Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: May 25, 2021
Date Accepted: Sep 27, 2021
Date Submitted to PubMed: Dec 3, 2021
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Depression, anxiety, and daily activity among adolescents before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a two-group cross-sectional study
ABSTRACT
Background:
The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has resulted in significant changes to adolescents’ daily lives and, potentially, to their mental health. The pandemic has also disproportionately affected historically marginalized and at-risk communities, including people of color, socioeconomically disadvantaged people, and youth.
Objective:
This study aimed to understand differences in depression and anxiety among two groups of US adolescents before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to examine demographic and daily activity variables associated with depression and anxiety.
Methods:
Online surveys were distributed in 2019 and 2020. Analyses of covariance compared depression and anxiety between pre-pandemic and pandemic groups. Demographic and lifestyle variables were included as covariates.
Results:
Within the pandemic group, 94% of adolescents reported being out of school due to the pandemic, and another 86% and 57% were prevented from extracurricular activities or exercise, respectively. The pandemic group trended towards higher depression, with least squares adjusted means 7.62 ±1.36, compared to 6.28 ±1.42 (p=.08) in the pre-pandemic group. There was no significant difference in anxiety scores between pandemic and pre-pandemic groups, with least squares adjusted means 5.52 ±1.30 vs. 5.01 ±1.36 (p=.48). Within the pandemic group, lower socioeconomic status was predictive of anxiety, such that those in the pandemic group of lower SES were more anxious than their higher SES peers, with least squares adjusted means 11.17 ±2.34 vs. 8.66 ±2.16 (p=.02). Within the pandemic group, being out of work, school, extracurricular activities, or exercise due to the pandemic was not associated with higher depression or anxiety scores.
Conclusions:
In the present study, neither being in the pandemic group, nor experiencing changes in daily activity due to the pandemic, were associated with higher depression or anxiety. However, we found that adolescents from lower socioeconomic backgrounds experienced significantly more anxiety during the pandemic than their more privileged peers. Both instrumental and mental health interventions for less privileged adolescents are imperative. Clinical Trial: Not applicable
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