Adolescents' Psychological Well-Being Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Internal and External Factors

The positive youth development (PYD) framework notes that adolescents have the strength and potential for positive development due to supportive internal and external factors, despite the challenges they face. Positive outcome of adolescents' development and that is beneficial for their growth is psychological well-being (PWB). In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought many challenges to adolescent mental health. It amplified risk factors while depriving them of protective factors. The study examined the effects of various internal and external factors in predicting adolescent psychological well-being, both simultaneously and independently, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This was a population-based, quantitative study that used a cross-sectional design comprising of 13,072 middle and high school students from 12 provinces in Indonesia. The data were analyzed using bivariate linear regression and multiple linear regression. The final model indicated that adolescents' psychological well-being was significantly predicted by internal (age, prosocial behavior, hyperactivity, conduct, emotional, and peer problems) and external (father's education and participation in organized activities) factors (F(8,13063) = 710.39, p <.001, R-2 = 0.303), with emotional problems (beta = - 0.261) and prosocial behavior (beta = 0.239) being the strongest predictors. Our results revealed that these factors, specifically internal ones, largely contribute to Indonesian adolescents' psychological well-being.