How bad is it? Suicidality in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic

Objective The current paper examines the intersection between social vulnerability, individual risk, and social/psychological resources with adult suicidality during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method Data come from a national sample (n = 10,368) of U.S. adults. Using an online platform, information was gathered during the third week of March 2020, and post-stratification weighted to proportionally represent the U.S. population in terms of age, gender, race/ethnicity, income, and geography. Results Nearly 15 percent of sampled respondents were categorized as high risk, scoring 7+ on the Suicide Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised (SBQ-R). This level of risk varied across social vulnerability groupings: Blacks, Native Americans, Hispanics, families with children, unmarried, and younger respondents reported higher SBQ-R scores than their counterparts (p < .000). Regression results confirm these bivariate differences and also reveal that risk factors (food insecurity, physical symptoms, and CES-D symptomatology) are positive and significantly related to suicidality (p < .000). Additionally, resource measures are significant and negatively related to suicidality (p < .000). Conclusions These results provide some insight on the impact COVID-19 is having on the general U.S. population. Practitioners should be prepared for what will likely be a significant mental health fall-out in the months and years ahead.