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Slow Life History Strategies and Increases in Externalizing and Internalizing Problems During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Lei ChangYuan Yuan LiuHui Jing LuJennifer E LansfordMarc H BornsteinLaurence SteinbergKirby Deater-DeckardWilliam Andrew RothenbergAnn T SkinnerKenneth A Dodge
Published in: Journal of research on adolescence : the official journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence (2021)
The COVID-19 pandemic is but one of many instances of environmental adversities that have recurred in human history. Biobehavioral resource allocation strategies, known as fast (reproduction-focused) versus slow (development-focused) life history (LH) tradeoff strategies, evolved to deal with environmental challenges such as infectious diseases. Based on 141 young people and their mothers observed prior to (ages 9 and 13) and during (age 20) COVID-19, we investigated longitudinal relations involving slow LH strategies. The results support the adaptive role of slow LH strategies in reducing COVID-related increases in externalizing problems. In addition, the effect of early adversity on COVID-related increases in externalizing was mediated, and the effect on COVID-related increases in internalizing was moderated, by slow LH strategies.
Keyphrases
  • coronavirus disease
  • sars cov
  • mental health
  • risk assessment
  • cross sectional
  • respiratory syndrome coronavirus
  • high resolution
  • human health
  • early life
  • high speed
  • atomic force microscopy