Caregiver and Youth Mental Health during COVID-19: Risk and Resilience Factors in a Large National Sample in Peru

Abstract

The present study examined the prevalence and correlates of psychosocial impairment in a large, national sample of Peruvian children and adolescents (ages 5.0–17.9) during the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2020. A sample of 8263 online questionnaires were completed by caregivers in Peru between 23 October–26 November 2020. In addition to sociodemographic and pandemic-related factors, the survey administered the Peruvian Spanish version of the Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC-17) to assess child psychosocial risk. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Kessler-6 (K-6), and Brief Resilience Scale (BRS-6) assessed caregiver depression, psychological distress, and resilience, respectively. In this case, 33% of the children were at overall risk on the PSC-17. In adjusted models, caregiver distress, depression, and low resilience, as well as having a family member with a health risk factor were the strongest predictors of child psychosocial risk, accounting for nearly 1.2 to 2.1 times the likelihood of risk individually and 2.4 to 3.4 times the likelihood of risk when summed. Due to the opt-in sampling method, the obtained sample was likely skewed toward more advantaged families, suggesting that the study’s high prevalence of PSC-17 positivity might have been even higher in a more economically representative sample. Given the prevalence of psychosocial problems in Peruvian youth during COVID-19, preventive interventions, with a special focus on family-level approaches that involve and support parents as well as children, are clearly warranted.