Emotion regulation is compared across pre-pandemic and pandemic cohorts of adolescents.
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Females show an earlier window of stress-related vulnerability than males.
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Advanced maturity in vocational school males as assessed by boneage estimation.
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Advanced maturation moves the vulnerability window to an earlier time.
Abstract
Background
The COVID-19 pandemic created unpredictable circumstances resulting in increased psychological strain. Here we investigate pandemic-related alterations in emotion regulation in adolescents assessed before and during the pandemic. We also take biological age into account in the response to the pandemic.
Methods
Mann-Whitney U tests were conducted to compare baseline data on the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) total scores of a pre-pandemic adolescent cohort (n = 241) with those obtained during the second wave of the pandemic (n = 266). We estimated biological age based on an ultrasonic boneage assessment procedure in a subgroup of males, including grammar school and vocational school students in the 9th and 10th grades, and analyzed their data independently.
Findings
There is a gender difference in the timing of vulnerability for pandemic-related stress in grammar school students: females are affected a year earlier than males. Vocational school male students mature faster than grammar school male students, and the timing of emotional vulnerability also precedes that of the grammar school students'.
Discussion
We interpret our findings within a developmental model suggesting that there might be a window of highest vulnerability in adolescent emotion regulation. The timing of the window is determined by both chronological and biological age, and it is different for females and males.
Application to practice
Defining the exact temporal windows of vulnerability for different adolescent cohorts allows for the timely integration of preventive actions into adolescent care to protect mental health during future chronic stressful situations.
