Adolescent Depressive Symptom Trajectories From Before to After the COVID-19 Pandemic

How did adolescent depressive symptoms change from before to after the COVID-19 pandemic, and which prepandemic factors were associated with symptom trajectories?This cohort study of 3512 adolescents identified that 86.2% were resilient and 9.3% were depression susceptible, with greater susceptibility in girls and late-pubertal youth. Prepandemic factors associated with depression susceptibility included bullying, family conflict, maternal history of depression, and polygenic risk; factors associated with resilience included parental monitoring and problem-solving skills.These findings suggest that most adolescents maintained stable mental health from before to after the COVID-19 pandemic, with diverse prepandemic environmental, psychological, and genetic factors jointly shaping individual risk and resilience trajectories.

Corresponding Author: Ran Barzilay, MD, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 10 Gates, 3400 Spruce, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (ran.barzilay@pennmedicine.upenn.edu).

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