Abstract
Restrictions associated with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic created a host of short- and long-term economic challenges for families. Despite their ubiquity during the early pandemic, knowledge on the developmental impacts of pandemic-related financial hardships on adolescents’ adjustment is lacking. Guided by family stress and life course perspectives, this study investigated direct and indirect relations between pandemic-related financial hardships and adolescents’ later depressive symptoms, delinquency, and academic performance via parents’ depressive symptoms and acceptance. Data were drawn from three waves of a longitudinal study; participants completed online surveys at Wave 1, COVID-19 Wave (seven months later) and Wave 2 (five months later). Participants were two adolescent-aged siblings (n = 1364; 50% female; Mage = 14.45, SD = 1.55 years) and one parent (n = 682; 85% female; Mage = 45.15, SD = 5.37 years) from 682 families (N = 2048). Structural equation modeling results indicated that pandemic-related financial hardships were indirectly linked to greater adolescent delinquency and lower academic performance by adversely shaping parents’ mental health and parent-adolescent relationship quality. The findings highlight financial hardships as critical family stressors for adolescent adjustment during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the families that participated in this study for their time and dedication to the project. We also thank the Penn State Survey Research Center for their efforts in the recruitment of the sample and data collection process. Finally, we thank Brian C. Kelly, Jennifer L. Maggs, and Sarah A. Mustillo for their contributions to this study.
Funding
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health under award numbers R01AA025331 and R01AA030191 (to S.D.W.). The content is solely the authors' responsibility and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Data Sharing and DeclarationThe datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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S.M. conceived of the study, performed statistical analyses, and drafted the manuscript; A.M.D. conceived of the study, participated in data interpretation, and helped to draft the manuscript; S.S. participated in the design of the study and performed revised statistical analysis; S.D.W. participated in the study design, coordination and interpretation of the data, and revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Maiya, S., Dotterer, A.M., Serang, S. et al. COVID-19 Pandemic-Related Financial Hardships and Adolescents’ Adjustment: A Longitudinal Family Stress Approach. J. Youth Adolescence 53, 432–445 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-023-01875-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-023-01875-7