Developmental and time-related trends of anxiety from childhood to early adolescence: Two-wave cohort study

Anxiety in a COVID-19 school year context: three-way longitudinal study on Slovenian adolescent sample

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

We investigated the trajectories of anxiety, general anxiety and more specifically COVID-19 anxiety in the period of school closure in Slovenia using a longitudinal design with three time points: at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the school year.

DESIGN AND METHODS

We have used data from a representative adolescent sample for Slovenia (n = 1233) and two anxiety scales: the LAOM Anxiety Scale and the COVID-19 Anxiety Scale. The findings from latent growth curve models show a significant difference in initial levels and a decrease in both types of anxiety as well as an interaction effect between the initial level and the rate of change of COVID-19 anxiety. In addition to investigating the change in time, we were interested in covariates.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

The findings show significant effects of: (a) gender, school level and academic achievement on initial levels of COVID-19 anxiety; (b) gender and school level on initial levels of anxiety; (c) gender on the rate of change in anxiety; (d) academic achievement on the rate of change in COVID-19 anxiety; and, additionally, (e) the significant but different role that school belongingness plays in anxiety and in particular COVID-19 anxiety.

Anxiety and COVID-19 Anxiety in Positive Youth Development: A Latent Profile Analysis Study

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated anxiety and triggered a new and specific COVID-19 anxiety in all age groups, especially in adolescence. The aim of the present study was to identify differences between anxiety and COVID-19 anxiety in profiles of positive outcomes by using the Positive Youth Development (PYD) framework (i.e., the Five Cs of competence, confidence, character, caring, and connection) on a sample of 1,977 adolescents from Slovenia (57.4% females; Mage = 15.34 years) from lower- and upper-secondary schools. Latent profile analysis revealed four distinctive profiles: High PYD, Self-efficacious, Socio-emotional, and Low PYD. The High PYD profile reported lower anxiety and moderate COVID-19 anxiety; the Self-efficacious profile reported lower anxiety and the lowest COVID-19 anxiety; the Socio-emotional profile reported moderate anxiety and the highest COVID-19 anxiety; and the Low PYD profile reported higher anxiety and moderate COVID-19 anxiety. The study findings suggest that higher levels of competence, confidence, and connection can mitigate anxiety, while higher levels of caring are associated with COVID-19 anxiety. Nonetheless, the study supports the promotion of all Five Cs of the PYD framework to prevent anxiety, COVID-19 anxiety, and maladaptive developmental outcomes. The study provides important insights into profiling responses to extreme situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Internet use time and mental health among rural adolescents in China: A longitudinal study

BACKGROUND

The digital divide between urban and rural adolescents is widening. Many existing studies have found an association between internet use and adolescent mental health, but few use longitudinal data to focus on rural adolescents. We aimed to identify the causal relationships between internet use time and mental health in Chinese rural adolescents.

METHODS

Using a sample of 3694 participants (aged 10-19) from the 2018-2020 China Family Panel Survey (CFPS). Fixed effects model, mediating effect model and instrumental variables method was used to evaluate the causal relationships between internet use time and mental health.

RESULTS

We find that more time spent on the internet has a significant negative effect on participants' mental health. This negative impact is stronger in female and senior students groups. Mediating effects analysis suggests that more time spent on the internet increase risk of mental health problems by reducing sleep duration and parent-adolescent communication. Further analysis find that online learning and online shopping is associated with higher depression scores, while online entertainment with lower depression scores.

LIMITATIONS

The data do not investigate the specific time spent on internet activities (e.g., learning, shopping, and entertainment), and the long-term impacts of internet use time and mental health have not been tested.

CONCLUSIONS

Internet use time has a significant negative impact on mental health by crowding out sleep duration and parent-adolescent communication. The results provide an empirical reference for the prevention and intervention of mental disorders in adolescents.

The Association Between the 5Cs and Anxiety-Insights From Three Countries: Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain

Several of the most frequent psychological difficulties in childhood and adolescence are related to anxiety and lead to numerous short- and long-term negative outcomes in emotional, social, and academic domains. Empirical evidence consistently shows that the 5Cs (competence, caring, confidence, connection, and character) of Positive Youth Development (PYD) are positively related to adolescents’ contribution to self, family, and society as well as negatively related to risky behaviors and emotional difficulties, such as anxiety. Thus, the PYD can be one of the models that informs prevention programs. To provide contextualized, data-driven support for prevention efforts, we have analyzed the predictive value of the 5Cs for anxiety and anxiety dimensions using three different convenience youth samples from Portugal (N = 384, 46.6% female), Slovenia (N = 449, 69% females), and Spain (N = 768; 60.5% females). To assess the 5Cs, we used the same short form of the PYD scale in all samples (Geldhof et al., 2013) and different anxiety measures across samples: the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC) in Portugal, the Lestvica anksioznosti za otroke in mladostnike anxiety scale (LAOM) in Slovenia and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) in Spain. The findings show significant associations of PYD and anxiety across all three contexts with all three different anxiety measures used. The associations vary across countries emphasizing the need to further research the role of contexts in anxiety prevention. Despite variations the results do indicate that connection is negatively associated with anxiety in all three contexts using the three anxiety measures, while confidence is a negative predictor and caring is a positive predictor of anxiety in Slovenia and Spain. Implications for practice within an educational framework for adolescents and youth are discussed, together with public policy recommendations.

The relationships between social media use and factors relating to depression

Social media is profoundly changing the way many people interact, and there are growing concerns that social media use is negatively affecting individual’s mental health. This chapter will review research which has correlated social media use to measures relating to depression, self-esteem, anxiety, and loneliness. Additionally, we review the reported benefits of using social media relating to mental health, such as enhanced self-expression, online support, and enhanced socializing capabilities. We then evaluate theories and models that have been proposed to explain the relationships between social media use and depression. In the final section, we highlight some methodological limitations with prior research and suggest future directions.

School-based prevention of anxiety using the "My FRIENDS" emotional resilience program: Six-month follow-up

Anxiety-related problems are common in childhood and adolescence and, if left untreated, may hold short-term and long-term negative consequences for psychosocial functioning and other domains. In addition to having negative individual-level consequences, anxiety-related problems may have a negative impact at the school level. Because almost all children and adolescents attend school, school plays a significant role in development as a socialisation agent and provides an ideal venue for the delivery of prevention and intervention programs. Here, we present the first evidence regarding the effectiveness of the My FRIENDS emotional resilience program as a method of reducing anxiety among students in Slovenia and the feasibility of implementing the program at the national level. Grade 8 students (N = 78) were assigned either the intervention condition, the My FRIENDS program, or a no-treatment control condition. We measured general anxiety and its components using the AN-UD (Lestvica anksioznosti za učence in dijake) anxiety scale and internalising difficulties using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire at preintervention, postintervention, and 6-month follow-up assessments. Students in the intervention condition reported lower amounts of general anxiety and its cognitive component of worrying, and fewer internalising difficulties at the postintervention and follow-up assessments.

Validation of the Visual Analogue Scale for Anxiety-Revised and school refusal across anxiety profiles

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

This paper aimed to validate the Spanish version of scores of the Visual Analogue Scale for Anxiety-Revised (VAA-R) in child population, and to verify the existence of anxiety profiles and to relate them to school refusal.

METHOD

The sample was made up of 911 Spanish students between 8 and 12 years old (M = 9.61, SD = 1.23). The measures used were the VAA-R and the School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised for Children (SRAS-R-C).

RESULTS

Confirmatory factorial analysis supported the three-dimensional VAA-R structure: Anticipatory Anxiety (AA), School-based performance Anxiety (SA) and Generalized Anxiety (GA). The VAA-R has an adequate reliability and structural invariance across sex and age. No latent mean differences were found across sex, but did occur through age in AA and GA factors. Cluster analysis identified four child anxiety profiles: High Anxiety, High Anxiety School-type, Low Anxiety, and Moderate Anxiety, which differed significantly in all dimensions of school refusal.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings may be useful for the assessment and treatment of anxious symptoms originated at school.

Age of anxiety and depression revisited: A meta-analysis of two European community samples (1964-2015)

Background/Objective: Based on studies using established psychometric scales, Twenge and coworkers have shown substantial increases in trait anxiety, depressive symptoms and neuroticism in North American population samples since the 1950s. Similar analyses for European samples have not yet been conducted. Our study therefore examined whether similar secular trends exist in German-speaking and British non-clinical samples together with possible connected societal factors. Method: A literature search identified 131 studies (N = 63,269) using the STAI, BDI or EPI in non-clinical samples between 1964 and 2015. Seven societal factors from national statistics were included. We conducted meta-analyses with displayed means and moderation analyses of publication year for all scales. Results: In contrast to North America results, anxiety, depression and neuroticism showed no increase in the two European populations. Publication year correlated negatively with and moderated trait anxiety (GER) and neuroticism (UK). Most societal factors were highly correlated with year of publication. Trait anxiety and neuroticism were significantly predicted by age at marriage and unemployment rate in German-speaking countries. Conclusion: The difference in secular trends between European and North American samples may indicate society specific developments connected to different societal factors.

Aggression in late childhood and in early adolescence in Slovenia: two-wave cohort study

<b>Background</b><br /> The present study investigated age differences in trait aggression in the period of late childhood and early adolescence that are important for assessment of the aggression levels that are not in line with expected developmental trends and are in need of intervention. Additionally the authors present the time trends from measurement of aggression and its subtypes at two time points.<br /> <br /> <b>Participants and procedure</b><br /> The authors focus on specific subtypes of aggression relevant for the Slovenian context and for the development period. We used the LA aggression scale (general trait aggression and four factors: physical aggression, verbal aggression, internal aggression and aggression towards authority) as a measure of aggression in two age groups, 10-year-olds (n = 4,351) and 14-year-olds (n = 4,043), at two time points (in 2007 and in 2011).<br /> <b>Results</b><br /> The results show significant cross-sectional differences in the level of aggression. Older participants exhibit higher levels of general aggression as well as all four aggression types (also in a cohort design). The findings are aligned with contemporary research on personality development stressing greater stability after the period of adolescence. The time-related trends show a significant decrease in physical aggression and an increase in internal aggression from 2007 to 2011 in both observed age groups.<br /> <br /> <b>Conclusions</b><br /> The implications of the findings are discussed, and in line with the results early intervention is supported.

#Sleepyteens: Social media use in adolescence is associated with poor sleep quality, anxiety, depression and low self-esteem

This study examined how social media use related to sleep quality, self-esteem, anxiety and depression in 467 Scottish adolescents. We measured overall social media use, nighttime-specific social media use, emotional investment in social media, sleep quality, self-esteem and levels of anxiety and depression. Adolescents who used social media more - both overall and at night - and those who were more emotionally invested in social media experienced poorer sleep quality, lower self-esteem and higher levels of anxiety and depression. Nighttime-specific social media use predicted poorer sleep quality after controlling for anxiety, depression and self-esteem. These findings contribute to the growing body of evidence that social media use is related to various aspects of wellbeing in adolescents. In addition, our results indicate that nighttime-specific social media use and emotional investment in social media are two important factors that merit further investigation in relation to adolescent sleep and wellbeing.

The Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale–Second Edition Short Form

The psychometric properties of a new, brief measure, the Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale–Second Edition (RCMAS-2) Short Form, were examined in a sample of 1,003 U.S. elementary and secondary students. The RCMAS-2 Short Form consists of the first 10 items of the RCMAS-2. The results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the modified one-factor model provided an adequate fit for students in Grades 2 to 12. The results of tests of measurement invariance supported configural, weak, and strong invariance of the RCMAS-2 Short Form across gender and configural, weak, and partial strong invariance of the RCMAS-2 Short Form across age. Gender and age differences were also examined on the RCMAS-2 Short Form. The results of latent mean analyses indicated that adolescents (ages 12-19) and females had significantly higher factor means than children (ages 7-11) and males, respectively, on the RCMAS-2 Short Form. Moderate correlations between the RCMAS-2 Short Form scores and scores of measures of test anxiety were found. Implications of the findings for researchers and clinicians who work with children and adolescents are discussed.