Pandemic Tied to Changes in Youth Mental Health

Minor improvements seen in externalizing problems, anxiety, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Aug. 29, 2024 (HealthDay News) — The early years of the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with minor, mostly positive changes in youth mental health overall, according to a study published online Aug. 26 in JAMA Network Open.

Courtney K. Blackwell, Ph.D., from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, and colleagues investigated within-child changes in youth mental health from prepandemic (Jan. 1, 2015, to March 12, 2020) to midpandemic (March 13, 2020, and Aug. 31, 2022) longitudinal data from 1,229 participants in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes Program.

In generalized linear mixed-effects models, the researchers found minor decreases in externalizing problems (β = −0.88), anxiety (β = −0.18), and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; β = −0.36) and a minor increase in depression (β = 0.22). Across all outcomes, youth with borderline or clinically meaningful prepandemic scores experienced decreases, particularly externalizing problems (borderline, β = −2.85; clinical, β = −4.88). Compared with higher-income and White youth, low-income (β = −0.76) and Black (β = −0.52) youth experienced small decreases in ADHD.

“In this longitudinal cohort study of economically and racially diverse U.S. youth, there was evidence of differential susceptibility and resilience for mental health problems during the pandemic that was associated with prepandemic mental health and sociodemographic characteristics,” the authors write.

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