Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for youth with a history of exposure to self-directed violence.

Abstract

Objective: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic created a sudden shift in the social lives of youth with important negative impacts on mental health. The current article aims to understand how the pandemic may have differentially impacted the mental health of adolescents and young adults with recent (1 year or less) and past (>1 year) exposure to self-directed violence (SDV). Method: Data were collected online from 990 youth and young adults, aged 13–23 years between November 27, 2020 and December 11, 2020. Results: Participants who had recently been exposed to SDV reported being more impacted by the pandemic and had poorer mental health indicators. Participants with past SDV exposure who engaged in a high number of prosocial activities (e.g., talking with friends) were less likely to report depressive symptoms (β = −.13, p = .01) than similarly engaged nonexposed participants; the same was true for recently exposed participants (β = −.14, p = .02). Conclusions: Findings highlight that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of young people are compounded by exposure to mental health concerns of people in their network.