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Divergent Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms and Posttraumatic Growth Among Adolescents During and Post-Pandemic.

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Title: Divergent Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms and Posttraumatic Growth Among Adolescents During and Post-Pandemic.
Authors: Yu, Jiaming1,2, Zhen, Rui1,3 zhenrui1206@126.com
Source: Journal of Youth & Adolescence. May2026, Vol. 55 Issue 5, p1156-1166. 11p.
Subject Terms: *High schools, *Psychological resilience, *Psychological adaptation, *Longitudinal method, *Mental depression, *COVID-19 pandemic, Scale analysis (Psychology), Cronbach's alpha, Mental health, Research funding, Questionnaires, Posttraumatic growth, Descriptive statistics, Chi-squared test, Latent structure analysis, Data analysis software, Time, Psychosocial factors
Geographic Terms: China
Abstract: Adolescents may experience both depressive symptoms and posttraumatic growth during and post-pandemic, yet little is known about how the two psychological responses unfold together over time among heterogeneous adolescents. Participants were 722 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 12.74, SD = 0.65; 47.93% were female) who were followed annually from 2021 to 2023. This study examined the developmental trajectories of depressive symptoms and posttraumatic growth, and compared the variations in their coexistence patterns across the three years. Overall, depressive symptoms increased while posttraumatic growth declined over time. In 2021 and 2022, four patterns of psychological adjustment were observed, including resilient (low depressive symptoms, low growth), struggling (high depressive symptoms, high growth), thriving (low depressive symptoms, high growth), and demoralizing (high depressive symptoms, low growth) groups. By 2023, these patterns narrowed to two adaptive groups, resilient and thriving groups. This shift did not reflect psychological convergence; instead, individual differences in depressive symptoms became more pronounced over time, whereas variability in posttraumatic growth remained relatively stable. Notably, declines in posttraumatic growth tended to precede worsening depressive symptoms among more vulnerable adolescents, suggesting that the loss of positive psychological resources may signal later mental health difficulties. Together, these findings showed that adolescents' post-pandemic adjustment was marked by increasing average distress alongside growing individual divergence, highlighting the need to understand adolescent mental health as a set of evolving and unequal developmental pathways rather than a single shared trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Journal of Youth & Adolescence is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Education Research Complete
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  Data: Adolescents may experience both depressive symptoms and posttraumatic growth during and post-pandemic, yet little is known about how the two psychological responses unfold together over time among heterogeneous adolescents. Participants were 722 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 12.74, SD = 0.65; 47.93% were female) who were followed annually from 2021 to 2023. This study examined the developmental trajectories of depressive symptoms and posttraumatic growth, and compared the variations in their coexistence patterns across the three years. Overall, depressive symptoms increased while posttraumatic growth declined over time. In 2021 and 2022, four patterns of psychological adjustment were observed, including resilient (low depressive symptoms, low growth), struggling (high depressive symptoms, high growth), thriving (low depressive symptoms, high growth), and demoralizing (high depressive symptoms, low growth) groups. By 2023, these patterns narrowed to two adaptive groups, resilient and thriving groups. This shift did not reflect psychological convergence; instead, individual differences in depressive symptoms became more pronounced over time, whereas variability in posttraumatic growth remained relatively stable. Notably, declines in posttraumatic growth tended to precede worsening depressive symptoms among more vulnerable adolescents, suggesting that the loss of positive psychological resources may signal later mental health difficulties. Together, these findings showed that adolescents' post-pandemic adjustment was marked by increasing average distress alongside growing individual divergence, highlighting the need to understand adolescent mental health as a set of evolving and unequal developmental pathways rather than a single shared trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of Youth & Adolescence is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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RecordInfo BibRecord:
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        Value: 10.1007/s10964-026-02320-1
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      – Code: eng
        Text: English
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        PageCount: 11
        StartPage: 1156
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: High schools
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Psychological resilience
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Psychological adaptation
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Longitudinal method
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Mental depression
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: COVID-19 pandemic
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Scale analysis (Psychology)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Cronbach's alpha
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Mental health
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Research funding
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Questionnaires
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Posttraumatic growth
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Descriptive statistics
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Chi-squared test
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Latent structure analysis
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Data analysis software
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Time
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Psychosocial factors
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: China
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Divergent Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms and Posttraumatic Growth Among Adolescents During and Post-Pandemic.
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            NameFull: Yu, Jiaming
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            NameFull: Zhen, Rui
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              M: 05
              Text: May2026
              Type: published
              Y: 2026
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