Project summary
Friendships typically protect youth against the development of emotional problems and may be especially
important sources of support for youth who experience psychological distress. Troubling, however, is research
documenting the phenomenon of contagion, or the process by which friends of suicidal, self-injurious, or
depressed youth are at markedly increased risk for developing these problems themselves. While having
distressed peers confers risk for increases in adolescents’ distress over time, no studies have closely
examined contagion of suicide and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) within adolescent social relationships, and
very few studies have examined depression contagion. Further, little is known about what factors may predict
susceptibility and resilience to contagion, and mechanisms of contagion are likewise understudied. The
proposed multi-method, longitudinal study examines contagion of suicidality, NSSI, and depression in a large
sample of rural, at-risk adolescents in grades 5-12. The research proposes new and novel susceptibility
markers for examination including overactive empathy, media exposure (e.g., 13 Reasons Why, Netflix, 2017),
and parasocial interaction (e.g., one-sided, emotional relationship with media figures). The study also
examines co-rumination (Rose, 2002) as a hypothesized mechanism for contagion effects across all of these
conditions. Self-report, peer-report, observational, and event-sampling data will be collected over multiple time
points during one school year. The use of multiple methods will provide detailed, temporal information about
the processes involved in contagion of suicidality, NSSI, and depression aid in identifying the characteristics of
those most susceptible. What is more, the sudden onset of COVID-19 during spring 2019 in the US presents
unexpected opportunities to explore adolescents’ socioemotional adjustment (e.g., isolation, loneliness, social
interaction) prior to and immediately after the onset of COVID-19 (Cohort 1, 2019-2020), during the peak of
COVID-19 (Cohort 2, 2020-2021), and during the period in which the COVID-19 vaccine is increasingly
available (Cohort 3, 2021-2022).
