Community Violence Predicts Adolescents’ Increased Symptomatology and Decreased Health Protective Behaviors in Response to COVID-19

• In Event: Poster Session 05
  In Poster Session: PS 05 Topic - Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

Community violence exposure (CVE) is associated with heightened levels of internalizing and externalizing symptomatology in youth (Lambert et al., 2012). In turn, these symptoms are linked to decreased health protective behaviors (HPB) among adolescents (Colder et al., 2013, Kroneman et al., 2004). These studies suggest that adolescents with a history of CVE may be at risk for both greater psychopathology and reduced HPB in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, we drew on a longitudinal sample to evaluate prospective relations between pre-COVID-19 CVE at age 14 and adolescents’ HPB during the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic at age 15. Moreover, we evaluated changes in adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing symptoms from age 14 prior to the pandemic, to age 15 during the pandemic, as putative mediators of this expected relation.

Participants were 183 adolescents (52.5% female; 45.4% Latinx) who completed assessments prior to the pandemic (Mage_w1 = 14.18, SD = .45) and again during April and May of 2020 in the initial phase of the COVID-19 lockdown (Mage_w2 = 15.24, SD = .59). At age 14, youth completed The Things I Have Seen and Heard Scale (Richters & Martinez, 1990) to assess CVE, and the Youth Self Report (Achenbach, 1991) to assess internalizing and externalizing symptomatology. In the spring of 2020, participants reported on their HPB across 13 items (e.g., avoiding crowds, washing your hands, avoiding touching your face) from not at all (1) to always (5; α = .89), as well as on their internalizing and externalizing symptomatology. A multiple mediation model evaluated relations from CVE to HPB via residualized gains in internalizing and externalizing symptoms (i.e. COVID-19 symptoms regressed on pre-COVID-19 symptoms). Furthermore, we explored these relations by sex while controlling for income, ethnicity, and prior symptomatology.

Table 1 presents descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations among study variables. CVE was associated with greater than expected increases in both internalizing and externalizing problems from pre-COVID to the first weeks of the pandemic. As shown in Figure 1, a moderated multiple mediation model revealed a significant indirect pathway from CVE to lower HPB via greater increases in adolescents’ externalizing problems in response to the pandemic. Relations between CVE and both internalizing and externalizing increases during COVID-19 were stronger for females relative to males. Moreover, the indirect effect of CVE on HPB via residualized gains in externalizing problems was significant for females (βsimple = -0.29, SE = 0.11, 95% CI = [−0.54, −0.10]), but not for males (βsimple = -0.11, SE = 0.08, 95% CI = [−0.30, 0.00]).

Results showed significant increases in internalizing and externalizing in response to COVID-19, particularly in youth with prior CVE. Moreover, CVE was associated with decreased HPBs and this relation was explained by elevations in externalizing symptoms, not internalizing, for females. Youth with prior CVE may be at heightened risk for negative health outcomes and virus transmission. Thus, efforts to treat mental health problems, particularly for females, may help to mitigate these risks.

Authors

• Matt Radican, University of California - Riverside
  Presenting Author

• Tuppett M. Yates, University of California - Riverside
  Non-Presenting Author