Effect of COVID-19 disruptions on young adults' affect and substance use in daily life

Guided by accounts of adjustment in daily life as a key indicator of health, the current study examined prospective changes in young adults' emotions and substance behaviors assessed during a normative baseline period and during the acute COVID-19 disruption period in late March/early April 2020. The COVID-19 assessment also collected psychosocial risk factors expected to moderate changes in adjustment across time.

Participants included 295 young adults (70.8% female; ages 18-21 at baseline), drawn from an ongoing study of daily behaviors and health in college life that oversampled for recent substance behaviors, who completed both the baseline and COVID-19 assessments. Hypotheses were tested using analyses of repeated-measures data that included covariates of length of time between assessments and sampling group status.

Direct tests in support of hypotheses indicated an increase in negative affect (d = .67, p < .001), and greater alcohol use (d = .75, p < .001) and marijuana use (d = .58, p < .001), in daily life across time. Levels of positive affect (d = .08, p > .05), nicotine use (d = .01, p > .05), and prescription drug misuse (d = .003, p > .05) did not reliably change in tests of direct models. Moderation tests indicated several risk factors for experiencing steeper increases in negative affect, and increased likelihood of marijuana and nicotine use, in daily life across time.

Findings offer implications for future research and clinical efforts to improve young adult adjustment in response to the pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).