Crisis Response and Suicidal Behaviors of Essential Workers and Children of Essential Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

OBJECTIVE: The COVID-19 pandemic has put unprecedented stress on essential workers and their children. Limited cross-sectional research has found increases in mental health conditions from workload, reduced income, and isolation among essential workers. Less research has been conducted on children of essential workers. We examined trends in the crisis response of essential workers and their children from April 2020 through August 2021. METHODS: We investigated the impact during 3 periods of the pandemic on workers and their children using anonymized data from the Crisis Text Line on crisis help-seeking texts for thoughts of suicide or active suicidal ideation (desire, intent, capability, time frame), abuse (emotional, physical, sexual, unspecified), anxiety/stress, grief, depression, isolation, bullying, eating or body image, gender/sexual identity, self-harm, and substance use. We used generalized estimating equations to study the longitudinal change in crisis response across the later stages of the pandemic using adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for worker status and crisis outcomes. RESULTS: Results demonstrated higher odds of crisis outcomes for thoughts of suicide (aOR = 1.06; 95% CI, 1.00-1.12) and suicide capability (aOR = 1.14; 95% CI, 1.02-1.27) among essential workers than among nonessential workers. Children of essential workers had higher odds of substance use than children of nonessential workers (aOR = 1.33; 95% CI, 1.08-1.65), particularly for Indigenous American children (aOR = 2.76; 95% CI, 1.35-5.36). Essential workers (aOR = 1.17; 95% CI, 1.07-1.27) and their children (aOR = 1.18; 95% CI, 1.07-1.30) had higher odds of grief than nonessential workers and their children. CONCLUSION: Essential workers and their children had elevated crisis outcomes. Immediate and low-cost psychologically supportive interventions are needed to mitigate the mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on these populations.