Mental health symptoms in children and adolescents during COVID-19 in Australia

Abstract

Objective: COVID-19 has led to disruptions to the lives of Australian families through social distancing, school closures, a temporary move to home-based online learning, and effective lockdown. Understanding the effects on child and adolescent mental health is important to inform policies to support communities as they continue to face the pandemic and future crises. This paper sought to report on mental health symptoms in Australian children and adolescents during the initial stages of the pandemic (May to November 2020) and to examine their association with child/family characteristics and exposure to the broad COVID-19 environment. Methods: An online baseline survey was completed by 1327 parents and carers of Australian children aged 4 to 17 years. Parents/carers reported on their child’s mental health using five measures, including emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention, anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms. Child/family characteristics and COVID-related variables were measured. Results: Overall, 30.5%, 26.3% and 9.5% of our sample scored in the high to very high range for emotional symptoms, conduct problems and hyperactivity/inattention, respectively. Similarly, 20.2% and 20.4% of our sample scored in the clinical range for anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms, respectively. A child’s pre-existing mental health diagnosis, neurodevelopmental condition and chronic illness significantly predicted parent-reported child and adolescent mental health symptoms. Parental mental health symptoms, having a close contact with COVID-19 and applying for government financial assistance during COVID-19, were significantly associated with child and adolescent mental health symptoms. Conclusion: Our findings show that Australian children and adolescents experienced considerable levels of mental health symptoms during the initial phase of COVID-19. This highlights the need for targeted and effective support for affected youth, particularly for those with pre-existing vulnerabilities.

Family Bonds with Pets and Mental Health during COVID-19 in Australia: A Complex Picture

“…At the time of participation, 13.7% of parents were scoring in the clinical range for psychological distress (i.e., scores of ≥19 on a scale from 6–30). Guided by previous evidence [ 30 ] of around 20% prevalence for clinical child anxiety during mid-2020, children scoring ≥9 (20.1%) were classified as having anxiety in the clinical range. As shown in Table 2 , parents experiencing psychological distress were more likely to have an anxious child during COVID-19, to be worried about their pet, and to be engaging in more pet-related activities.…”

“…Child anxiety was selected as the most salient construct to briefly capture in a parent-reported survey during a time of uncertainty and change; however, this is only one aspect of children’s mental health (for example, it did not capture symptoms of low mood). In the absence of an established clinical cut-point for this adapted 4-item measure, we were guided by Sicouri and colleagues [ 30 ], who reported in 2020 that 20.2% of Australian children aged 4–17 years were experiencing anxiety symptoms in the clinical range (25-item parent-reported Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale). Applying this cut-point to the distribution of our child anxiety measure, children in the top approximately 20% were considered to be in the clinical range (i.e., total score of ≥9).…”

Emotional and behavioral changes in French children during the COVID-19 pandemic: a retrospective study

“…Our findings were consistent with the literature reporting persistently high levels of depression and anxiety in children and adolescents since the initial phase of the pandemic 24 , 25 . In Australia, when rating the mental health difficulties of their child at waves 1 and 3, a quarter of parents reported a high to very high increase in emotional and behavioral problems 26 . Exploring the mental health of 1537 children and adolescents before the pandemic and 8 weeks after the lockdown, a study showed a significant increase in their anxiety, depression, and overall psychological distress with more screen times 27 , as reported in our study.…”

COVID‐19: Impact on children living in out‐of‐home care and their carers

“…A recent international systematic review of the effects of COVID-19 on child and adolescent mental health concluded that lockdowns have contributed to psychological distress for many children, with particular challenges for those with preexisting mental health difficulties (Panchal et al, 2021). Similarly, an Australian study found one in three children and young people experiencing high to very high levels of difficulties and those with preexisting vulnerabilities were two to three times at greater risk of having mental health symptoms in the clinical range than other children (Sicouri et al, 2022). However, some children may have experienced less distress because lockdowns gave them respite from negative school experiences and challenging peer relationships (Larsen et al, 2021).…”

“…The mental health consequences of the pandemic for children have been noted in Australia (Goldfeld et al, 2022; Sicouri et al, 2022), with increases in demand for telephone counselling, psychological services via telehealth and face‐to‐face services (Batchelor et al, 2021). Children's psychological well‐being may have been directly affected by a change in routines and disruptions to everyday activities through lockdowns (Collins & Baldiga, 2020) and through factors such as social isolation, conflict in families, child maltreatment and anxiety about the future (Jentsch & Schnock, 2020).…”