Abstract
Childhood depression is associated with significant social and functional impairment, suicide risk, and persistence throughout adulthood. Recent evidence demonstrates that social connectedness and social support may serve as protective factors against the development of depression. The current study aimed to examine the effect of change in social connectedness and social support on depressive symptoms among children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hierarchical regression was performed. Results indicated that parent-reported measures of change in social connectedness were inversely associated with depressive symptom severity, and could significantly predict future depressive symptom severity. In contrast, parent-reported measures of social support (i.e., from family and friends) did not significantly predict future depressive symptom severity. The presence of a pre-COVID psychiatric and/or neurodevelopmental diagnosis and baseline depressive symptom severity were also important factors associated with future depressive symptom severity. The findings suggest that an awareness of the presence of social supports (i.e., family or friends) is not sufficient for children to feel connected, but rather the mechanisms of social relationships are crucial. As our approach to public health restrictions evolves, the risk transmission of COVID-19 should be carefully balanced with the risks associated with decreased connectedness among youth.
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Data Availability
The data that support the findings of this study are not openly available and are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request (including a study outline), subject to review.
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Acknowledgements
The Ontario COVID & Kids Mental Health Study is funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (#173092); the Ontario Ministry of Health (#700); Centre of Brain and Mental Health, SickKids; Leong Centre for Healthy Children, SickKids; and the Miner’s Lamp Innovation Fund in Prevention and Early Detection of Severe Mental Illness, University of Toronto. In-kind support was provided by the Ontario Brain Institute for all POND data. Spit for Science was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (PJT-159462). The views of the Ontario COVID & Kids Mental Health Study do not necessarily represent those of the Province of Ontario and the Ontario Ministry of Health. The Ontario COVID & Kids Mental Health Collaboration acknowledges the families, children, and youth who have generously contributed their time and their experience participating in this research. The research team also acknowledges the trainees, analysts, project coordinators, and cohort staff whose dedication has made this research possible.
Funding
The Ontario COVID & Kids Mental Health Study is funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (#173092); the Ontario Ministry of Health (#700); Centre of Brain and Mental Health, SickKids; Leong Centre for Healthy Children, SickKids; and the Miner’s Lamp Innovation Fund in Prevention and Early Detection of Severe Mental Illness, University of Toronto. In-kind support was provided by the Ontario Brain Institute for all POND data. Spit for Science was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (PJT-159462). The views of the Ontario COVID & Kids Mental Health Study do not necessarily represent those of the Province of Ontario and the Ontario Ministry of Health. There has been no payment for writing this article. Authors were not precluded from accessing data in the study and accept responsibility to submit for publication.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. CP and KCT co-wrote the first draft of the manuscript and conducted all analyses. All authors reviewed and supported revisions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. DJK participated in and oversaw all steps of the manuscript preparation.
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Dr Anagnostou has received consultation fees from Roche and Quadrant, research funding from Roche and in-kind support from Amo Pharma. She has received book royalties from APPI and Springer, and editorial honoraria from Wiley. She holds a patent for the device, “Tully” (formally “Anxiety Meter”) and in-kind support for all Province of Ontario Neurodevelopmental Network data from the Ontario Brain Institute during the conduct of the study. Dr Birken has received grants from Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada, Physician Services Inc, The Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Children, University of Toronto and Hospital for Sick Children, The Center for Addiction and Mental Health, Walmart Canada Regional Community on addressing food insecurity in children admitted to hospital. Dr Charach has received grants from Hospital for Sick Children and Leong Centre for Healthy Children and in-kind support for all POND data from the Ontario Brain Institute during the conduct of the study. Dr Crosbie has received grants from Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Ontario Brain Institute, and the Hospital for Sick Children Foundation. Dr Korczak has received grants from Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Hospital for Sick Children, Gary Hurvitz Centre for Brain and Mental Health, the University of Toronto, and conference/meeting attendance support from the Canadian Paediatric Society and the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr Monga has received grants from Cundill Centre for Youth Depression at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, book royalties from Springer Publishers, and grants from Canadian Institutes of Health Research outside the submitted work. Dr. Monga has received research support as the holder of the TD Bank Financial Group Chair in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr Tombeau Cost has received grants from The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, and Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Dr Tombeau Cost also acted as a statistical consultant for Unity Health and University of Toronto and conference/meeting attendance support from Merit Network. Dr Burton has received grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Dr Georgiades has receiving grants from Canadian Institutes of Health Research, McMaster University, Hamilton Health Sciences and HHS Foundation, the Masonic Foundation of Ontario, Empowered Kids Ontario, Azrieli Foundation, and the Ontario Brain Institute. Dr Kelley has received grants from Ontario Brain Institute, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the Masonic Foundation of Ontario outside the submitted work. Dr Nicolson has received grants from Ontario Brain Institute during the conduct of the study and has also received funding from Brain Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and Hoffman-Laroche Ltd outside of the submitted work [53,54,55].
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The study was approved by the institutional research ethics board at the lead research site (SickKids, REB# 1000070222) as well as St. Michael’s Hospital (20-080) and participating POND sites including Holland Bloorview Rehabilitation Hospital (REB# 0086), McMaster Children’s Hospital (REB# 10948), Queen’s University (REB# 6005107), and The Lawson Research Institute (Western University; HSREB# 115934).
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Park, C., Tsujimoto, K.C., Cost, K.T. et al. The Distinction Between Social Connectedness and Support When Examining Depressive Symptoms Among Children and Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-023-01616-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-023-01616-8