Journal Article

Determinants of adolescents’ Health-Related Quality of Life and psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic

Baysson, Hélène, Stringhini, Silvia, Richard, Viviane, Wisniak, Ania, Dumont, Roxane, Barbe, Rémy P., Lorthe, Elsa, Piumatti, Giovanni, Guessous, Idris, Schrempft, Stephanie, Posfay-Barbe, Klara M.

2022

Overview

We examined the determinants of adolescents' Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) and psychological distress (self-reported and parent-reported) during the COVID-19 pandemic, using a random sample of the population of Geneva, Switzerland. Data was drawn from participants aged 14-17 years, who participated with their families to a serosurvey conducted in November and December 2020. Adolescents' HRQoL was evaluated using the validated adolescent-reported KIDSCREEN-10 and parent-reported KINDL.sup.® scales. Psychological distress was assessed with self-reported sadness and loneliness, and using the KINDL.sup.® emotional well-being scale. Using generalized estimating equations, we examined the role of socio-demographic, family and behavioural characteristics in influencing adolescents' mental health status and wellbeing. Among 240 adolescents, 11% had a low HRQoL, 35% reported sadness and 23% reported loneliness. Based on parents' perception, 12% of the adolescents had a low HRQoL and 16% a low emotional well-being. Being a girl (aOR = 3.20; 95%CI: 1.67-6.16), increased time on social media (aOR = 2.07; 95%CI: 1.08-3.97), parents' average to poor mood (aOR = 2.62; 95%CI: 1.10-6.23) and average to poor household financial situation (aOR = 2.31; IC95%: 1.01-6.10) were associated with an increased risk of sadness. Mismatches between adolescents' and their parents' perception of HRQoL were more likely for girls (aOR = 2.88; 95%CI: 1.54-5.41) and in households with lower family well-being (aOR = 0.91; 95%CI: 0.86-0.96). A meaningful proportion of adolescents experienced low well-being during the second wave of COVID-19, and average well-being was lower than pre-pandemic estimates. Adolescents living in underprivileged or distressed families seemed particularly affected. Monitoring is necessary to evaluate the long-term effects of the pandemic on adolescents.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Adolescents / Biology and Life Sciences / Childrens health / Computer and Information Sciences / Coronaviruses / COVID-19 / Emotions / Evaluation / Families & family life / Health aspects / Households / Loneliness / Long-term effects / Medicine and Health Sciences / Mental health / Pandemics / Parents / Parents & parenting / People and Places / Perception / Population / Psychological aspects / Psychological stress / Public health / Quality of life / Questionnaires / Screen time / Self report / Serology / Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 / Social aspects / Social networks / Social Sciences / Sociodemographics / Teenagers / Well being / Youth