Lee, Yeon (2022) Are Changes in Anxiety in Children and Adolescents Following COVID-19 Predicted by Parental Rejection? Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Anxiety is a highly prevalent and debilitating mental illness in school-aged children worldwide. Ongoing since December 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented, global health disaster, and much remains unknown about the long-term mental health impacts on young people. Utilising parent-reported surveys, this longitudinal study investigated how anxiety in 5-17-year-old children and adolescents changed over the 12 months following the first Australian COVID-19 lockdown in May 2020 and if parental rejection predicted changes. The baseline sample included 207 participants. Repeated measures ANOVAs revealed anxiety, measured by the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale, in children and adolescents decreased at 6-months then increased to approximately baseline levels at 12-months. Regression analyses also revealed parental rejection, measured by the Parents as a Social Construct Questionnaire, did not predict changes. The proportion of young people at baseline experiencing clinical anxiety levels were considerably higher than reported levels pre-COVID-19, which may suggest anxiety in young people has increased overall. While this study was unable to determine whether these increases resulted from COVID-19 impacts, this study showed anxiety levels had not improved 12 months later. This is concerning given existing mental health resources were already over-burdened pre-COVID-19. Thus, it is critical large-scale anxiety treatment interventions are developed to support young people who have experienced and continue to experience adverse impacts from COVID-19. This study’s findings and further research monitoring long-term COVID-19 impacts on young Australians’ mental health may inform the development of such resources for future COVID-19 events and other potential largescale disasters.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Current – Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Wellbeing (1 Jan 2022 -) |
| Supervisors: | Arlen Rowe |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 30 May 2025 02:01 |
| Last Modified: | 30 May 2025 02:01 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | COVID-19; child and adolescent anxiety; anxiety in young people; parental rejection; disaster |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52497 |
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