Pandemic Onset, Individual Differences, and Dimensional Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety Among Emerging Adults

Background: Growing research indicates complex relationships among dimensions of depression and anxiety. Vulnerability to depression and anxiety in emerging adults, due to individual difference factors, may be intensified by disruptions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Undergraduates (n=653, mean age=19.8, range 18–23) completed questionnaires that assessed distinct dimensions of depression (motivational anhedonia: MA, low positive affect: LPA), anxiety (anxious apprehension, anxious arousal), and rumination as well as factors associated with risk in this population (age, trauma exposure, approach-avoidance temperament). One portion of the sample completed questionnaires before and the other after the onset of COVID restrictions. Results: Post-onset participants reported higher MA and, for older students, higher repetitive negative thinking. Other relationships emerged between specific dimensions and individual differences. Conclusions: Distinguishing specific dimensions of internalizing symptoms in the context of new pandemic restrictions provided insight into risk and protective factors that may contribute to internalizing symptom vulnerability.