Self-isolation practices and perceived social support from friends: The impact on adolescents’ mental health

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the moderating effect of perceived social support from friends in the associations between self-isolation practices during the COVID-19 pandemic and adolescents’ mental health (i.e., depression, subjective health complaints, self-harm), measured six months later (Time 2). Participants were 1,567 7^th and 8^th graders (51% female; 51% white; M age = 13.67) from the United States. They completed questionnaires on perceived social support from friends, depression, subjective health complaints, and self-harm at Time 1, and self-isolation practices during COVID-19, depression, subjective health complaints, and self-harm at Time 2. The findings revealed that self-isolation practices during COVID-19 was related positively to Time 1 perceived social support from friends, and negatively to Time 2 depression, subjective health complaints, and self-harm, while accounting for Time 1 mental health outcomes. Higher perceived social support from friends at Time 1 buffered against the negative impacts on adolescents’ mental health outcomes at Time 2 when they practiced greater self-isolation during COVID-19, while lower perceived social support at Time 1 had the opposite effects on Time 2 mental health outcomes.

KEYWORDS:

• Friends
• self-isolation
• pandemic
• mental health
• depression
• subjective health complaints
• self-harm

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, MFW. The data are not publicly available due to the data containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.