Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Apr;60(4):513-523.
doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2020.12.027. Epub 2020 Dec 24.

Change in Youth Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Majority Hispanic/Latinx US Sample

Francesca Penner  1 , Jessica Hernandez Ortiz  1 , Carla Sharp  2
Affiliations

Change in Youth Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Majority Hispanic/Latinx US Sample

Francesca Penner et al. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2021 Apr.

Abstract

Objective: Children and adolescents, individuals from racial and ethnic minority groups, and those with mental health conditions may be at greater risk for worsened mental health because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examined change in mental health from before to during the pandemic among predominantly Hispanic/Latinx adolescents.

Method: A total of 322 young adolescents (mean age = 11.99 years, 55% female and 45% male), with a racial/ethnic composition of 72.7% Hispanic/Latinx, 9.3% Black or African American, 5.9% multiple races, 5.0% Asian, 1.6% White, and 1.2% American Indian, completed a mental health screening measure prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and at 3 time-points beginning 1 month after COVID-19 stay-at-home measures were implemented. A subsample also completed a survey about their experience at home during COVID-19. Repeated-measures mixed analysis of covariance was used to evaluate change in each mental health domain, and whether youths who had elevated symptoms at baseline differed in their level of change, controlling for age and gender.

Results: For youths who had elevated levels of mental health problems before the pandemic, symptoms were significantly reduced across domains during the pandemic. Reductions in internalizing, externalizing, and total problems were clinically significant. For other youths, there were statistically significant reductions in internalizing and total problems, and no change in attention or externalizing problems. Post hoc analyses revealed that better family functioning was consistently related to lower mental health symptoms in youths during COVID-19 follow-ups.

Conclusion: COVID-19 stay-at-home regulations may offer protective effects for youth mental health. Study results may be specific to this population of predominantly Hispanic/Latinx youths from a large city in the southwestern United States.

Keywords: COVID-19; adolescence; epidemiology; mental health; risk and resilience.

PubMed Disclaimer

LinkOut - more resources