Early Economic Risk and COVID19-Specific Psychopathology in Early Adolescents

• In Event: Longitudinal Studies of Risk for and Resilience against Psychopathology during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Early experiences of economic risk increase children’s vulnerability for developing both internalizing and externalizing problems (Dearing, McCartney, & Taylor, 2006) proportional to the amount of time spent living in poverty or low-income (Comeau & Boyle, 2018). As children spend longer in environments characterized by economic strain, their likelihood of experiencing stressors in multiple domains of the systems they are embedded in increases (Roy & Raver, 2014). Those stressors can have not only concurrent effects on children’s mental health, but also prospective effects through influencing the development of the stress response. Compared to wealthier children, children living in low-income or poverty show more dysregulated HPA axis activity among other biological markers of chronic stress (Evans & Kim, 2012; Zalewski, Lengua, Kiff & Fisher, 2013). During the COVID19 pandemic, which is having a disproportionate economic impact on lower-income families, it is possible that the effects of early economic risk and/or dysregulated stress responses on internalizing and externalizing problems are exacerbated by the pandemic-related stressors of COVID19.

This study tested a model in which early economic risk (at/below 1.5x the federal poverty index) was hypothesized to have an indirect effect on children’s COVID19-specific psychopathology through two pathways. First, early dysregulation of the HPA-axis system (diurnal morning level and slope) was expected to increase the risk of pre-COVID19 psychopathology that increases children’s vulnerable responses to COVID19. Second, early economic risk was expected to increase the likelihood of continued economic risk, and in turn, higher COVID19-specific cumulative risk, which would predict higher levels of psychopathology during COVID19.

185 youth and their parents responded to an online COVID19 survey. Participants were part of a larger, on-going study that included assessments of children and their families (N=306) starting at the age of 3 years and following them up to age 11. Age-3 and age-8 economic risk were correlated with age-11 pre-COVID19 externalizing and internalizing, whereas only age-8 economic risk was related to COVID19-specific internalizing. Age-8 economic risk was also related to higher COVID19-specific cumulative risk. In path models, age-3 economic risk predicted age-8 economic risk which was related to higher pre-COVID19 externalizing problems and higher COVID19-specific cumulative risk, which in turn predicted increases in externalizing and internalizing during COVID19. Early-childhood HPA-axis regulation was not significantly related to early-adolescent psychopathology. The pattern of findings is the same controlling for age-11 income-to-needs ratio, but given high correlations with age-3 and age-8 economic risk, it is not included in these analyses.

In summary, early economic risk was related to higher pre-COVID19 symptoms and higher COVID19-specific risk factors, both of which contributed to increases in psychopathology during COVID19. Early childhood disruptions to HPA-axis regulation were not related to pre-COVID19 psychopathology or increases in psychopathology during COVID19. These findings highlight the importance of considering the effects of COVID19-specific contextual stress and risk on youth psychopathology while also considering the persistence of early life economic adversity into early adolescence. These results underscore a need for supporting economic stability across development, particularly in light of the disproportionate impact of COVID19 on lower-income families.

Authors

• Michele R Smith, University of Washington
  Presenting Author

• Lisa Shimomaeda, University of Washington
  Non-Presenting Author

• Maya L. Rosen, Harvard University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Alexandra M Rodman, Harvard University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Steven Kasparek, Harvard University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Makeda Mayes, University of Washington
  Non-Presenting Author

• Katie McLaughlin, Harvard University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Liliana J Lengua, University of Washington
  Non-Presenting Author