There are reports of increases in levels of internalizing psychopathology during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, these studies presume that measurement properties of these constructs remained unchanged from before the pandemic. In this study, we examined longitudinal measurement invariance of assessments of depression, anxiety, and intolerance of uncertainty (IU) in adolescents and young adults from ongoing longitudinal studies. We found consistent support for configural and metric invariance across all constructs, but scalar invariance was unsupported for depression and IU. Thus, it is necessary to interpret pandemic-associated mean-level changes in depression and IU cautiously. In contrast, mean-level comparisons of panic, generalized, and social anxiety symptoms were not compromised. These findings are limited to the specific measures examined and the developmental period of the sample. We acknowledge that there is tremendous distress accompanying disruptions due to the COVID-19 outbreak. However, for some instruments, comparisons of symptom levels before and during the pandemic may be limited.

有报告称，在 COVID-19 大流行期间，内化精神病理学水平有所增加。然而，这些研究假设这些结构的测量特性与大流行之前相比保持不变。在这项研究中，我们通过正在进行的纵向研究检查了青少年和年轻人抑郁、焦虑和不确定性不耐受 (IU) 评估的纵向测量不变性。我们发现所有结构都一致支持配置和度量不变性，但标量不变性在抑郁症和 IU 中不受支持。因此，有必要谨慎解释与大流行相关的抑郁症和 IU 平均水平变化。相比之下，恐慌、普遍性和社交焦虑症状的平均水平比较并未受到影响。这些发现仅限于所检查的具体措施和样本的发育时期。我们承认，新冠肺炎 (COVID-19) 疫情的爆发给我们带来了巨大的困扰和干扰。然而，对于某些工具来说，大流行之前和期间症状水平的比较可能是有限的。