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Introduction: The present study investigated whether social-emotional skills in first year college students differed before and after the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdowns. Methods: Participants (N = 1,685) consisted of first year college students (mean age 18.53 years) selected from a broader cohort enrolled in a longitudinal study on college mental health at liberal arts colleges in the United States. In a cohortsequential design, participants completed an online survey assessing social-emotional skills in January of 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2022. Using analysis of covariance, we examined mean differences in social-emotional skills between students who were first years before (January 2018-2020) and after the lockdowns (January 2022), controlling for sociodemographic variables. Results: The post-lockdown group scored significantly lower on emotional control and expressivity and marginally higher on social sensitivity compared to the pre-lockdown group. No group differences in social/emotional expressivity or social control were detected. Discussion: These findings indicate that the COVID-19 lockdowns impaired some, but not all, social-emotional skills in first year college students. Addressing social-emotional skills in college may help to reduce the COVID-19 mental health burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Psychological resilience – positive psychological adaptation in the context of adversity – is defined and measured in multiple ways across disciplines. However, little is known about whether definitions capture the same underlying construct and/or share similar correlates. This study examined the congruence of different resilience measures and associations with sociodemographic factors and body mass index (BMI), a key health indicator. Methods: In a cross-sectional sample of 1429 African American adults exposed to child maltreatment, we derived four resilience measures: a self-report scale assessing resiliency (perceived trait resilience); a binary variable defining resilience as low depression and posttraumatic stress (absence of distress); a binary variable defining resilience as low distress and high positive affect (absence of distress plus positive functioning); and a continuous variable reflecting individuals' deviation from distress levels predicted by maltreatment severity (relative resilience). Associations between resilience measures, sociodemographic factors, and BMI were assessed using correlations and regressions. Results: Resilience measures were weakly-to-moderately correlated (0.27–0.69), though similarly patterned across sociodemographic factors. Women showed higher relative resilience, but lower perceived trait resilience than men. Only measures incorporating positive affect or resiliency perceptions were associated with BMI: individuals classified as resilient by absence of distress plus positive functioning had lower BMI than non-resilient (β = −2.10, p = 0.026), as did those with higher perceived trait resilience (β = −0.63, p = 0.046). Conclusion: Relatively low congruence between resilience measures suggests studies will yield divergent findings about predictors, prevalence, and consequences of resilience. Efforts to clearly define resilience are needed to better understand resilience and inform intervention and prevention efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Early‐onset depression during childhood and adolescence is associated with a worse course of illness and outcome than adult onset. However, the genetic factors that influence risk for early‐onset depression remain mostly unknown. Using data collected over 13 years, we examined whether polygenic risk scores (PRS) that capture genetic risk for depression were associated with depressive symptom trajectories assessed from childhood to adolescence. Methods: Data came from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a prospective, longitudinal birth cohort (analytic sample = 7,308 youth). We analyzed the relationship between genetic susceptibility to depression and three time‐dependent measures of depressive symptoms trajectories spanning 4–16.5 years of age (class, onset, and cumulative burden). Trajectories were constructed using a growth mixture model with structured residuals. PRS were generated from the summary statistics of a genome‐wide association study of depression risk using data from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, UK Biobank, and 23andMe, Inc. We used MAGMA to identify gene‐level associations with these measures. Results: Youth were classified into six classes of depressive symptom trajectories: high/renitent (27.9% of youth), high/reversing (9.1%), childhood decrease (7.3%), late childhood peak (3.3%), adolescent spike (2.5%), and minimal symptoms (49.9%). PRS discriminated between youth in the late childhood peak, high/reversing, and high/renitent classes compared to the minimal symptoms and childhood decrease classes. No significant associations were detected at the gene level. Conclusions: This study highlights differences in polygenic loading for depressive symptoms across childhood and adolescence, particularly among youths with high symptoms in early adolescence, regardless of age‐independent patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]