A mediation model explaining the impact of fear of COVID-19 and COVID-19- induced changes in multiple life domains on adolescents’ subjective well-being in sub-Saharan Africa

TL;DR

The study explores how fear of COVID-19 affects adolescents' well-being in sub-Saharan Africa, showing that changes in peer relationships and feelings of safety mediate this impact.

Contribution

This paper introduces a mediation model specific to sub-Saharan African adolescents explaining how fear of COVID-19 affects subjective well-being through life domain changes.

Findings

Fear of COVID-19 negatively correlates with adolescents' subjective well-being measurements.

Changes in peer relationships, positive affect, and subjective feelings of unsafety mediate the impact of fear of COVID-19 on SWB.

Increases in peer relationships and positive affect are linked to higher life satisfaction and happiness.

Abstract

Though the impact of COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on individuals’ life domains and quality of life has been widely researched, there remains unanswered questions on the mechanisms that explain the impact of fear of COVID-19 on different measurements of adolescents’ subjective well-being (SWB) particularly in the sub-Saharan African context. In a mediation model, we employed data collected during the pandemic to examine the mediating mechanisms that links fear of COVID-19 and COVID-19-induced changes in multiple life domains (subjective feelings of unsafety, positive affect and peer relationships) to different measurements of adolescents’ SWB (overall life satisfaction, overall happiness, subjective happiness, and composite SWB). Findings revealed significant negative correlations between fear of COVID-19 and all employed measurements of SWB as well as between the proposed mediating variables – changes in peer relationship, positive affect, subjective feelings of unsafety and the different measurements of SWB. Adolescents who reported negative changes in peer relationship, positive affect and subjective feelings of unsafety were more likely to report poorer SWB including lower life satisfaction and happiness. For instance, adolescents who experienced increase in peer relationship were more likely to experience higher overall life satisfaction (B = .169, p < .005) compared to those who experienced a decrease in peer relationship. Also, adolescents who reported an increase in positive affect were more likely to report higher overall life satisfaction (B = .172, p < .005), overall happiness (B = .056, p < .005), composite SWB (B = .416, p < .005) and subjective happiness (B = .381, p < .001) while adolescents who reported a decrease in perceived safety were more likely to report lower composite SWB (B = −1.350, p < .001) compared to those who experienced an increase in perceived safety. While there was a significant direct negative effect of fear of COVID-19 on SWB in the absence of the mediators, there was no significant negative effect of fear of COVID-19 on SWB after adjusting for the mediators in the model. Consequently, the direct effect of fear of COVID-19 on all the measurements of SWB including overall life satisfaction and happiness were completely mediated by changes in peer relationship, positive affect and subjective feelings of unsafety; suggesting indirect effects of fear of COVID-19 on the adolescents’ SWB. For example, change in peer relationship and positive affect mediated the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and overall life satisfaction. Again, change in positive affect and change in subjective feeling of unsafety significantly mediated the effect of fear of COVID-19 on composite SWB and only change in positive affect mediated the effect of fear of COVID-19 on subjective happiness. The mechanism explaining the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and COVID-19-induced changes in multiple life domains and adolescents SWB and the implications for public health policy are discussed.

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