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In response to COVID-19, the CDC issued hygiene, protective equipment, and physical distancing guidelines to reduce virus transmission. Adherence was crucial for public health, particularly in the earliest stage of COVID-19, before effective treatments emerged. Still, there was wide variation in willingness and/or ability to follow the recommendations. One group that might be expected to flout rules and take risks under normal circumstances is adolescents. This developmental stage predisposes one to push boundaries and seek the company of peers. Adolescents with a history of lawbreaking might be even more inclined to disregard public health guidelines due to experiential and dispositional factors. We employed a longitudinal study launched prior to the pandemic to identify which pre-pandemic factors predict adolescents’ adherence to—or disregard for—public health guidelines during a crisis. The sample (N = 75, 30% justice-involved) came from predominantly minoritized communities in a southwestern U.S. city. Data were collected in three waves over one year. Analyses tested whether adherence varied by time period, local infection trajectories, justice involvement, pre-pandemic mental health, risk-taking, and rule orientation. Results revealed that adherence declined over time and was generally lower among justice-involved adolescents. In addition, justice-involved adolescents with higher depressive symptoms displayed lower adherence, whereas those reporting higher anxiety symptoms displayed higher adherence. Understanding these factors is crucial for developing strategies to promote adherence to public health guidelines among adolescents during public health emergencies.
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Spatial Clustering of Adolescent Bereavement in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Purpose Few studies have examined grief and bereavement in the context of a pandemic, particularly among young people during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Methods The objective of this study is to examine spatiotemporal clustering of bereavement using data from Crisis Text Line, an SMS-based intervention with widespread usage among youth and adolescents in the United States from January 2017 to September 2020. Results Results found significant spatial clustering of bereavement during the pandemic period in the late summer months compared with the onset of the pandemic. Conclusion Our study provides the first evidence of elevated bereavement in adolescents using a technique for rapidly identifying clusters of bereavement risk among this vulnerable subgroup. Findings can be leveraged
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- Award ID(s):
- 2044839
- PAR ID:
- 10315852
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of adolescent health
- Volume:
- 69
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 1879-1972
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.04.035
