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. 2024 Dec 16:12:1469792.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1469792. eCollection 2024.

Impact of COVID-19 vaccination on adolescent and youth students' mental health and bullying behaviors after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions in China

Hong-Jun Song #  1   2 , Cong Wang #  1   3 , Yun-Fei Mu  1   3 , Jia Cai  1 , Zhongyue Deng  1   3 , Yu Wang  1 , Ai-Ping Deng  1   2 , Ting Liu  1 , Bin Li  1 , Yi Huang  1 , Jin Chen  4 , Yan Hu  5 , Bo Liu  6 , Wei Zhang  1 , Lin Lu  7   8 , Mao-Sheng Ran  1   3
Affiliations

Impact of COVID-19 vaccination on adolescent and youth students' mental health and bullying behaviors after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions in China

Hong-Jun Song et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Vaccination plays an important role in fighting against COVID-19. However, it is unclear about the association among vaccination, mental health, and bullying behaviors in China.

Method: This online survey was conducted to investigate the association among vaccination status, mental health problems and bullying behaviors in students from December 14, 2022 to February 28, 2023 in Sichuan, China. All participants (N = 82,873) were adolescents recruited via their teachers and professors. Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), Sleep Severity Index Scale (ISI) and Cyberbullying behaviors were tested.

Results: The rates of depression, anxiety and PTSD in participants without vaccination were significantly higher than that in those with vaccination. Moreover, participants with more doses of vaccines had significantly lower rates of depression, anxiety, PTSD, school and cyber bullying (p < 0.001). The rates of homosexual orientation, drinking, smoking were higher in participants with three or more doses of vaccines than those with less doses of vaccines (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: This study suggests that COVID-19 vaccination will not only protect students' physical health, but also improve mental health. It is crucial to explore the mechanism between vaccination and mental health problems and bullying behaviors in further studies.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccination; China; adolescent; mental health; school bullying.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The mean comparison of mental health problems among 4 groups. G1, Participants who did not receive the COVID-19 vaccine; G2, Participants who received one dose of vaccine; G3, Participants who received two doses of vaccine; G4, Participants who received three or more doses of vaccine. Marking as the same letter indicates no significant difference.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The influence factors of depression and anxiety. G1, Participants who did not receive the COVID-19 vaccine; G2, Participants who received one dose of vaccine; G3, Participants who received two doses of vaccine; G4, Participants who received three or more doses of vaccine; (A) The influence factors of depression among 2 groups. (B) The influence factors of depression among 3 groups. (C) The influence factors of depression among 4 groups. (D) The influence factors of anxiety among 2 groups. (E) The influence factors of anxiety among 3 groups. (F) The influence factors of anxiety among 4 groups.
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