PREDICTORS OF COVID-19-RELATED POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS AND ANXIETY IN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN CHINA

Research on the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth is needed. Youth may be particularly vulnerable to negative consequences of the pandemic due to the widespread implementation of social distancing measures (including school closures) during a critical time of development. The present study examined factors associated with COVID-19- related distress in vocational high school students in China (N = 294). Participants were recruited in May 2020 and completed online self-report measures. Zero-inflated negative binomial regression and multiple logistic regression were used to evaluate the relationship of self-reported history of mental health concerns, duration of isolation and quarantine measures, impact of the pandemic on daily activities (e.g., transition to online learning), behaviors changed as a result of COVID-19 (e.g., wearing a mask), and attitudes surrounding the pandemic (e.g., risk is exaggerated) on pandemic-related posttraumatic stress and anxiety. Self-reported history of mental health concerns significantly predicted pandemic-related posttraumatic stress, as measured by the Impact of Event Scale-Revised; and anxiety during the pandemic, as measured by the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7. Approximately 8% of respondents reported clinically significant levels of posttraumatic stress due to the pandemic, and 4% reported clinical levels of anxiety. Although widespread lockdown measures in China were starting to be lifted around the time of data collection, potentially contributing to lower rates of moderate to severe psychological impact than have been reported for the general population of China (e.g., Wang et al., 2020), some high school students exhibited signs of enduring distress at clinical levels. History of mental illness may be a risk factor for/signs of ongoing psychological impact in adolescents and should prompt screening for intervention.