Reports noted worsening mental health among adolescents during the pandemic.
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No prior research has examined whether psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents showed worse mental health outcomes.
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We compared youth receiving inpatient psychiatric care during the pandemic to youth hospitalized in the three years prior.
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Youth hospitalized during the pandemic showed more severe mental health symptoms on several outcomes.
Abstract
Objective
Prior research suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic has been detrimental to adolescent mental health. However, no research has examined whether the pandemic is associated with increased symptom severity among high-risk youth, such as those hospitalized for a psychiatric crisis.
Method
Over a four-year period, upon admission to an adolescent psychiatric inpatient unit, youth completed measures of depression (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale), feeling like a burden and lack of belongingness (Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire), trauma-related symptoms (Child Trauma Screen), suicidal thoughts and behaviors (Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Interview Self-Report Version). We compared the severity of these symptoms for patients admitted during the pandemic to the severity for patients admitted to the same unit in the three years before the pandemic.
Results
Across most symptoms, youth hospitalized during the pandemic reported increased severity compared to those hospitalized before the pandemic.
Conclusions
Adolescents requiring psychiatric hospitalization during the pandemic reported increased symptom severity compared to adolescents hospitalized on the same inpatient unit in the three years prior to the pandemic.
