Changes in Canadian Adolescent Well-Being since the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Prior Child Maltreatment

Jacinthe Dion (), Catherine Hamel, Camille Clermont, Marie-Ève Blackburn, Martine Hébert, Linda Paquette, Daniel Lalande and Sophie Bergeron
Additional contact information
Jacinthe Dion: Département des Sciences de la Santé, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 555 bl. Université, Chicoutimi, QC G7H 2B1, Canada
Catherine Hamel: Département des Sciences de la Santé, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 555 bl. Université, Chicoutimi, QC G7H 2B1, Canada
Camille Clermont: Département des Sciences de la Santé, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 555 bl. Université, Chicoutimi, QC G7H 2B1, Canada
Marie-Ève Blackburn: Département des Sciences de la Santé, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 555 bl. Université, Chicoutimi, QC G7H 2B1, Canada
Martine Hébert: Département de Sexologie, Université du Québec à Montréal, C.P. 8888, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal, QC H2L 2C4, Canada
Linda Paquette: Département des Sciences de la Santé, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 555 bl. Université, Chicoutimi, QC G7H 2B1, Canada
Daniel Lalande: Département des Sciences de la Santé, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 555 bl. Université, Chicoutimi, QC G7H 2B1, Canada
Sophie Bergeron: Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, C.P. 6128, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montréal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 16, 1-13

Abstract: Adolescents may be particularly vulnerable to the negative impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, given their increased socialization needs during this developmental period. This prospective study examined the potential changes in adolescents’ well-being from before to during the pandemic, and the moderating role of a history of child maltreatment (CM), COVID-19-related distress, and gender among 1,802 adolescents (55.5% participants identified as boy, 42.2% as girl, and 1.5% as nonbinary; M age 14.74 years). Another aim was to determine whether COVID-19-related distress mediated the relationship between CM and well-being. Results revealed that COVID-19-related distress was associated with lower well-being (i.e., higher levels of internalized and externalized behaviors, and lower levels of self-esteem and life satisfaction). Boys experienced a greater decrease in life satisfaction and self-esteem than girls. A history of CM had a moderation effect, with the pandemic having a lesser impact on the outcomes of adolescents with such a history. However, it was also associated with more COVID-19-related distress, which in turn was associated with lower levels of internalized and externalized behaviors, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. These unexpected results with regard to CM might indicate that the social restrictions during the pandemic could have had a relieving effect on adolescents with particular challenges associated with CM.

Keywords: COVID-19 stress; adolescents; psychological adaptation; child abuse and neglect; anxiety; depression; conduct disorder; self-esteem; life satisfaction; longitudinal design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/16/10172/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/16/10172/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:16:p:10172-:d:890084

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().