Increased severity of mental health symptoms among adolescent inpatients during COVID-19

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.