Journal Article

Age-related effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health of children and adolescents

Lory, Irina, Barblan, Lara P., Schmidt, Stefanie J., Landolt, Markus A.

2021

Overview

Background: Children and adolescents are affected in various ways by the lockdown measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, it is crucial to better understand the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in this age-group. Objective: The objective was to investigate and compare the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in three age groups (1-6 years, 7-10 years, 11-19 years) and to examine the associations with psychological factors. Methods: An anonymous online survey was conducted from 9 April to 11 May 2020 during the acute phase of major lockdown measures. In this cross-sectional study, children and adolescents aged between 1 and 19 years were recruited as a population-based sample. They were eligible if they were residents in Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein or Switzerland, were parents/caregivers of a child aged between 1 and 10 years or adolescents ≥11 years, had sufficient German language skills and provided informed consent. Results: Among 5823 participants, between 2.2% and 9.9% reported emotional and behavioural problems above the clinical cut-off and between 15.3% and 43.0% reported an increase in these problems during the pandemic. Significant age-related effects were found regarding the type and frequency of problems (χ 2 (4) ≥50.2, P ≤ 0.001). While preschoolers (1-6 years) had the largest increase in oppositional-defiant behaviours, adolescents reported the largest increase in emotional problems. Adolescents experienced a significantly larger decrease in emotional and behavioural problems than both preschoolers and school-children. Sociodemographic variables, exposure to and appraisal of COVID-19, psychotherapy before COVID-19 and parental mental health significantly predicted change in problem-scores (F ≥ 3.69, P ≤ 0.001). Conclusion: A substantial proportion of children and adolescents experience age-related mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. These problems should be monitored, and support should be offered to risk-groups to improve communication, emotion regulation and appraisal style. Between 15.3% and 43.0% of the 1 to 19 years old children and adolescents reported an increase of problems during COVID-19. Between 2.0% and 9.9% reported emotional and behavioural problems above the clinical cut-off. Effects were associated with age, gender, exposure to and appraisal of COVID-19, attending psychotherapy before COVID-19 and parental mental health.

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis,Taylor & Francis Ltd,Taylor & Francis Group
• Subject: adolescence / adolescencia / Age / Child & adolescent mental health / children / Clinical / Coronaviruses / COVID-19 / desarrollo / development / edad / Mental health / niños / Pandemia / Pandemic / Pandemics / salud mental / Teenagers / 儿童 / 发育 / 年龄 / 心理健康 / 疫情 / 青少年