Contributions of Social Support to Mitigate Pediatric Internalizing Symptoms During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Prior research highlighted the broad, widespread ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of adults, children, and youth globally, which may be attenuated by social support. Social support, defined as one's belief that others will help in times of need, may protect against the imp...
| Publicado en: | Journal of Child & Family Studies Vol. 34; no. 8; pp. 2184 - 2195 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Springer Nature
Aug2025
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=187624439&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 187624439 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 10621024 JFM jtl: Journal of Child & Family Studies issn: 10621024 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Aug2025 vid: 34 iid: 8 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 187624439 10.1007/s10826-025-03121-z ppf: 2184 ppct: 11 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 667KB tig: atl: Contributions of Social Support to Mitigate Pediatric Internalizing Symptoms During the COVID-19 Pandemic. aug: au: Mactavish, Alexandra Mastronardi, Carli Babb, Kimberley A. Menna, Rosanne Amstadter, Ananda B. Battaglia, Marco Rappaport, Lance M. affil: https://ror.org/01gw3d370 University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, Canada https://ror.org/02nkdxk79 Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA https://ror.org/03dbr7087 Centre for Addiction and Mental Health & University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada su: Ontario Post-traumatic stress disorder Self-evaluation Psychological distress Internalizing behavior Anxiety Social support Public health COVID-19 pandemic Mental depression Children Research funding Symptom burden Pediatrics Longitudinal method sug: subj: Post-traumatic stress disorder Self-evaluation Psychological distress Internalizing behavior Anxiety Social support Public health COVID-19 pandemic Mental depression Children Ontario Health and Welfare Funds Other Individual and Family Services Research funding Symptom burden Pediatrics Longitudinal method keyword: COVID-19 Internalizing symptoms Longitudinal Medical and Health Sciences Public Health and Health Services Psychology and Cognitive Sciences Psychology COVID-19 Internalizing symptoms Longitudinal Medical and Health Sciences Public Health and Health Services Psychology and Cognitive Sciences Psychology ab: Prior research highlighted the broad, widespread ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of adults, children, and youth globally, which may be attenuated by social support. Social support, defined as one's belief that others will help in times of need, may protect against the impact of myriad life stressors on the development of psychopathology. The present study examined the potential for perceived social support to mitigate the longitudinal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children's internalizing symptoms. Pairs (N = 317) of one child aged 8–13 and their parent/guardian reported on the child's emotional distress, irritability, depressive, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress symptoms at baseline and seven follow-up assessments over nine months between June 2020 and December 2021; at each assessment, children also reported their current perceptions of social support from family and friends. Families were recruited in two cohorts in June-July 2020 (n = 190) and November 2020 to January 2021 (n = 127). Although symptoms fluctuated over time, children's baseline perception of social support availability from family and friends did not predict interindividual variability in symptom change over time. Social support fluctuated over time. At each monthly assessment, elevations in social support relative to one's own mean were associated with decreased children's symptomatology from both child and parent/guardian perspectives. Children self-reported, and parents/guardians observed, lower symptom severity in months when children reported higher social support. Findings highlight the importance of social support for pediatric mental health and suggest that social support may be bolstered during public health crises to assist children. Highlights: Through 20 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, children and a parent/guardian reported on children's internalizing syndromes. Social support did not predict change in child internalizing syndromes over time. Children reported fluctuations, but not linear change, in their perceived social support from friends and family. Monthly social support was associated with child- and parent/guardian-report of children's internalizing symptoms. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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