Is psychological resilience associated with changes in youth sport participants’ health-related quality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Abstract

Objectives: This study investigated the quality of life of youth sport participants over the COVID-19 pandemic as moderated by psychological resilience. Methods: Participants included 93 high school sport participants (53.76% female, mean age = 15.59 ± 0.74) in a three-year longitudinal cohort study (SHRed Concussions) who completed the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), Pediatric Quality of Life Scale (PedsQL), and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) at Year 1 (pre-pandemic, 2019–2020) and Year 2 (pandemic, 2020–2021). Change in quality of life and mental health symptoms from Year 1 to Year 2 was examined using paired t-tests and Year 1 resilience was examined as a predictor of Year 2 quality of life and mental health symptoms using linear regression. Results: Among participants with Year 1 scores before the pandemic onset, mean PedsQL (n = 74, t = −0.26 [−2.63, 2.03], p = 0.80) and SDQ (n = 74, t = 0.030 [−0.90, 0.93], p = 0.98) scores did not significantly change between Year 1 and Year 2. In unadjusted analyses, Year 1 CD-RISC scores were positively associated with predicted Year 2 PedsQL scores when Year 1 scores were controlled (β = 0.31 [0.0062, 0.61], ΔR2 = 0.02) but not with residual change in SDQ scores (β = 0.035 [−0.11, 0.18], ΔR2 = 0.001). Conclusions: Quality of life did not change significantly after the pandemic onset, and resilience was modestly protective.