Maladaptive Emotion Regulation Predicts School Children’s COVID-related Future Anxiety

• In Event: Emotional Competence in Childhood: Underlying Mechanisms and Consequences

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing health and safety measures have disrupted children’s lives in many ways. Studies agree that the first COVID-19-related lockdown has increased stress and mental health problems in many children. Nevertheless, research is just beginning to address the long-term effects of the pandemic on school-age children’s (future) anxiety. Because of the potentially debilitating character of COVID-Related Future Anxiety (CRFA), we looked for factors which might explain children’s resilience against CRFA in a longitudinal study, such as emotion regulation or executive functions. In addition, we conducted a 9-week breath-based mindfulness intervention in a control group design.
In this longitudinal study, N = 102 children (48.6% female) in 3rd and 4th grade classrooms in Northern Germany were asked to self-report in a newly developed measure about their CRFA in December 2020 (T2) (alpha = .73) after the intervention and right before the second lockdown in Germany and again in June 2021 (T3) (alpha = .76) after children had returned to school and vaccinations had started. At T2, children filled in the FEEL-KJ on their adaptive (alpha = .88) and maladaptive (alpha = .71) strategies of emotion regulation. Their working memory was tested in a backward counting task on the tablet. At T3, children answered one question about the incidence of COVID-19 in their family in the preceding six months.
Results indicate that CRFA was more pronounced in children from immigrant families (who tended to be more affected by the pandemic). In a stepwise regression, changes in children’s CRFA between T2 and T3 were neither predicted by the intervention nor by gender nor by having experienced COVID in the family. Using maladaptive emotion regulation strategies at T2 was a positive predictor of changes in CRFA, whereas working memory at T2 was a negative predictor. These results suggest that maladaptive strategies of regulating emotions (such as rumination, self-depreciation, or withdrawal) tend to maintain or intensify children’s CRFA, whereas well-developed executive functions (such as working memory) may bolster their resilience against future anxiety, because they facilitate directing their attention at will. Implications for prevention are discussed.

Authors

• Maria von Salisch, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg
  Presenting Author

• Katharina Voltmer, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg