For better or for worse? Memories and mental health related to COVID-19 lockdowns in adolescents with Attention Deficit Disorders

Abstract

Purpose

In adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD, ICD-10 defined) we examined self-reported well-being, depressive symptoms and autobiographical memories from the first COVID-19 lockdown in Denmark in comparison to adolescents without an ADHD diagnosis.

Methods

Data from 16 adolescents with ADHD and 16 non-ADHD age and gender matched controls were collected between September 2020 and April 2021. Questionnaires included the World Health Organization Well-Being Index (WHO-5), the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ), and an autobiographical memory survey assessing a lockdown memory, a memory not related to lockdown and a future projection. Mixed design ANOVAs were used to compare within subject differences in memory types across groups and independent sample t-tests were used to compare group differences.

Results

Three adolescents with ADHD scored below the WHO-5 cut-off (< 50) and above the SMFQ cut-off (> 8) indicating risk of depression, compared to two in the control group. Both groups rated lockdown memories as less positive and more negative and reported feeling more sad and worried when reminiscing about lockdown experiences compared to ‘other personal memories’ and ‘future projections’. Compared to the non-ADHD controls, adolescents with ADHD reported more sadness, t(30) = −0.2.45, p < .05 and worries t(30) = −3.84, p < .001 when reminiscing about the lockdown.

Conclusions

Even though there were no striking differences between groups in the assessments on risk of depression, the findings suggest that adolescents diagnosed with ADHD were more negatively affected when recalling memories about the lockdown compared to their peers.

Keywords:

• Attention Deficit Disorders
• COVID-19
• adolescents
• mental health
• autobiographical memories

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the residual funds from the Department of Psychiatry, Aarhus University Hospital. We would like to thank Céline Gjern Pedersen and Ida Bisgaard Sørensen for assisting the participants and Elise Højager Purup-Nielsen, Nicklas Runge, Sandra Maria Andersen and Mathias Andersen for coding the memories. Also, we would like to thank the children who participated, and their parents for letting them participate.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no financial or personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence/bias our work. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Notes

1 The overall coded themes were; ‘gaming’, ‘cancelled events’, ‘seeing friends’, ‘virtual school’, ‘getting a new animal’, ‘unable to recall a memory’, ‘COVID-19 infection’, ‘meeting with psychologist’, ‘forgetting something important’, ‘self-harm’, ‘lockdown announcement’, ‘walks’, ‘family quality time’, ‘shopping groceries’, ‘playing outside’, and ‘cooking’¨.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tirill F. Hjuler

Tirill F. Hjuler, Psychologist, has a PhD in developmental psychology from Center on Autobiographical Memory Research, Aarhus University, Denmark. She works as a researcher at Department of child and adolescent psychiatry, Aarhus University Hospital Psychiatry, Denmark. She is especially interested in memories and future thinking in adolescents with psychiatric diagnoses.

Charlotte U. Rask

Charlotte U. Rask, Medical doctor, is a specialist in child and adolescent psychiatry since 2010. She works as a consultant and clinical professor at Department of child and adolescent psychiatry, Aarhus University Hospital Psychiatry and Aarhus University, Denmark. Her research is mainly centered around paediatric liaison psychiatry and psychosomatics.

Karen H. Kallesøe

Karen H. Kallesøe, Medical doctor, is a specialist in child and adolescent psychiatry since 2019. She works as a senior registrar and senior researcher at Department of child and adolescent psychiatry, Aarhus University Hospital Psychiatry, Denmark. Her research is mainly centered around interventions and basic research in mind-body interaction.