Adolescent wellbeing during the pandemic: the role of socioeconomic position, gender, psychological capital, and social support

Background: Adolescents’ mental health was significantly affected during the COVID-19 pandemic, with evidence of socioeconomic and gender disparities. Knowledge about psychological factors that could protect adolescents against poor mental health during stressful times is thus necessary. Participants and procedure: Data were collected mid-2021 among 498 Dutch adolescents (52.21% female, age M = 13.73, SD = 0.80). Measures included mental health and loneliness as dependent variables (DVs), subjective socioeconomic position as the independent variable (IV), and social support and psychological capital (PsyCap) as mediators. Results: The findings revealed that particularly girls and pupils with a lower socioeconomic position reported poorer mental health and higher loneliness. Furthermore, whereas PsyCap mediated the relationship between socioeconomic position and mental health/loneliness for both genders, social support mediated these relationships primarily for girls. Conclusions: This study highlights the importance of protective psychological resources to help adolescents cope with the adverse effects of socioeconomic and pandemic-related stressors. Interventions targeting these factors may be beneficial in promoting ado-lescent well-being.