
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has introduced extraordinary life changes and stress, particularly in adolescents and young adults. New York was one of the first regions in the U.S. to be severely impacted by the pandemic, and most cases have been concentrated in the metropolitan area, including Long Island. We are currently conducting multiple ongoing studies that aim to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and well-being. First, across nearly 2,000 members of the Stony Brook University community, we are examining longitudinal changes in COVID-19 experiences and depression and anxiety symptoms. Second, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had recently completed multiple investigations that examined psychophysiological measures of threat and reward processing in relation to concurrent psychopathology symptoms in adolescents and young adults from the community and Stony Brook University. At the peak increase in COVID-19 cases in New York, we re-contacted these participants to assessed their current depression and anxiety symptoms. We will examine both longitudinal changes in symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as predictors of within-person changes in symptoms over time. Finally, we are currently administering ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and daily diary questionnaires to a large sample of Stony Brook University students and will examine both changes and predictors of behavior and emotional functioning as the COVID-19 pandemic continues into the upcoming winter. Across all of these investigations, we hope to better understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and both risk and resiliency factors that contribute to changes in mental health and well-being.