The Impact of COVID-19 on Resilience and Youth Quality of Life: A Dyadic Analysis

• In Event: Impact of COVID-19 on Children and Youth

Abstract

COVID-19 public health measures caused significant disruptions to youth and parents’ anxiety, depression, and quality of life (QoL; Ravens-Sieberer et al., 2021; Semega et al., 2020). However, greater resilience, or one’s ability to adjust to adversity, has been linked to lower impacts of COVID-19 on QoL in adolescents outside of the U.S. (Tal-Saban & Zaguri-Vittenberg, 2022). Therefore, understanding individual and dyadic factors contributing to both resilience and QoL during the COVID-19 pandemic within a U.S. sample may provide important insight for points of intervention. We aimed to characterize the interdependent effects of youth and parent COVID-19 impact on youth and parent resilience, as well as on youth-reported and parent proxy-reported youth QoL.

As part of a larger longitudinal study, U.S. parents (95.7% female; n=231) and their 8-17-year-old youth (54.5% male; n=231) were recruited remotely between May-July 2020 (T1) via Facebook. The sample of families was primarily White and non-Hispanic (>90%), married (88.7%), employed at least part-time (74.0%), and, on average, made between $75,000-$100,000 annually. At T1, parents reported demographic characteristics and parents and youth reported COVID-19 impact (Kazak et al., 2021). Follow-up surveys (T2) occurred between November 2020-January 2021; parents and youth reported on their own resilience (Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale 10; Conner & Davidson, 2003) and the youths’ QoL using the PedsQL (Campbell-Sills & Stein, 2007; Varni et al., 2003). Two Actor-Partner Interdependence Models (APIM) and one Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediation Model (APIMeM) assessed associations among parents’ and youths’ COVID-19 impact, resilience, and QoL.

On average, youth and parents reported worse QoL than norms, but better than the clinical cutoff (Varni et al., 2003). Participants reported moderate COVID-19 impact scores and high resiliency scores. An APIM revealed significant actor and partner effects of COVID-19 impact on youth self-reported and parent-proxy reported youth QoL; those with greater COVID-19 impact reported lower T2 QoL, as did their partner. There was a direct, equivalent effect of gender: female caregivers and youth reported lower QoL. Greater income was equivalently related to higher QoL (Figure 1.A.). Another APIM revealed an actor effect from COVID-19 impact to one’s own resilience (Figure 1.B.). Both APIMs demonstrated good fit.

The APIMeM examining whether there was an indirect path from COVID-19 impact to resilience to QoL, demonstrated good fit (Figure 2). The APIMeM revealed two significant indirect effects. First, when youth reported greater levels of T1 COVID-19 impact, it was associated with lower levels of T2 youth-reported resilience, which was subsequently associated with lower T2 youth-reported QoL. Second, when parents reported greater T1 COVID-19 impact, it was associated with lower T2 youth-reported resilience, which was subsequently also associated with lower T2 youth-reported QoL.

Although research has established detrimental impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth, parent, and family wellbeing, this study provides novel insight into longitudinal impacts of COVID-19 on parent and youth resilience, as well as youth QoL. Findings suggest that both youth and parent perceptions of the pandemic were important for their own and the others’ reactions to adversity (i.e., resiliency), as well as youths’ overall QoL.

Authors

• Anna Lorraine Olsavsky, Nationwide Children's Hospital
  Presenting Author

• Jessica Ralph

• Kylie Hill

• Ashley Benhayoun, Nationwide Children's Hospital

• Parishma Guttoo

• Terrah Foster Akard

• Cynthia A. Gerhardt, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital

• Micah Skeens