Comparing Latent Antecedents of Emotional Distress in Middle and High School Students During and Before the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study analyzed the latent profile and latent profile transition of middle and high school students during and before the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim was to identify and characterize the latent profile of emotional problems among middle and high school students and to examine the transfer between latent groups. To do so, we utilized data from the third and fourth years of the Child and Adolescent Panel 2018 (Middle 1 Panel) and the sixth and seventh years of the Child and Adolescent Panel 2010 (Elementary 4 Panel). As a result of the analysis, first, during COVID-19, the profiles of emotional problem were categorized into five groups for middle school students and four groups for high school students. Second, the pre-COVID-19 emotional problem profiles were equally categorized into four groups of middle school and high school students. Third, the classification of potential profiles is noteworthy for the “Attention Deficit-Aggression Hyperactivity” group during the corona period. In 2020, due to the pandemic, middle school students did not attend school for the majority of the regular school days, creating a group that was not present at any other point in time, as they were unable to learn the daily routine of school and were unable to be sanctioned for attention. Fourth, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the transition type of the emotional problem profile showed a transition to a stable emotional group as students entered high school, but during the pandemic, there was a notable shift, with transitions in emotions, including transitions from the 'emotional risk group' to the 'emotional stability group' and vice versa.