Health Psychology Report · Published 2025-10-23 · DOI 10.5114/hpr/210092
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.
Abstract from DOAJ. Public domain (CC0 1.0).
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