Different Ages, Different Challenges: COVID-19-Related Distress and Coping

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and consequent global lockdown has resulted in physical isolation, economic instability, fear, and distress concerning the uncertainty of the future. These stressors have presented barriers to typical developmental trajectories across the lifespan, which may generate negative enduring effects on mental health and well-being. Yet, around the world, many children, youths, and emerging adults have adapted and coped successfully with these unprecedented changes. Therefore, research investigating psychological adjustment in the context of the pandemic is imperative to elucidate potential processes contributing to positive developmental trajectories. This symposium includes four studies from four countries that examine distinctive developmental coping mechanisms in the presence of COVID-19-related stressors from early childhood to emerging adulthood. Paper 1 examines early childhood emotional adjustment regarding exposure to parental emotion regulation and playfulness in relation to children’s distress responses during the pandemic. Paper 2 focuses on autobiographical memories for the COVID-19 lockdown and pinpoints subjective memory characteristics that are associated with greater well-being in children and adolescents. Paper 3 identifies the implications of isolation and virtual peer and familial connectedness on adolescents’ mental health and social adjustment. Last, Paper 4 investigates the extent to which emotion regulation buffers the effects of COVID-19-related financial and emotional stressors in emerging adults. Considering the global impact of COVID-19, these papers aim to offer diverse and international perspectives regarding developmentally-unique stressors and potential coping strategies from early childhood to emerging adulthood.

Sub Unit

• Solicited Content: COVID-19 Related

Chairs

• Ryan T Hodge, University of California - Davis

• Tirill Fjellhaugen Hjuler, Center On Autobiographical Memory Research, Aarhus, Denmark

Individual Presentations

• Children's Emotional Stress Reactions During COVID-19 and Associations with Parents' Emotion Regulation, Stress, and Playfulness - Presenting Author: Maayan Shorer, ruppin academic center; Non-Presenting Author: Liat Leibovich, R

• Children's and Adolescents' Psychological Adjustment and Autobiographical Memories During the COVID-19 Lockdown Period in Denmark - Presenting Author: Tirill Fjellhaugen Hjuler, Center On Autobiographical Memory Research, Aarhus, Denmark; Non-Presenting Author: Simona Ghetti, University of California - Davis

• Adolescents' Social Support, Stress, and Adjustment Across the First Six Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic - Presenting Author: Wendy E Ellis, University of Western Ontario; Non-Presenting Author: Tara Dumas, University of Western Ontario

• Emerging Adults' Financial and Emotional Distress, Emotion Regulation, and Prosocial Behaviors During the COVID-19 Pandemic - Presenting Author: Ryan T Hodge, University of California - Davis; Non-Presenting Author: Lindsey Partington, University of California - Davis; Non-Presenting Author: Michael Knapp, Claremont Graduate University; Non-Presenting Author: Paul David Hastings, University of California - Davis