Table 2.
Boy's (n = 89) and girls’ (n = 86) trajectories of depression from before to after COVID-19 pandemic onset.
| Model 1 |
Model 2 (+ loneliness) |
Model 3 (+ social video game time) |
Model 4 (+ social media use time) |
Model 5 (+ social activity participation) |
|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Timepoint | Boys | Girls | Boys vs. girls pa | Boys | Girls | Boys vs. girls pa | Boys | Girls | Boys vs. girls pa | Boys | Girls | Boys vs. girls pa | Boys | Girls | Boys vs. girls pa |
| All | Low lonelinessb | Low social video game timeb | Low social media use timeb | Low social activity participationb | |||||||||||
| Mean CDI score (SE) | |||||||||||||||
| Pre-COVID (T1) | 3.91 (0.37) | 4.35 (0.36) | 2.97 (0.36) | 3.18 (0.42) | 3.41 (0.72) | 4.21 (0.42) | 3.93 (0.37) | 3.96 (0.48) | 4.32 (0.44) | 4.70 (0.46) | |||||
| Acute (T2) | 3.94 (0.36) | 5.66 (0.36) | ** | 2.57 (0.35) | 4.14 (0.41) | * | 4.15 (0.67) | 5.30 (0.43) | 3.91 (0.36) | 5.02 (0.48) | 4.42 (0.42) | 5.86 (0.45) | |||
| Persistent (T3) | 4.95 (0.37) | 6.07 (0.37) | * | 3.59 (0.37) | 4.86 (0.43) | 5.13 (0.69) | 5.74 (0.45) | 4.93 (0.37) | 5.42 (0.49) | 5.41 (0.44) | 6.04 (0.47) | ||||
| Change over time (SE)c | |||||||||||||||
| Δ Acute – Pre-COVID | 0.03 (0.29) | 1.31 (0.27)** | ** | −0.39 (0.33) | 0.96 (0.38) | ** | 0.74 (0.64) | 1.09 (0.29)** | ** | −0.02 (0.31) | 1.06 (0.39)* | ** | 0.10 (0.35) | 1.16 (0.34)** | ** |
| Δ Persistent – Acute | 1.02 (0.33)* | 0.41 (0.34) | ** | 1.02 (0.38) | 0.72 (0.45) | ** | 0.97 (0.64) | 0.44 (0.41) | ** | 1.02 (0.34) | 0.40 (0.46) | ** | 0.99 (0.40) | 0.18 (0.42) | ** |
| High lonelinessb | High social video game timeb | High social media use timeb | High social activity participationb | ||||||||||||
| Mean CDI score (SE) | |||||||||||||||
| Pre-COVID (T1) | 4.70 (0.41) | 5.11 (0.32) | 3.98 (0.40) | 4.20 (0.88) | 3.57 (0.49) | 4.50 (0.37) | 3.45 (0.45) | 4.11 (0.42) | |||||||
| Acute (T2) | 5.47 (0.37) | 6.53 (0.34) | 3.91 (0.40) | 6.91 (0.76) | ** | 3.61 (0.51) | 5.84 (0.37) | ** | 3.38 (0.44) | 5.52 (0.42) | ** | ||||
| Persistent (T3) | 6.45 (0.39) | 6.75 (0.36) | 4.91 (0.41) | 7.02 (0.78) | 5.07 (0.52) | 6.28 (0.39) | 4.44 (0.45) | 6.19 (0.43) | * | ||||||
| Change over time (SE)c | |||||||||||||||
| Δ Acute – Pre-COVID | 0.77 (0.41) | 1.42 (0.27)** | ** | −0.07 (0.31) | 2.71 (0.84)** | ** | 0.04 (0.37) | 1.34 (0.27)** | ** | −0.08 (0.37) | 1.41 (0.34)** | ** | |||
| Δ Persistent – Acute | 0.99 (0.41) | 0.22 (0.38) | ** | 1.00 (0.38) | 0.12 (0.72) | ** | 1.46 (0.48) | 0.44 (0.35) | ** | 1.07 (0.40) | 0.67 (0.41) | ** | |||
| Differences by social connectednessd | High vs. low loneliness | High vs. low social video game time | High vs. low social media use time | High vs. low social activity participation | |||||||||||
| Mean CDI score (SE) | |||||||||||||||
| Pre-COVID (T1) | 1.73 (0.44)** | 1.93 (0.40)** | 0.57 (0.77) | −0.01 (1.01) | −0.36 (0.38) | 0.54 (0.41) | -0.86 (0.50) | -0.59 (0.51) | |||||||
| Acute (T2) | 2.89 (0.39)** | 2.39 (0.42)** | −0.24 (0.75) | 1.61 (0.90) | −0.30 (0.38) | 0.82 (0.41)* | -1.04 (0.47) | -0.34 (0.49) | |||||||
| Persistent (T3) | 2.86 (0.41)** | 1.89 (0.44)** | −0.22 (0.77) | 1.29 (0.93) | 0.14 (0.39) | 0.86 (0.42)* | -0.97 (0.49) | −0.14 (0.51) | |||||||
| Change over time (SE)c | |||||||||||||||
| Δ Acute – Pre-COVID | 1.16 (0.04)** | 0.46 (0.04)** | −0.81 (0.05)** | 1.62 (0.07)** | 0.06 (0.04)* | 0.28 (0.04)** | −0.18 (0.04)** | 0.26 (0.04)** | |||||||
| Δ Persistent – Acute | −0.03 (0.04) | −0.50 (0.05)** | 0.03 (0.06) | -0.32 (0.06)** | 0.44 (0.04)** | 0.04 (0.04) | 0.08 (0.04) | 0.48 (0.04)** | |||||||
Note. *p < .05, **p < .01.
Mean CDI score is estimated by the fitted model at the median timepoint of assessment for each period (median no. weeks from state shutdown: T1: −109, T2: 7, T3: 33). All models are adjusted for age. Models 2–5 additionally include domains of social connectedness: loneliness (model 2), social video game time (model 3), social media use time (model 4), and social activity participation (model 5); these were modeled using 3-way interactions between social exposure*sex*time.
Differences by sex were compared using two-tailed Welch's t-test.
Low and high loneliness, social video game time and social media use time were set at the 25th and 75th percentile values in the sample. Loneliness: low = 4.0 vs. high = 9.5 points; social video game time: low = 0 vs. high = 5.2 h; social media use time: low = 2–3, high = 4–6 h; social activity participation sum score: low = 4, high = 8 activities.
Mean change between timepoints were estimated using model-predicted CDI score at median weeks from shutdown, stratified by sex.
p-values are for test of differences between high vs. low social connectedness variables in mean CDI score and change in mean CDI score over time.