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. 2022 Nov 19;12(11):1323-1334.
doi: 10.5498/wjp.v12.i11.1323.

Investigating adolescent mental health of Chinese students during the COVID-19 pandemic: Multicenter cross-sectional comparative investigation

Bo-Wen Huang  1 , Pei-Han Guo  2 , Jian-Zhou Liu  1 , Sean X Leng  3 , Li Wang  4
Affiliations

Investigating adolescent mental health of Chinese students during the COVID-19 pandemic: Multicenter cross-sectional comparative investigation

Bo-Wen Huang et al. World J Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused significant challenges for adolescent mental health.

Aim: To survey adolescent students in China to determine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their mental health.

Methods: A multicenter cross-sectional comparative investigation was conducted in March 2022. We collected demographic information and survey data related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Screener scales were used for objective assessment of depression and anxiety.

Results: We collected mental health questionnaires from 3184 students. The investigation demonstrated that adolescents most strongly agreed with the following items: Increased time spent with parents, interference with academic performance, and less travel. Conversely, adolescents most strongly disagreed with the following items: Not having to go to school, feeling an increase in homework, and not socializing with people; 34.6% of adolescents were depressed before COVID-19, of which 1.9% were severely depressed. After COVID-19, 26.3% of adolescents were prone to depression, of which 1.4% were severely depressed. 24.4% of adolescents had anxiety before COVID-19, with severe anxiety accounting for 1.6%. After COVID-19, 23.5% of adolescents were prone to anxiety, of which 1.7% had severe anxiety.

Conclusion: Chinese adolescents in different grades exhibited different psychological characteristics, and their levels of anxiety and depression were improved after the COVID-19 pandemic. Changes in educational management practices since the COVID-19 pandemic may be worth learning from and optimizing in long-term educational planning.

Keywords: Adolescents; COVID-19; Chinese students; Grade analysis; Mental health.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Basic characteristics of adolescents before and after the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. A: Participants’ gender; B: Participants’ grade; C and D: Participants’ age; E–H: Participants’ time distribution; I–L: The teenagers lived with whom. COVID-19: Coronavirus disease 2019; NS: No significant.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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