Socioeconomic hardship, uncertainty about the future, and adolescent mental wellbeing over a year during the COVID-19 pandemic

Kayla H. Green; Andrik Becht; Suzanne van de Groep; Renske van der Cruijsen; Sophie W. Sweijen; Eveline A Crone

doi:10.1111/sode.12674

Socioeconomic hardship, uncertainty about the future, and adolescent mental wellbeing over a year during the COVID-19 pandemic

Kayla H. Green^*
, Andrik Becht
, Suzanne van de Groep
, Renske van der Cruijsen
, Sophie W. Sweijen
, Eveline A Crone

^*Corresponding author for this work

Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences
Erasmus University Rotterdam
Leiden University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Socioeconomic vulnerabilities put adolescents at risk for mental wellbeing issues, also in times of a pandemic. In the present longitudinal online survey study, we explored changes in mental wellbeing (i.e., mood and life satisfaction) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, we examined how socioeconomic hardship in online home schooling predicted adolescents’ mental wellbeing 1 year later. Third, we tested whether this relation was mediated by feelings of uncertainty about the future. Fourth, we tested whether this relation was moderated (in terms of a protective factor) by self-efficacy. In total, 177 Dutch-speaking adolescents aged 10–18 years (Mage = 15.64, SDage = 1.72, 79% females) participated in all three 6-month separated waves (T1 = May 2020, T2 = November 2020, and T3 = May 2021). Mood results demonstrated that feelings of vigor decreased between T1 and T2, and feelings of tension and depression increased between T1, T2, and T3. Socioeconomic hardship in online home schooling in the early phase of the pandemic was negatively associated with both baseline mental wellbeing and 1 year later. Socioeconomic hardship at T1 predicted higher feelings of future uncertainty at T2, and higher levels of future uncertainty were associated with lower feelings of vigor, and higher feelings of tension and depression at T3. However, we found no evidence for mediation or moderation effects. In conclusion, the present findings illustrate the complexity of disentangling the adverse effects of socioeconomic hardship on adolescent mental wellbeing.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1092-1114
Number of pages	23
Journal	Social Development
Volume	32
Issue number	3
Early online date	Mar 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12674
Publication status	Published - Aug 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We are grateful to all the amazing adolescents who have participated in this study. We would like to thank all the high schools we reached out to for their help in recruiting participants. We are also grateful to our student, Iris Langereis, who helped with the data preparation, and to Moniek Buijzen and Rebecca de Leeuw who helped in the early process of designing the study. This study was funded by the NWO Spinoza prize awarded to Eveline A. Crone, and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement nr. 681632).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. Social Development published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Keywords

Adolescence
Covid-19
Mental wellbeing
Socioeconomic hardship
Uncertainty

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10.1111/sode.12674Licence: CC BY

Social Development - 2023 - GreenFinal published version, 724 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Socioeconomic hardship, uncertainty about the future, and adolescent mental wellbeing over a year during the COVID-19 pandemic",

abstract = "Socioeconomic vulnerabilities put adolescents at risk for mental wellbeing issues, also in times of a pandemic. In the present longitudinal online survey study, we explored changes in mental wellbeing (i.e., mood and life satisfaction) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, we examined how socioeconomic hardship in online home schooling predicted adolescents{\textquoteright} mental wellbeing 1 year later. Third, we tested whether this relation was mediated by feelings of uncertainty about the future. Fourth, we tested whether this relation was moderated (in terms of a protective factor) by self-efficacy. In total, 177 Dutch-speaking adolescents aged 10–18 years (Mage = 15.64, SDage = 1.72, 79\% females) participated in all three 6-month separated waves (T1 = May 2020, T2 = November 2020, and T3 = May 2021). Mood results demonstrated that feelings of vigor decreased between T1 and T2, and feelings of tension and depression increased between T1, T2, and T3. Socioeconomic hardship in online home schooling in the early phase of the pandemic was negatively associated with both baseline mental wellbeing and 1 year later. Socioeconomic hardship at T1 predicted higher feelings of future uncertainty at T2, and higher levels of future uncertainty were associated with lower feelings of vigor, and higher feelings of tension and depression at T3. However, we found no evidence for mediation or moderation effects. In conclusion, the present findings illustrate the complexity of disentangling the adverse effects of socioeconomic hardship on adolescent mental wellbeing.",

keywords = "Adolescence, Covid-19, Mental wellbeing, Socioeconomic hardship, Uncertainty",

author = "Green, \{Kayla H.\} and Andrik Becht and \{van de Groep\}, Suzanne and \{van der Cruijsen\}, Renske and Sweijen, \{Sophie W.\} and Crone, \{Eveline A\}",

note = "Funding Information: We are grateful to all the amazing adolescents who have participated in this study. We would like to thank all the high schools we reached out to for their help in recruiting participants. We are also grateful to our student, Iris Langereis, who helped with the data preparation, and to Moniek Buijzen and Rebecca de Leeuw who helped in the early process of designing the study. This study was funded by the NWO Spinoza prize awarded to Eveline A. Crone, and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement nr. 681632). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 The Authors. Social Development published by John Wiley \& Sons Ltd.",

year = "2023",

month = aug,

doi = "10.1111/sode.12674",

language = "English",

volume = "32",

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AU - van de Groep, Suzanne

AU - van der Cruijsen, Renske

AU - Sweijen, Sophie W.

AU - Crone, Eveline A

N1 - Funding Information: We are grateful to all the amazing adolescents who have participated in this study. We would like to thank all the high schools we reached out to for their help in recruiting participants. We are also grateful to our student, Iris Langereis, who helped with the data preparation, and to Moniek Buijzen and Rebecca de Leeuw who helped in the early process of designing the study. This study was funded by the NWO Spinoza prize awarded to Eveline A. Crone, and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement nr. 681632). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors. Social Development published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2023/8

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N2 - Socioeconomic vulnerabilities put adolescents at risk for mental wellbeing issues, also in times of a pandemic. In the present longitudinal online survey study, we explored changes in mental wellbeing (i.e., mood and life satisfaction) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, we examined how socioeconomic hardship in online home schooling predicted adolescents’ mental wellbeing 1 year later. Third, we tested whether this relation was mediated by feelings of uncertainty about the future. Fourth, we tested whether this relation was moderated (in terms of a protective factor) by self-efficacy. In total, 177 Dutch-speaking adolescents aged 10–18 years (Mage = 15.64, SDage = 1.72, 79% females) participated in all three 6-month separated waves (T1 = May 2020, T2 = November 2020, and T3 = May 2021). Mood results demonstrated that feelings of vigor decreased between T1 and T2, and feelings of tension and depression increased between T1, T2, and T3. Socioeconomic hardship in online home schooling in the early phase of the pandemic was negatively associated with both baseline mental wellbeing and 1 year later. Socioeconomic hardship at T1 predicted higher feelings of future uncertainty at T2, and higher levels of future uncertainty were associated with lower feelings of vigor, and higher feelings of tension and depression at T3. However, we found no evidence for mediation or moderation effects. In conclusion, the present findings illustrate the complexity of disentangling the adverse effects of socioeconomic hardship on adolescent mental wellbeing.

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DO - 10.1111/sode.12674

M3 - Article

SN - 0961-205X

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JO - Social Development

JF - Social Development

IS - 3

ER -

Socioeconomic hardship, uncertainty about the future, and adolescent mental wellbeing over a year during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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