Post-traumatic growth and perceived social support in young adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objectives: Pandemics would certainly have a negative impact on mental health. Positivemodifications as well as negative alterations have been documented in earlier viralpandemic according to previous investigations. Teenagers face a variety of challengesduring adolescence. Adolescents may become more concerned if this time coincides withother worries. This study aims to investigate the positive changes that occur in a youngadolescent’s life after COVID-19 pandemic, and to see how they relate to perceived socialsupport.Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on adolescents who were randomlyselected from high schools in Kerman, Iran 2020 during the COVID-19. the sample sizewas 108 and for sampling wes used multi-stage random sampling at the end the data wasanalyzed by Pearson correlation test. Demographic information, the MultidimensionalScale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) and Posttraumatic Growth Inventory short form(PTGI-SF) were used to collect data. The data were subjected to descriptive and analyticalstatistical tests (Pearson correlation) using SPSS software version 24.Results: Statistically a positive correlation was found between the PTG total score andyoung homeschooled adolescents, parents working remotely, income loss and COVID-19experience. Moreover, during the COVID-19 pandemic, a positive association was foundbetween perceived social support and PTG total scores in young adolescents. There werealso substantial positive connections between the MSPSS subscales and the PTGI overallscore.Conclusion: Based on the findings, an overall growth in all areas of PTG was observedduring the COVID-19 among young adolescents. Perceived social support scores have apositive and significant relationship with COVID-19 effects. In the crises we face throughoutlife, intimate family members and friends play a significant supporting role in adapting tothese situations