Department of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Kensington, Sydney, Australia.
University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2024 Dec;59(12):2361-2368. doi: 10.1007/s00127-024-02724-z. Epub 2024 Jul 9.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it significant social, economic and health uncertainties. These were proposed to impact young people more compared to adults, leading adolescents to report more mental health problems during the pandemic. The current study examined whether differences in cognitive risk (tolerance of uncertainty) and protective (psychological flexibility) factors accounted for age-related differences in depression and anxiety.
These associations were investigated in the COVID-19 Risks Across the Lifespan (CORAL) cohort (N = 2280, 11-89 years).
The results showed that adolescents experienced greater intolerance of uncertainty and lower psychological flexibility compared to adults and older adults. Tolerance of uncertainty did not account for age-related differences in depression or anxiety. However, psychological flexibility conferred more protective advantage for anxiety in adults compared to adolescents.
The observed age-related differences in risk and protective factors advance our understanding of developmental vulnerabilities to depression and anxiety. Implications for mental health interventions in the context of future pandemics are discussed.
新冠疫情带来了重大的社会、经济和健康不确定性。这些不确定性被认为比成年人对年轻人的影响更大，导致青少年在疫情期间报告更多的心理健康问题。本研究旨在探讨认知风险（不确定性容忍度）和保护因素（心理灵活性）的差异是否可以解释抑郁和焦虑的年龄相关差异。
本研究在新冠疫情全生命周期风险（CORAL）队列中进行（N=2280 名，年龄 11-89 岁）。
结果显示，与成年人和老年人相比，青少年的不确定性容忍度更低，心理灵活性更低。不确定性容忍度并不能解释抑郁或焦虑的年龄相关差异。然而，与青少年相比，心理灵活性对成年人的焦虑具有更大的保护作用。
观察到的风险和保护因素的年龄相关差异，加深了我们对抑郁和焦虑的发展易感性的理解。讨论了未来大流行背景下对心理健康干预的影响。
