Spatial Clustering of Adolescent Bereavement in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Purpose: Few studies have examined grief and bereavement in the context of a pandemic, particularly among young people during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: The objective of this study is to examine spatiotemporal clustering of bereavement using data from Crisis Text Line, an SMS-based intervention with widespread usage among youth and adolescents in the United States from January 2017 to September 2020.

Results: Results found significant spatial clustering of bereavement during the pandemic period in the late summer months compared with the onset of the pandemic.

Conclusion: Our study provides the first evidence of elevated bereavement in adolescents using a technique for rapidly identifying clusters of bereavement risk among this vulnerable subgroup. Findings can be leveraged for targeted interventions and supportive counseling in geographic hotspots.

Keywords: Bereavement; COVID-19; Cluster detection; Crisis response; Geographic information systems; Help-seeking.