The COVID-19 Pandemic and Adolescents’ Psychological Distress: A Multinational Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has continued for more than two years, and the impact of this pandemic on mental health has become one of the most important research topics in psychiatry and psychology. The aim of the present study was to assess psychological distress in adolescents across five countries (Sweden, Morocco, Serbia, Vietnam, and the United States of America) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Using nonparametric analyses we examined the impact of COVID-19 on distress, measured by the Brief Symptom Inventory, in a sample of 4670 adolescents. Results: Our results showed that the association between the COVID-19 impact and psychological distress in adolescents’ lives was positive and moderate in Morocco and Serbia, positive and weak in Vietnam and the United States of America, and negative and weak in Sweden. We also found that female adolescents reported higher distress levels than male adolescents. Conclusions: COVID-19 impacted adolescents and their psychological distress differently depending on their residence.

Gender non-binary adolescents’ somatic and mental health throughout 2020

“…Each nation's sample scores demonstrated obsessive compulsive domains and interpersonal sensitivity within the three highest scores, followed by paranoid ideation and depression as nationspecific dominators (Sweden: depression, obsessive compulsive symptoms, interpersonal sensitivity; Morocco and Serbia: paranoid ideations, obsessive compulsive symptoms, interpersonal sensitivity; Vietnam: interpersonal sensitivity, obsessive compulsive symptoms, depression; and the United States: obsessive compulsive symptoms, depression and interpersonal sensitivity). Most importantly, while the pattern is similar, the level of distress differed between samples (American and Moroccan adolescents reported significantly higher psychological distress levels than those from Serbia, Sweden, and Vietnam; Nguyen et al, 2022). Our study population reported higher distress levels in obsessive compulsive symptoms, depression, and interpersonal sensitivity and in the General Severity Index than each of the other countries' gender binary populations, except the United States.…”

“…Each item measures the extent to which the adolescent experiences the given statement. The reliability of the BSI instrument was recently tested in a multinational sample, where it showed acceptable reliability for each primary domain, except that of Hostility (Nguyen et al, 2022). Therefore, in the present study, we report scores on eight of the primary domains (we do not report scores on Hostility).…”

Swedish High School Students’ Drug and Alcohol Use Habits throughout 2020

“…Hafstad and Augusti [ 45 ], in their comment in The Lancet Psychiatry in 2021, drew attention to the fact that changes in adolescents’ mental health and risk behaviors during the pandemic cannot and should not be simply interpreted as consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and its restrictions—increased psychological distress levels could be measured in adolescents even before the pandemic. Nguyen et al [ 46 ] also showed that the levels of psychological distress and the impacts of the pandemic on adolescents’ well-being varied greatly across countries and cultures. Time and environment, both separately and together, impact well-being and behaviors; therefore, the results of the present study should be interpreted both within a bigger perspective (possible generational changes in risk behaviors) and in a more restricted matter (only applicable to Swedish adolescents).…”

Suicide Risk in Military Personnel during the COVID-19 Health Emergency in a Peruvian Region: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…However, the COVID-19 pandemic deteriorated the mental health [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ], that according to WHO the pandemic has generated a 25% increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide [ 14 ], particularly of various groups of professionals [ 15 ]. Among them, the military, as a group of first line of defense worldwide, supported by a study that evaluated the rates of death by suicide in different generational groups, identifying that since the beginning of the pandemic, the military has observed increases from 55% to 82% in suicide rates [ 16 ].…”