Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA.
J Adolesc. 2022 Oct;94(7):1022-1034. doi: 10.1002/jad.12084. Epub 2022 Aug 8.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the daily social lives of adolescents by severely limiting social interactions which likely heightened levels of loneliness and a variety of internalizing symptoms. However, little is known about how social distancing adherence and subsequent stress caused by the novel social regulations impact adolescents' feelings of loneliness, and later mental health difficulties, including anxiety and depression.
To close this gap, we examined the impact of social distancing regulations on adolescents' (N = 79; M = 16.16, SD = 1.15; 47 females; 23 males) depression and anxiety symptoms through loneliness by using data from a 5-week longitudinal study conducted on adolescents in the United States during the initial phases of COVID-19.
Findings provided evidence that loneliness plays a unique mediating link between social distancing and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Overall, the present study highlights how social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted adolescents' mental health during a developmental period that is considered a turning point for psychopathology.
COVID-19 大流行通过严重限制社交互动极大地扰乱了青少年的日常生活，这可能会增加孤独感和各种内化症状的水平。然而，人们对于社交距离遵守情况以及新型社交规则所带来的后续压力如何影响青少年的孤独感，以及之后的心理健康问题（包括焦虑和抑郁）知之甚少。
为了弥补这一空白，我们通过使用在美国 COVID-19 初始阶段进行的一项为期 5 周的纵向研究中对青少年收集的数据，通过孤独感来检验社交距离规定对青少年（N=79；M=16.16，SD=1.15；47 名女性；23 名男性）的抑郁和焦虑症状的影响。
研究结果表明，孤独感在社交距离与焦虑和抑郁症状之间起着独特的中介作用。总的来说，本研究强调了 COVID-19 大流行期间的社交距离如何在被认为是精神病理学转折点的青少年发展时期影响他们的心理健康。
