COVID-19 trauma-related stress in young people: do sensory-processing sensitivity, resilience, and life satisfaction play a role?

Abstract

Although COVID-19 was experienced as a traumatic event with long-lasting effects, there is limited data on its traumatic impact in relation to factors that can promote or threaten young people’s mental wellbeing. This study investigated the association between sensory-processing sensitivity (SPS), resilience, and life satisfaction with COVID-19 trauma-related stress and whether resilience mediates the relationship between SPS and COVID-19 traumatic stress in a young sample. A total of 441 individuals aged between 16 and 25 years (Mage = 19.26, SD = 1.65) participated in an online survey in the UK between November 2021 and April 2022. We found that SPS was positively correlated, and resilience was negatively correlated with COVID-19 trauma-related stress. Life satisfaction was not significantly related to COVID-19 trauma-related stress. A mediation analysis showed that the relationship between SPS and COVID-19 trauma-related stress was mediated by resilience. Our findings suggest that resilience can be a protective factor against the traumatic effect of COVID-19 in young people, but other factors should also be considered. Our study makes implications about the potential benefits of including resilience in interventions which target young people’s mental wellbeing.