Initial cohort characteristics and protocol for SIGMA: An accelerated longitudinal study of environmental factors, inter- and intrapersonal processes, and mental health in adolescence

Abstract

Background: Over half of all mental health conditions have their onset in adolescence. Large-scale epidemiological studies have identified relevant environmental risk factors for mental health problems. Yet, few have focused on potential mediating inter- and intrapersonal processes in daily life, hampering intervention development. Objectives: To investigate 1) the impact of environmental risk factors on changes in inter- and intrapersonal processes; 2) the impact of altered inter- and intrapersonal processes on the development of (sub)clinical mental health symptoms in adolescents and; 3) the extent to which changes in inter- and intrapersonal processes mediate the association between environmental risk factors and the mental health outcomes in adolescents.Methods: ‘SIGMA’ is an accelerated longitudinal study of adolescents aged 12 to 18 from across Flanders, Belgium. Using self-report questionnaires, experience sampling, an experimental task, and wearables, we are investigating the relationship between environmental risk factors (e.g. trauma, parenting), inter- and intrapersonal processes (e.g. real-life social interaction and interpersonal functioning) and mental health outcomes (e.g. psychopathology, self-harm) over time. Results: N= 1913 adolescents (63% female) aged 11 – 20, from 22 schools, participated. The range of educational trajectories within the sample was broadly representative of the Flemish general adolescent population.Conclusions: Our findings will enable us to answer fundamental questions about inter- and intrapersonal processes involved in the development and maintenance of poor mental health in adolescence. This includes insights regarding the role of daily-life social and cognitive-affective processes, gained by using experience sampling. The accelerated longitudinal design enables rapid insights into developmental and cohort effects.

COVID-19-related changes in adolescents' daily-life social interactions and psychopathology symptoms

“…The sample in the current study was initially recruited from the Flanders (Dutchspeaking) region of Belgium, for participation in the longitudinal adolescent mental health study 'SIGMA' (Kirtley et al, 2021). Wave 1 of the SIGMA study (hereafter: T0) was completed between January 2018 and June 2019.…”

“…The initial, T0 sample was recruited as representative for Flemish adolescents in terms of sex, education level, and geographical spread (Kirtley et al, 2021). To recruit participants, all regular secondary education schools from the Flanders region were contacted and asked to participate, of which 22 subsequently agreed.…”

“…Both the included retrospective questionnaires and the full list of ESM items can be found in Appendices 2, 3, and 7. All ESM items from Wave 1 of the SIGMA project can also be found in the ESM Item Repository (www.esmitemrepository.com; Kirtley et al, 2021).…”

“…In the current study, we investigate changes in psychopathology symptoms before and during the early phase of the pandemic, the effects of risk (trauma, COVID-19-related stressors, bullying experiences) and protective (social support, interpersonal skills, resilience, posttraumatic growth) factors on psychopathology symptoms, changes in the quality and quantity of social interactions, the relationships between aspects of daily-life social interactions and psychopathology symptoms, and changes in those relationships pre-to early-pandemic. To achieve this, we draw on longitudinal and experience sampling data from the ongoing adolescent cohort study, SIGMA (Kirtley et al, 2021). The combination of registered analyses (available at https://bit.ly/3pSoQlg), the use of both pre-and early-pandemic data, and dynamic assessments of social interactions using experience sampling methods (ESM) uniquely situates this study to provide essential, ecologically valid, and reliable knowledge on social processes and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

Adolescents’ Real-Time Social and Affective Experiences of Online and Face-to-Face Interactions

“…Following an in-class information session, all participants and at least one parent or caregiver (for participants under 18) gave informed consent. Subsequently, participants completed a number of questionnaires that included the moderator variables for the present study (see Kirtley et al, 2021, for the full questionnaire battery) during an in-class testing session. At the end of the session, participants were instructed about the second part of the study involving the Experience Sampling Method (ESM; Csikszentmihalyi & Larson, 1987;Myin-Germeys et al, 2018).…”