Finch Jules, Waters Allison M, Farrell Lara J
School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Australia.
School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Mt Gravatt Campus, Australia.
Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2025 Apr;56(2):1-13. doi: 10.1007/s10578-023-01568-z. Epub 2023 Jul 7.
Studies indicate the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in rises in adolescent mental health symptoms globally, although the impact of the pandemic on subjective wellbeing is under-researched in this population. Psychological capital (PsyCap), a cluster of four positive psychological constructs comprising hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism (HERO), has demonstrated preventative and promotive qualities on mental health symptoms and subjective wellbeing outcomes with adult populations (employees, university students). However, PsyCap's influence on these outcomes in young people is unclear. The present exploratory study investigated changes in self-reported anxiety and depressive symptoms (measured via the RCADS-SV) and subjective wellbeing (measured by the Flourishing Scale) from pre-pandemic levels to 3 months into the pandemic and explored gender differences at each time point in a sample of Australian Year 10 students (N = 56, Mage = 14.93 years, SD = 0.50, 51.8% male). The longitudinal predictive role of baseline PsyCap on follow-up assessments of anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms and flourishing were also examined. There were no significant changes in levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms between the timepoints, but flourishing significantly declined from T1 to T2. Baseline PsyCap was not a significant predictor of T2 anxiety and depressive symptoms but was a significant predictor of T2 flourishing. Further, different baseline HERO constructs predicted T2 mental health symptoms and flourishing. Future larger studies building on the current preliminary findings investigating the roles of student PsyCap, mental health and subjective wellbeing are warranted to better understand these constructs in the COVID-19 era and beyond.
研究表明，新冠疫情已导致全球青少年心理健康症状增多，尽管疫情对这一人群主观幸福感的影响尚未得到充分研究。心理资本（PsyCap）是由希望、效能、复原力和乐观主义（HERO）这四种积极心理构念组成的集群，已在成年人群体（员工、大学生）中显示出对心理健康症状和主观幸福感结果具有预防和促进作用。然而，心理资本对年轻人这些结果的影响尚不清楚。本探索性研究调查了澳大利亚10年级学生样本（N = 56，年龄中位数Mage = 14.93岁，标准差SD = 0.50，男性占51.8%）从疫情前到疫情开始3个月期间自我报告的焦虑和抑郁症状（通过RCADS - SV测量）以及主观幸福感（通过蓬勃发展量表测量）的变化，并探讨了每个时间点的性别差异。还考察了基线心理资本对焦虑症状、抑郁症状和蓬勃发展后续评估的纵向预测作用。各时间点之间焦虑和抑郁症状水平没有显著变化，但从T1到T2蓬勃发展显著下降。基线心理资本不是T2焦虑和抑郁症状的显著预测因素，但却是T2蓬勃发展的显著预测因素。此外，不同的基线HERO构念预测了T2心理健康症状和蓬勃发展。基于当前初步研究结果，未来有必要开展更大规模的研究，调查学生心理资本、心理健康和主观幸福感的作用，以便更好地理解新冠疫情时代及以后的这些构念。
