Family Stress and Maltreatment During COVID-19 and Adolescent Psychopathology: The Role of Affect Dysregulation

• In Event: Caregiver Mental Health and Family Stress During COVID-19: Impact on Child and Adolescent Mental Health

Abstract

Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic resulted in widespread public health measures in the spring of 2020, forcing adolescents and their parents to quarantine at home. Throughout the first few months of quarantine, adolescents were found to have higher than normative rates of internalizing problems, such as depression and anxiety symptoms and externalizing problems, conduct disorder (CD), and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms (Craig et al., 2020). These problems are compounded by the increased risk of domestic violence, as well as the increased family stress due to stay-at-home orders and the closure of schools (e.g., Campbell, 2020), with heightened rates of physical and psychological maltreatment being reported (Craig et al., 2020). Increased stress at home due to COVID-19, and higher than average rates of maltreatment (Craig et al., 2020) may leave adolescents unable to regulate their own emotions, which increases the risk of internalizing and externalizing symptoms. The purpose of the current study is to examine whether affect dysregulation mediates the association between family stress due to COVID-19 and experiences of maltreatment and internalizing and externalizing symptoms, while accounting for other COVID-19 related distress. Gender differences will also be explored.
Method: Participants (N = 768) were adolescents age 12-18 years old (M = 15.68, SD = 1.36, 59.2% female) who lived in Canada. Measures included psychopathology (OCHS), COVID-19 (Stats Can COVID-19 scale), Maltreatment (CTS-2), and affect dysregulation (ARC).
Results: All analyses controlled for effects of age, gender, COVID-19 related health anxiety, and weeks since the beginning of the pandemic. Using Mplus 8.0 (Muthén & Muthén, 2015), a path analysis model was run in which affect dysregulation partially mediated the association between family stress due to COVID-19 and psychological maltreatment on internalizing and externalizing symptoms (Figure 1). The model fit the data well Χ2 (5) = 9.90, p = .08, CFI = .99, RMSEA = .04. Family stress due to COVID-19 had an indirect effect on internalizing symptoms and externalizing symptoms (β = .11, p < .001). Likewise, psychological maltreatment had an indirect effect on internalizing symptoms (β = .18, p < .001) and externalizing symptoms (β = .13, p < .001). A gender comparison found no difference in the model between girls and boys (ΔX2 (34) = .81, p > .05).
Discussion: This is the first study to examine affect dysregulation in the association between family stress due to COVID-19 and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems. Previous studies have found increased family time to buffer against internalizing symptoms (Ellis et al., 2020); however, there is a paucity of research on increased family stress and maltreatment on adolescent mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pandemic continues and youth return to school, there needs to be understanding of and support for the stresses that they may have experienced or continue experiencing at home, and compassion as teens readjust to a modified version of school and home life. Further, our results provide evidence that adolescents will require increased mental health supports, particularly interventions that include family support.

Authors

• Stephanie G. Craig, York University
  Presenting Author

• Megan E Ames, University of Victoria
  Non-Presenting Author

• Bianca C. Bondi, York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Debra Pepler, York University
  Non-Presenting Author