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. 2023 Mar;33(1):74-91.
doi: 10.1111/jora.12781. Epub 2022 Jul 7.

Longitudinal Change in Adolescent Depression and Anxiety Symptoms from before to during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Marjolein E A Barendse  1 , Jessica Flannery  2 , Caitlin Cavanagh  3 , Melissa Aristizabal  4 , Stephen P Becker  5 , Estelle Berger  1 , Rosanna Breaux  6 , Nicole Campione-Barr  7 , Jessica A Church  4 , Eveline A Crone  8 , Ronald E Dahl  9 , Tracy A Dennis-Tiwary  10 , Melissa R Dvorsky  11 , Sarah L Dziura  12 , Suzanne van de Groep  8 , Tiffany C Ho  13 , Sarah E Killoren  7 , Joshua M Langberg  14 , Tyler L Larguinho  4 , Lucía Magis-Weinberg  15 , Kalina J Michalska  16 , Jordan L Mullins  16 , Hanna Nadel  1 , Blaire M Porter  4 , Mitchell J Prinstein  2 , Elizabeth Redcay  12 , Amanda J Rose  7 , Wendy M Rote  17 , Amy K Roy  18 , Sophie W Sweijen  8 , Eva H Telzer  2 , Giana I Teresi  19 , April Gile Thomas  20 , Jennifer H Pfeifer  1
Affiliations

Longitudinal Change in Adolescent Depression and Anxiety Symptoms from before to during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Marjolein E A Barendse et al. J Res Adolesc. 2023 Mar.

Abstract

This study aimed to examine changes in depression and anxiety symptoms from before to during the first 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in a sample of 1,339 adolescents (9-18 years old, 59% female) from three countries. We also examined if age, race/ethnicity, disease burden, or strictness of government restrictions moderated change in symptoms. Data from 12 longitudinal studies (10 U.S., 1 Netherlands, 1 Peru) were combined. Linear mixed effect models showed that depression, but not anxiety, symptoms increased significantly (median increase = 28%). The most negative mental health impacts were reported by multiracial adolescents and those under 'lockdown' restrictions. Policy makers need to consider these impacts by investing in ways to support adolescents' mental health during the pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; collaborative; depression and anxiety.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Depression symptoms prior to and during the pandemic in proportion of maximum score. Colors indicate which study the individual data points belonged to and the bigger dots depict means of each study at each time point, connected by a line. Note that jitter was added to visualize overlapping data points.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Anxiety symptoms prior to and during the pandemic in proportion of maximum score. Colors indicate which study the individual data points belonged to and the bigger dots depict means of each study at each time point, connected by a line. Note that jitter was added to visualize overlapping data points.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
The change in anxiety symptoms from prior to (“Pre”) to during (“During”) the pandemic in relation to the timespan between earliest and latest assessment.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
The change in symptoms from prior to (“Pre”) to during (“During”) the pandemic by race/ethnicity of the adolescent. The larger black symbol is the median for that racial/ethnic category and time point.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Changes in symptom levels in relation to case rates in the participant's county or region. Note that data from TAB were removed from this plot, since they formed an extreme outlier.
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
Changes in depression (left) or anxiety (right) symptoms in relation to government restriction levels in the participant's county or region. The larger black dots represent the median for that restriction level and time point.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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