COVID-19 impact on adolescent mental health: A reassessment accounting for development

Abstract Current prospective reports suggest a pandemic-related increase in adolescent mental health problems. We examine whether age-related change over 11-14 years accounts for this increase. Parents and adolescents in a UK-based birth cohort (Wirral Child Health and Development Study; WCHADS; N=737) reported on adolescent depression and behavioural problems pre-pandemic (February 2020), mid-pandemic (August 2020) and late-pandemic (August 2021). Analysis used repeated measures models for over-dispersed Poisson counts with a child-specific intercept with age as a time-varying covariate. Maturational curves for girls, but not for boys, showed a significant increase in self-reported depression symptoms over ages 11-14 years. Behavioural problems decreased for both. After adjusting for age-related change, girls’ depression increased by only 13% at mid-pandemic and returned to near pre-pandemic level at late-pandemic (mid versus late -12%) whereas boys’ depression increased by 31% and remained elevated (mid versus late 1%). Age-adjusted behavioural problems increased for both (girls 40%, boys 41%) and worsened from mid to late-pandemic (girls 33%, boys 18%). Initial reports of a pandemic-related increase in depression in young adolescent girls could be explained by a natural maturational rise. In contrast, maturational decreases in boys’ depression and both boys’ and girls’ behavioural problems may mask an effect of the pandemic.