Contributions of Emotion Regulation and Brain Structure and Function to Adolescent Internalizing Problems and Stress Vulnerability During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Background Adolescence is a period of increased vulnerability for internalizing problems, particularly following stressful life events. We examined how emotion regulation and brain structure and function were associated with internalizing problems during the COVID-19 pandemic and moderated the association between pandemic-related stressors and internalizing problems. Methods Data are from a longitudinal sample ( N = 145, age range, 10–15 years) strategically assessed at 3 crucial time points: before the COVID-19 pandemic, early during the stay-at-home order period, and again 6 months later. We examined associations of amygdala and hippocampal volume and amygdala activation during an emotional processing task before the pandemic, examined use of emotion regulation strategies before and during the pandemic, and examined pandemic-related stressors with internalizing problems. Results Greater exposure to pandemic-related stressors was associated with higher internalizing problems both early and later in the COVID-19 pandemic. Youths who reported more frequent use of rumination before the pandemic and higher use of expressive suppression and lower use of cognitive reappraisal early in the pandemic had higher internalizing problems early in the pandemic. Higher left amygdala activation to neutral relative to fearful faces before the pandemic was associated with greater internalizing problems and a stronger link between pandemic-related stressors and internalizing problems early in the pandemic. Conclusions Stressors related to the COVID-19 pandemic are strongly associated with adolescent internalizing problems, as are individual differences in emotional reactivity and regulation and their underlying neural mechanisms. Interventions that reduce pandemic-related stressors and foster adaptive emotion regulation skills may protect against adolescent psychopathology during this period of heightened exposure to stress.

Mood Variability Among Early Adolescents in Times of Social Constraints: A Daily Diary Study During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…With the ongoing progression of the COVID-19 pandemic, future research should closely continue monitoring levels of mood of children and adolescents, and examine how this relates to their daily activities (i.e., school performance, school motivation, and social activities; Klootwijk et al, 2021). With the prolonged duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, the negative effects on emotional wellbeing of children and adolescents become more visible (Green et al, 2021;Weissman et al, 2021).…”

Multiple Roles of Grit in the Relationship Between Interpersonal Stress and Psychological Security of College Freshmen

“…Although the protective effect of positive psychology (resilience, self-resilience, and emotional regulation) on mental health has been recognized by many researchers ( Hobfoll, 1989 ; Vanderbilt-Adriance and Shaw, 2008 ; Sleijpen et al, 2017 ; Weissman et al, 2021 ), there are two different views on the mechanism of positive psychology between stress and mental health ( Li et al, 2012 ). One is the stress-buffering hypothesis.…”

Coping under stress: Prefrontal control predicts stress burden during the COVID-19 crisis

“…Specifically, we found a significant negative relationship between right IFG activity during emotion regulation assessed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and stress burden approximately four weeks after the lockdown in Germany. In light of unforeseen first-level threat entailing immediate danger to health and emotional challenges due to the dramatic, unprecedented social contact restrictions at the beginning of the crisis with high levels of emotional arousal, fear and the imminent feeling of loneliness (Bauerle et al, 2020; Brooks et al, 2020; Dubey et al, 2020; Odriozola-Gonzalez, Planchuelo-Gomez, Irurtia, & de Luis-Garcia, 2020), affective coping was particularly needed (Groarke et al, 2020; Restubog, Ocampo, & Wang, 2020; Weissman et al, 2021). Our results support this assumption, indicating that participants who are characterized by higher affective control were able to cope better with these initial threats and uncertainties of an unprecedented stressor like the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…Given the ongoing uncertainties about the course and duration of the pandemic and its unprecedented nature, we had no specific a-priori hypotheses about how neural activity predict stress burden at different stages of the pandemic. However, based on previous findings (Brehl et al, 2021; Weissman et al, 2021; Yang et al, 2020), we speculate that the ability to control emotions in order to overcome perceived stress burden would be highly necessary at the beginning of the first wave of the COVID-19 crisis, when participants were confronted with direct threat due to high infection and death numbers (first-level threat). By contrast and based on previous findings assessed during the course of the pandemic (Appelhans et al, 2021), we anticipated that cognitive control would become increasingly important in order to cope with the ongoing uncertainties during the pandemic (second-level threat).…”

“…Indeed, so far, several studies investigated the effect of emotion regulation strategies and cognitive control on well-being and mental health during the pandemic. Findings indicate that adaptive emotion regulation strategies predicted increased well-being, whereas maladaptive emotion regulation strategies and deficits in cognitive control predicted higher levels of anxiety, greater depressive symptoms, reduced quality of life, risky health behavior, and diminished well-being during the pandemic (Appelhans, Thomas, Roisman, Booth-LaForce, & Bleil, 2021; Breaux et al, 2021; Brehl, Schene, Kohn, & Fernández, 2021; Low, Overall, Chang, & Henderson, 2020; Panayiotou, Panteli, & Leonidou, 2021; Weissman et al, 2021; Yang, Liu, Li, & Shu, 2020). While affective control, such as reappraisal, involves the adaptive modulation of emotions in response to unpleasant stimuli (Gross, 2015; Holley, Ewing, Stiver, & Bloch, 2017), cognitive control includes the inhibition of inappropriate or ineffective behavior (Aron, 2007).…”