressive symptoms (β = 0.34, p < 0.01), such that higher levels of SLEs before the pandemic were associated with more depressive symptoms during the pandemic.
This project examined the stress sensitivity model via adolescent girls’ depressive symptoms in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. As hypothesized, adolescent girls who experienced more pre-pandemic SLEs had more pandemic depressive symptoms, above and beyond pre-pandemic depressive symptoms. This finding suggests that adolescent girls who were already stressed became more depressed than their less stressed peers after they were exposed to stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown. The current study supports the stress sensitivity model and suggests that adolescents with a history of SLEs are in particular need of support and/or intervention during the pandemic. They may benefit from additional social support, which has been shown to buffer the effects of stress on depression. Future research examining mechanisms that may explain this longitudinal finding in the context of COVID-19 is warranted.

Authors

• Yuqi Wang, University of Maryland - College Park
  Presenting Author

• Kirsten M.P. McKone, University of Pittsburgh
  Non-Presenting Author

• Cecile D Ladouceur, University of Pittsburgh
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jennifer S. Silk, University of Pittsburgh
  Non-Presenting Author