The COVID-19 pandemic has posed notable challenges to post-secondary students, causing concern for their psychological well-being. In the face of school closures, academic disruptions, and constraints on social gatherings, it is crucial to understand the extent to which mental health among post-secondary students has been impacted in order to inform support implementation for this population. The present meta-analysis examines the global prevalence of clinically significant depression and anxiety among post-secondary students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Several moderator analyses were also performed to examine sources of variability in depression and anxiety prevalence rates. A systematic search was conducted across six databases on May 3, 2021, yielding a total of 176 studies (1,732,456 participants) which met inclusion criteria. Random-effects meta-analyses of 126 studies assessing depression symptoms and 144 studies assessing anxiety symptoms were conducted. The pooled prevalence estimates of clinically elevated depressive and anxiety symptoms for post-secondary students during the COVID-19 pandemic was 30.6% (95% CI: 0.274, 0.340) and 28.2% (CI: 0.246, 0.321), respectively. The month of data collection and geographical region were determined to be significant moderators. However, student age, sex, type (i.e., healthcare student vs. non-healthcare student), and level of training (i.e., undergraduate, university or college generally; graduate, medical, post-doctorate, fellow, trainee), were not sources of variability in pooled rates of depression and anxiety symptoms during the pandemic. The current study indicates a call for continued access to mental health services to ensure post-secondary students receive adequate support during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.Systematic Review Registration: PROSPERO website: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, identifier: CRD42021253547.

Keeping secrets from one’s partner has been associated with lower well-being and relationship satisfaction. Previous research has suggested that individual differences in self-concealment account for these effects. However, we propose that the fear of discovery (FoD)—defined as the fear that one’s secret may be revealed by means other than deliberate disclosure—predicts the extent to which secrets affect well-being beyond the effects attributable to individual differences. Both a cross-sectional and a longitudinal survey (combined N = 471; 54.4% female; Mage = 39.5) of adults in romantic relationships confirmed that FoD predicted greater preoccupation with the secret, more negative affect, and less relationship satisfaction and commitment beyond that of self-concealment. Multilevel modeling in Study 2 indicated that changes in FoD predicted changes in preoccupation over time. The data are consistent with the notion that FoD promotes greater preoccupation, greater negative affect, and lower levels of relationship well-being.

Objective: Attempts by governments around the world to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 have substantially altered the early rearing environment, raising concerns about potential negative consequences for babies born during this time. The objective of this study was to determine whether infants born during the COVID-19 pandemic were at greater risk of screening positive for developmental delay compared with infants born before the pandemic. Methods: Participants were from 2 longitudinal cohorts. The prepandemic cohort, Impact of Maternal and Paternal Postpartum Depression, recruited postpartum individuals in the period between 2015 and 2018. Infant development milestone data (Ages and Stages Questionnaire [ASQ-3]) were collected at 1-year postpartum (n = 2903), between 2016 and 2019. The pandemic cohort, Pregnancy during the Pandemic, recruited pregnant individuals between April 2020 and April 2021. Infant development milestone data (ASQ-3) were collected at 1-year postpartum (n = 3742), between May 2021 and December 2022. Sociodemographic information, pregnancy outcomes, and depression symptom data were also collected. Results: In covariate-adjusted analyses, pandemic-born infants had lower mean scores and higher odds of screening positive for delay on the Communication, Gross Motor, and Personal-Social domains of the ASQ-3 compared with prepandemic infants. Sex differences showed that males and females screened “at risk” in different domains. Conclusion: Most pandemic-born infants display typical development, and differences between prepandemic and pandemic-born infants were small. Nevertheless, an increased risk for delayed development among pandemic-born infants suggests the need for ongoing monitoring to determine what, if any, resources and interventions are needed to support healthy child development.

Telehealth interventions have the opportunity to scale evidenced-based therapeutics and increase service access to historically hard to reach populations, including rural, and minority groups. Behavior management parenting interventions are a best-practice intervention to treat a range of disruptive behavior disorders and family dysfunction concerns, which have traditionally occurred in person, but recently been trialed online due to growing demand and a need for remote delivery during COVID-19. There is limited and mixed information to date regarding evidence for online services and minimal research on client and therapeutic factors associated with better outcomes, which is critical for advancing efficacy in the rapidly-growing approach to treating child mental illness. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis (k = 24, total number of intervention participants = 1469 and control participants = 800) of the impact of digital parent training interventions on parent skill, parent mental health, and child externalizing mental health outcomes from 2000 to 2020, among children 2-12 years old, across four databases. Exclusionary criteria include programs targeted for parents of children with intellectual disabilities, autism, brain injury, nutrition/health/dental needs or primary medical diagnosis. Across outcomes, there was a modest effect size of digital parent training interventions (g =.22-.30), compared to controls using random effect two-level and multi-level models. Study heterogeneity varied across outcomes (I² = 18.6% to 66.3%). Results of publication bias were mixed across tests, but they were suggestive of a slight inflation of the effects sizes across outcomes. We tested several moderators related to child demographics, family socioeconomic status, intervention design, and risk of bias. We found the effects of digital parent training on parent skills and child outcomes were stronger if the intervention used was evidence-based, combined hybrid interactive platforms with a therapist and was compared to an inactive control. Given the limitations from the existing literature assess moderating effects regarding population characteristics (i.e. SES, parent mental health), we call on future studies to provide standardized demographics to aide future knowledge synthesis work and provide templates for shared measurement. We preregistered our meta-analysis here, with datafile, code and supplementary: https://osf.io/e35bt/.