Symposia
Suicide and Self-Injury
Alexandra Bettis, PhD
Assistant Professor
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
nashville, Tennessee
Anastacia Y. Kudinova, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Providence, RI
Elizabeth Thompson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Rhode Island Hospital/Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island
Sarah Thomas, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island
Jacqueline Nesi, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island
Leyla Ergudar, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island
Heather MacPherson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
William James College
Needham, Massachusetts
Taylor A. Burke, Ph.D.
Member of the Faculty of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry
Harvard Medical School
Boston, Massachusetts
Jennifer Wolff, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Warren Alpert School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Brown University
Providence, RI
The COVID-19 pandemic created new challenges and exacerbated existing ones for adolescents. Exposure to COVID-19-related stressors, including disruptions in daily functioning, may magnify negative mood and existing mental health problems in youth (Golberstein et al., 2019, 2020). Calls for COVID-19 research highlight the importance of understanding how these changes are impacting youth mental health (Fergert et al., 2020; Gruber et al., 2020; Gunnell et al., 2020). Youth with a history of mental health problems, such as those requiring psychiatric hospitalization, may be particularly vulnerable to the pandemic’s effects (Asmundson et al., 2020; Guesseom et al., 2020). The ways in which vulnerable youth cope with stress in this context may mitigate or worsen the impact of pandemic-related stress on their psychological health, including suicidal ideation (SI). This study aims to advance our understanding of high-risk adolescents’ experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were 107 youth (ages 11-18; M = 15.06, SD = 1.79) admitted to an adolescent psychiatric inpatient unit between March 13th and July 19th 2020. Data were gathered during the standard intake process, which included self-report measures administered by psychology staff to all admitted patients. The hospital’s IRB approved a waiver of informed consent for this chart review study. Adolescents completed self-report measures of COVID-19-related stress, coping, functioning, coping effectiveness, and SI at the time of their admission. Results showed nearly half of the sample (43%) reported a negative impact of COVID-19 on daily functioning, and over 50% of the sample reported COVID-19-related negative mood. Greater use of engagement coping strategies (e.g., social engagement, effortful distraction, and relaxation) was associated with higher youth ratings of coping effectiveness; greater use of disengagement strategies (e.g., avoidance) was associated with higher levels of SI. Youth who endorsed COVID-19-related declines in functioning reported higher levels of SI compared to youth who reported no change or positive change in functioning due to COVID-19. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic radically transformed the lives of adolescents in the U.S., and it continues to have an impact as the pandemic continues two years later. In this study, findings demonstrate for adolescents vulnerable to SI and with limited coping effectiveness, COVID-19-related negative mood, stress, coping responses, and disruptions in daily functioning were associated with increased risk.