RAPID: Collaborative Research: Understanding At-Risk Adolescents' and Parents' Daily Experiences During COVID-19

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While the COVID-19 pandemic has far-reaching effects on communities and individuals, its impact on at-risk youth may be particularly pervasive and distinct. This RAPID project will study how at-risk adolescents and their parents experience COVID-19 in the initial time period following the novel coronavirus pandemic. The research will compare adolescents’ sleep, social skills, social relationship quality, stress, mood, substance use, mental health symptoms, physical health, psychosocial development, externalizing behavior, and delinquency across the COVID-19 outbreak. The project also will examine whether juvenile incarceration exacerbates the potential impact of COVID-19 on youth outcomes. The project will engage in a longitudinal study of at-risk (justice-involved, low-SES) adolescents to address how adolescent-parent dyads respond to and are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This research will use multiple methods, including self-report, collateral report, official records from the partnering department of probation, electronic daily diary reports, and actigraph technology, to assess changes in adolescents’ and parents’ functioning on a variety of outcomes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings will evince physical and mental health risks in response to the pandemic among at-risk youth. As well, the research will provide best practices for juvenile detention facilities and departments of probation in times of crises to ensure that youth continue to receive important rehabilitative services while maintaining the health and safety of youth, legal actors, and community members. Results will contribute to the limited existing knowledge base on the needs, risks, and potential protective factors of a vulnerable group of youth during a global state of emergency.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.