Mood and emotional reactivity of adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: short-term and long-term effects and the impact of social and socioeconomic stressors

Kayla Green; Suzanne Groep; Sophie Sweijen; Andrik Becht; Moniek Buijzen; Rebecca de Leeuw; Danielle Remmerswaal; R van der Zanden; RCME (Rutger) Engels; Eveline Crone

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-90851-x

Mood and emotional reactivity of adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: short-term and long-term effects and the impact of social and socioeconomic stressors

Kayla Green^*, Suzanne Groep, Sophie Sweijen, Andrik Becht, Moniek Buijzen, Rebecca de Leeuw, Danielle Remmerswaal, R van der Zanden, RCME (Rutger) Engels, Eveline Crone

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Adolescence is a formative period for socio-emotional development which is threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic. The current longitudinal study examined two aims: (1) the short- and long-term effects of the pandemic on young people’s mood (i.e. vigor, tension, and depression levels) and emotional reactivity (i.e. fluctuations in daily mood), and (2) the impact of stressors on mood, emotional reactivity, self-oriented (i.e. maladaptive behavior towards COVID-19 rules) and other-benefitting behaviors (i.e. behavior aimed at helping and comforting others). We conducted an online two-week daily diary study among 462 Dutch adolescents (M _age = 15.27 years, 64% females) and 371 young adults (M _age = 21.49 years, 81% females) in May 2020, with a follow-up in November 2020 (N = 238 and 231, respectively adolescents and young adults). In May 2020, young adults and older relative to younger adolescents showed higher levels and more fluctuations in tension and depression and lower levels of vigor. Vigor levels decreased and tension and depression levels increased between May 2020 and November 2020, especially for younger adolescents. There were positive associations between instability of negative emotions (i.e. tension and depression fluctuations) and the exposure to stressors (i.e. family stress and inequality of online homeschooling) in the adolescent sample. Together, this study demonstrates vulnerability regarding young people’s mood and emotional reactivity during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for adolescents who experience more stressors.

Original language	English
Article number	11563
Journal	Scientific Reports
Volume	11
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-90851-x
Publication status	Published - 2 Jun 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We would like to thank all the wonderful adolescents and young adults who have participated in this study, as well as the schools that contributed to their recruitment. We are grateful to student, Iris Langereis, who helped with the data preparation from the second wave. We also would like to thank Semiha Denktas for her dedication in improving our recruitment strategy. This study was funded by the NWO Spinoza prize awarded to Eveline A. Crone, the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement nr. 681632), and the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).

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Mood and emotional reactivity of adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic short-term and long-term effects and the impact of social and socioeconomic stressorsFinal published version, 1.18 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

Green, K., Groep, S., Sweijen, S., Becht, A., Buijzen, M., de Leeuw, R., Remmerswaal, D., van der Zanden, R., Engels, RCME., & Crone, E. (2021). Mood and emotional reactivity of adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: short-term and long-term effects and the impact of social and socioeconomic stressors. Scientific Reports, 11(1), Article 11563. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-90851-x

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title = "Mood and emotional reactivity of adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: short-term and long-term effects and the impact of social and socioeconomic stressors",

abstract = "Adolescence is a formative period for socio-emotional development which is threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic. The current longitudinal study examined two aims: (1) the short- and long-term effects of the pandemic on young people{\textquoteright}s mood (i.e. vigor, tension, and depression levels) and emotional reactivity (i.e. fluctuations in daily mood), and (2) the impact of stressors on mood, emotional reactivity, self-oriented (i.e. maladaptive behavior towards COVID-19 rules) and other-benefitting behaviors (i.e. behavior aimed at helping and comforting others). We conducted an online two-week daily diary study among 462 Dutch adolescents (M age = 15.27 years, 64% females) and 371 young adults (M age = 21.49 years, 81% females) in May 2020, with a follow-up in November 2020 (N = 238 and 231, respectively adolescents and young adults). In May 2020, young adults and older relative to younger adolescents showed higher levels and more fluctuations in tension and depression and lower levels of vigor. Vigor levels decreased and tension and depression levels increased between May 2020 and November 2020, especially for younger adolescents. There were positive associations between instability of negative emotions (i.e. tension and depression fluctuations) and the exposure to stressors (i.e. family stress and inequality of online homeschooling) in the adolescent sample. Together, this study demonstrates vulnerability regarding young people{\textquoteright}s mood and emotional reactivity during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for adolescents who experience more stressors. ",

author = "Kayla Green and Suzanne Groep and Sophie Sweijen and Andrik Becht and Moniek Buijzen and {de Leeuw}, Rebecca and Danielle Remmerswaal and {van der Zanden}, R and Engels, {RCME (Rutger)} and Eveline Crone",

note = "Funding Information: We would like to thank all the wonderful adolescents and young adults who have participated in this study, as well as the schools that contributed to their recruitment. We are grateful to student, Iris Langereis, who helped with the data preparation from the second wave. We also would like to thank Semiha Denktas for her dedication in improving our recruitment strategy. This study was funded by the NWO Spinoza prize awarded to Eveline A. Crone, the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement nr. 681632), and the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021, The Author(s).",

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Green, K , Groep, S , Sweijen, S, Becht, A, Buijzen, M, de Leeuw, R, Remmerswaal, D, van der Zanden, R, Engels, RCME & Crone, E 2021, 'Mood and emotional reactivity of adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: short-term and long-term effects and the impact of social and socioeconomic stressors', Scientific Reports, vol. 11, no. 1, 11563. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-90851-x

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AU - de Leeuw, Rebecca

AU - Remmerswaal, Danielle

AU - van der Zanden, R

AU - Engels, RCME (Rutger)

AU - Crone, Eveline

N1 - Funding Information: We would like to thank all the wonderful adolescents and young adults who have participated in this study, as well as the schools that contributed to their recruitment. We are grateful to student, Iris Langereis, who helped with the data preparation from the second wave. We also would like to thank Semiha Denktas for her dedication in improving our recruitment strategy. This study was funded by the NWO Spinoza prize awarded to Eveline A. Crone, the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement nr. 681632), and the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).

PY - 2021/6/2

Y1 - 2021/6/2

N2 - Adolescence is a formative period for socio-emotional development which is threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic. The current longitudinal study examined two aims: (1) the short- and long-term effects of the pandemic on young people’s mood (i.e. vigor, tension, and depression levels) and emotional reactivity (i.e. fluctuations in daily mood), and (2) the impact of stressors on mood, emotional reactivity, self-oriented (i.e. maladaptive behavior towards COVID-19 rules) and other-benefitting behaviors (i.e. behavior aimed at helping and comforting others). We conducted an online two-week daily diary study among 462 Dutch adolescents (M age = 15.27 years, 64% females) and 371 young adults (M age = 21.49 years, 81% females) in May 2020, with a follow-up in November 2020 (N = 238 and 231, respectively adolescents and young adults). In May 2020, young adults and older relative to younger adolescents showed higher levels and more fluctuations in tension and depression and lower levels of vigor. Vigor levels decreased and tension and depression levels increased between May 2020 and November 2020, especially for younger adolescents. There were positive associations between instability of negative emotions (i.e. tension and depression fluctuations) and the exposure to stressors (i.e. family stress and inequality of online homeschooling) in the adolescent sample. Together, this study demonstrates vulnerability regarding young people’s mood and emotional reactivity during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for adolescents who experience more stressors.

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Mood and emotional reactivity of adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: short-term and long-term effects and the impact of social and socioeconomic stressors

Abstract

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Mood and Emotional Reactivity of Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Short-Term Effects and Long-Term Effects and the Impact of Social and Socioeconomic Stressors_Data File: Adolescent Sample (complete dataset)

Mood and Emotional Reactivity of Adoelscents During the COVID-Pandemic: Short-Term and Long-Term Effects and the Impact of Social and Socioeconomic Stressors_Computer code: SPSS Syntax