Changes and predictors of adolescent emotion regulation, self-esteem, and locus of control during the COVID-19 pandemic: 2004 Pelotas Birth Cohort.

Objectives: There is growing interest in examining the impacts of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on adolescent socioemotional development. This study aimed to examine changes in adolescent emotion regulation (ER), self-esteem (SE), and locus of control (LoC) from before to during the pandemic in a Brazilian birth cohort, and to investigate the variables associated with changes in those socioemotional competences.

Methods: 1,949 adolescents from the 2004 Pelotas Birth Cohort were assessed before (T1, November 2019 to March 2020) and during (T2, August to December 2021) the COVID-19 pandemic (mean ages [SD] = 15.69 [0.19] and 17.41 [0.26], respectively). Adolescents' socioemotional competences were assessed, including ER, SE, and LoC. Sociodemographic, pre-pandemic, and pandemic-related correlates were examined as predictors of change. Multivariate latent change score models were used in the analyses.

Results: There were significant mean increases in adolescents' ER and SE (mean ER = 1.918, p < 0.001; mean SE = 1.561, p = 0.001) and a significant mean decrease (towards internalization) in LoC levels (MLoC = -0.497, p < 0.01) during the pandemic. Factors that predicted a lower competency increase included family conflicts, harsh parenting, and maternal depressive symptoms during the pandemic.

Conclusion: Despite the stress imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adolescents of this cohort showed positive development in their socioemotional competences. Family-related factors emerged as important predictors of adolescent socioemotional adjustment during the study period.