Context is everything: cross-cultural variations of stress-related psychological outcomes between Canadian and Australian adolescents during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with adverse psychological outcomes in adolescents. These outcomes may have varied as a function of the different sanitary restrictions implemented worldwide to limit the propagation of the virus. For instance, during the onset of COVID-19 (April-July 2020), Canadian adolescents were in lock-down (schools were closed and evaluations were canceled), whereas Australian adolescents were in school full-time. In a sample of 1326 adolescents from Canada (N = 913, 78% girls) and Australia (N = 413, 57% girls), this cross-cultural study used mixed-methods analyses to compare girls and boys on their subjective experiences of COVID-19 and mental health outcomes (including perceived stress, state anxiety, test anxiety). During the onset of the pandemic, Canadian adolescents reported more concerns about their COVID-19 experiences and greater pandemic-related discussions than Australian adolescents. However, Canadian adolescents reported less perceived stress (F(1, 1179)= 8.438, p =.004, ηp2 =.007) and test anxiety (F(1, 1133) = 9.057, p =.003, ηp2 =.008) compared to Australian adolescents. State anxiety did not differ across countries (p >.05). Finally, girls reported more COVID-19-related concerns and poorer stress-related psychological outcomes than boys in both countries. Several country-specific contextual factors may explain these results. Nevertheless, these findings highlight that (1) schools are a major source of stress and anxiety for adolescents and (2) girls may have presented a greater risk of experiencing mental health concerns during the onset of the pandemic.