Public Health Post: “Resilience in the Time of Covid-19,” Co-Authored by Prof. Hahm

According to a new study led by BUSSW Associate Professor Hyeouk Hahm, clinical symptoms of depression, anxiety and PTSD have risen sharply since the onset of Covid-19 and could be affecting as many as 45% of young adults.

In the Public Health Post, Hahm and study collaborators Kirsten Fleming and Cindy H. Liu share the results of “CARES 2020,” their Covid-19 Adult Resilience Experiences Study.

Excerpted from “Resilience in the Time of Covid-19”:

Millennials and Generation Z will comprise larger and larger percentages of the workforce in the coming years. Thus, societal functioning will depend on how they emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic. As the world continues to struggle with Covid-19, the mental health of young adults has been extremely important. With the early months of the pandemic leading to the rapid closure of schools and businesses, as well as the enforcement of social distancing policies, disruptions in daily life could put young adults who show high rates of mental health problems at risk for even greater challenges.

What are the protective and risk factors for young adults’ mental health? Understanding the factors that influenced mental health during the first month of the Covid-19 shut down in the US may provide insights into helping young adults cope with increases in mental health problems.

We conducted the Covid-19 Adult Resilience Experiences Study 2020 to assess 898 racially diverse young adults from April 13 to May 19, 2020. This online survey captured responses in the first two months of the state-of-emergency shutdowns across the country. The analysis identified the factors associated with higher levels of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. We were particularly interested in the role of specific psychological experiences: distress tolerance, resilience, social support, and loneliness.

This study was among the first to highlight the major mental health challenges burdening young adults in the early months of the pandemic. Approximately 32-45% of young adults reported clinically elevated levels of depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms. These rates are much higher than in epidemiological studies conducted before Covid-19.

Our study found that high loneliness was associated with high levels of depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptomatology. We speculate that social distancing could have exacerbated the feelings of loneliness. […]

Continue reading at www.publichealthpost.org/research/resilience-in-the-time-of-covid-19/.

Originally published by Public Health Post on November 2, 2020.