Mental health problems in young people have been on the rise for over a decade. That trend accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, with young people showing the highest levels of depression and anxiety of any age group.

Together with our colleagues Professors Sarah-Jayne Blakemore and Rebecca Lawson at the University of Cambridge, we have recently proposed that the catalyst effect of the pandemic may offer insights into a potential driver of increases in youth depression and anxiety: greater uncertainty. Uncertainty about many aspects of everyday life, including social connections, education, job security and health, increased during the pandemic, and this coincided with increasing rates of depression and anxiety. 

Some of the DAS Lab’s recent work has shown that intolerance of uncertainty was associated with more depression and anxiety symptoms during the pandemic, and that intolerance of uncertainty was highest in adolescents compared to both adults and older adults.

One type of uncertainty that is particularly distressing to adolescents is social uncertainty. Social uncertainty refers to uncertainty in social interactions with others. Adolescents as an age group are more sensitive to social evaluation (see our work on social sensitivity) than any other age group. In a series of new studies, DAS Lab PhD candidate Weike Wang is exploring the role of social sensitivity in adolescent decision-making and mental health under conditions of social uncertainty.

To close the translational loop from these basic science findings to interventions, DAS Lab RAs Sarah Daniels and Yasmin Hasan developed and are currently evaluating a novel brief online intervention targeting intolerance of uncertainty.

Check back soon for updates on this work!