Anxiety and Age, but Not OCD Diagnosis, Predict Infection-Preventive Behaviours in Adolescents During COVID-19

To examine whether obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) diagnosis was associated with greater infection-preventive behaviour and altered inhibitory-control performance in adolescents during the early COVID-19 lockdown in Türkiye while considering the roles of age and anxiety.

Seventy-two adolescents aged 12-18 years, including 22 with OCD and 50 without OCD, completed a COVID-19 preventive behaviour questionnaire and the child and parent versions of the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale. Participants also completed an online go/no-go task. Ordinary least squares models were used to test whether age, anxiety, OCD diagnosis and their interactions were associated with behavioural change and mean Go-trial reaction time.

The model predicting infection-preventive behavioural change was significant, F(7,64) = 2.54, p = 0.023, R² = 0.218. OCD diagnosis did not predict behavioural change. In contrast, younger age and higher anxiety were associated with greater increases in infection-preventive behaviour, and the age-by-anxiety interaction indicated that anxiety-related increases were more pronounced among younger adolescents. The model predicting mean Go-trial reaction time was also significant, F(7,58) = 3.07, p = 0.008, R² = 0.27. Adolescents with OCD showed slower Go-trial reaction times than comparison participants, and the diagnosis-by-age interaction suggested weaker age-related differences in response speed in the clinical group.

During the early lockdown phase of COVID-19, developmental and affective factors were more closely associated with adolescents' infection-preventive behaviour than OCD diagnosis. In contrast, OCD diagnosis was more strongly associated with reduced response efficiency on the inhibitory-control task. These findings support the importance of considering developmental stage and anxiety, alongside diagnosis, in understanding adolescents' behavioural adaptation during public-health crises.