Adolescents' meaning making of salient emotional experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract

Introduction: This mixed-method longitudinal study examined American adolescents' meaning making of salient COVID-19 pandemic events.

Method: Within phone interviews, adolescents (N = 124, M_age = 15.76 years; 46% Latine) narrated their most emotionally impactful pandemic experience at two time points ~30 days apart between July 2020 and March 2021. Narratives were coded for (1) content (i.e., event-type, relation to the pandemic, and the valence of the event [positive or negative]), (2) linguistic markers of subjective event processing (internal state language such as positive emotion, negative emotion, and cognition words), (3) narrative meaning-making, and (4) the outcome of adolescents' meaning-making (i.e., their "meanings made").

Results: About 30% of adolescents spontaneously made meaning of their experience. Negative emotion words within narratives at time 1 positively predicted meaning making at time 2. Meaning making at time 1 predicted increased use of cognition words at time 2. Meaning making themes included: recognizing the threat of COVID-19, coping with a pandemic, and shifts in perspectives.

Discussion: Salient emotional experiences that occur during adolescence are likely to be remembered and contribute to one's life story. This work provides a window into how the COVID-19 pandemic may have shaped adolescent development in the United States.