Stony Brook University, USA.
Stony Brook University, USA.
Psychiatry Res. 2021 Apr;298:113778. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2021.113778. Epub 2021 Jan 30.
Initial reports suggest that mental health problems were elevated early in the COVID-19 pandemic. However, few studies have followed-up participants as the pandemic evolved and examined both between and within person predictors of symptom trajectories. In the current study, adolescents and young adults (N=532) in New York were surveyed monthly between March 27 and July 14, 2020, a period spanning the first peak and subsequent decline in COVID-19 infection rates in the region. Surveys assessed symptoms of depression and anxiety using the Child Depression Inventory and the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders, as well as experiences related to the pandemic. Multilevel growth modeling indicated that symptoms of depression and anxiety peaked around late April/early May and then decreased through May-July. Some pandemic experiences followed a similar quadratic trajectory, while others decreased linearly across the study. Specific relationships emerged between some types of pandemic experiences and depression and anxiety symptoms. While symptoms of depression and anxiety in youth may have been elevated early in the pandemic, these findings suggest they subsided across Spring-Summer of 2020, with higher levels of both corresponding to a period of peak infection rates and decreases paralleling the decline in pandemic experiences and COVID-19 infection rates.
初步报告表明，心理健康问题在 COVID-19 大流行早期有所加剧。然而，很少有研究在大流行演变过程中对参与者进行随访，并检查症状轨迹的个体间和个体内预测因素。在当前的研究中，纽约的青少年和年轻人（N=532）在 2020 年 3 月 27 日至 7 月 14 日期间每月接受一次调查，这一时期跨越了该地区 COVID-19 感染率的第一个高峰和随后的下降。调查使用儿童抑郁量表和儿童焦虑相关障碍筛查表评估抑郁和焦虑症状，以及与大流行相关的经历。多层次增长模型表明，抑郁和焦虑症状在 4 月下旬/5 月初达到峰值，然后在 5 月至 7 月期间下降。一些大流行经历呈现出类似的二次轨迹，而其他经历则在整个研究中呈线性下降。一些特定的大流行经历与抑郁和焦虑症状之间存在特定的关系。虽然青年时期的抑郁和焦虑症状可能在大流行早期有所加剧，但这些发现表明，它们在 2020 年春夏两季有所缓解，较高的抑郁和焦虑症状水平与感染率的高峰期相对应，下降趋势与大流行经历和 COVID-19 感染率的下降相吻合。
