Changes in adolescent mental health during the Covid pandemic

Adolescent mental health during covid-19 pandemics: a systematic review

OBJECTIVES

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has had wide-ranging outcomes on adolescents' well-being. However, less attention has been paid to the adolescent's mental health during the pandemic. The pandemic may impair adolescents' mental health through stress spillover from other family members, contextual and policy changes, and the disruption of everyday life routines. Therefore, our research is motivated by a need to address the relative scarcity of research examining adolescent mental health during the pandemic.

CONTENT

This systematic review was conducted through the medical database, Web of Science, Scopus, Medline, Embase, Google Scholar, and Cochrane databases for peer-reviewed, cross-sectional, cohort studies assessing the mental health status of adolescents during the Covid-19 virus pandemic from May 2020 till Dec 2022 without language restriction. Keywords were selected based on the Mesh terms and Emtree.

SUMMARY

Studies on coronavirus have revealed many significant psychological effects on teens of all ages. The most commom problems were on the stress and anxiety, sleep disorders, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder. Risk factors were concidered as prior mental health problem, female sexuality, fear of covid-19, nutrition, physical activity and listening the covid 19 news.

OUTLOOK

Considering the critical age of teenagers, the role of parents is vital. Health policy maker should support parents as a key factors to approprate care for adolescent. Parents should be educated on parenting methods during the covid pandemic to avoid irreparable damage of adolescent's mental health.

Emotional, hyperactivity and inattention problems in adolescents with immunocompromising chronic diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic

OBJECTIVE

To assess factors associated with emotional changes and Hyperactivity/Inattention (HI) motivated by COVID-19 quarantine in adolescents with immunocompromising diseases.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study included 343 adolescents with immunocompromising diseases and 108 healthy adolescents. Online questionnaires were answered including socio-demographic data and self-rated healthcare routine during COVID-19 quarantine and validated surveys: Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 (PedsQL4.0).

RESULTS

The frequencies of abnormal emotional SDQ scores from adolescents with chronic diseases were similar to those of healthy subjects (110/343 [32%] vs. 38/108 [35%], p = 0.548), as well as abnormal hyperactivity/inattention SDQ scores (79/343 [23%] vs. 29/108 [27%], p = 0.417). Logistic regression analysis of independent variables associated with abnormal emotional scores from adolescents with chronic diseases showed: female sex (Odds Ratio [OR = 3.76]; 95% Confidence Interval (95% CI) 2.00‒7.05; p < 0.001), poor sleep quality (OR = 2.05; 95% CI 1.08‒3.88; p = 0.028) and intrafamilial violence during pandemic (OR = 2.17; 95% CI 1.12‒4.19; p = 0.021) as independently associated with abnormal emotional scores, whereas total PedsQL score was inversely associated with abnormal emotional scores (OR = 0.95; 95% CI 0.93‒0.96; p < 0.0001). Logistic regression analysis associated with abnormal HI scores from patients evidenced that total PedsQL score (OR = 0.97; 95% CI 0.95‒0.99; p = 0.010], changes in medical appointments during the pandemic (OR = 0.39; 95% CI 0.19-0.79; p = 0.021), and reliable COVID-19 information (OR = 0.35; 95% CI 0.16‒0.77; p = 0.026) remained inversely associated with abnormal HI scores.

CONCLUSION

The present study showed emotional and HI disturbances in adolescents with chronic immunosuppressive diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic. It reinforces the need to promptly implement a longitudinal program to protect the mental health of adolescents with and without chronic illnesses during future pandemics.

A narrative review into the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on senior high school adolescent mental health

Problem

High school teenagers are facing significant challenges during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Teenagers are at risk of experiencing physical, mental, and social health problems due to the COVID‐19 pandemic. This narrative review aims to explore the impact of COVID‐19 on the emergence of mental health problems in high school adolescents.

Methods

This study employed a narrative review method. We conducted a systematic search using PRISMA on three databases: Medline, PubMed, and ScienceDirect. A total of 40 articles met the inclusion and exclusion criteria set based on the research objectives.

Findings

The study uncovered that high school adolescents had an increased risk of experiencing mental health problems, namely psychological distress, worry, loneliness, anxiety, depression, traumatic symptoms, other psychological disorders, suicide risk, sleep disorders, and psychosocial functioning. Anxiety, depression, and psychological stress were the most discussed mental health problems among high school adolescents during the COVID‐19 pandemic.

Conclusions

There is a need for efforts to identify health problems and intervene in mental health problems early in high school adolescents. Schools, mental health workers, and the government (e.g., policy stakeholders) need to implement the recommendations given as a follow‐up effort for mental health services for high school youth.