Trajectories of mental health in children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: findings from the longitudinal COPSY study

TY - JOUR

T1 - Trajectories of mental health in children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: findings from the longitudinal COPSY study

AU - Kaman, Anne

AU - Devine, Janine

AU - Wirtz, Markus Antonius

AU - Erhart, Michael

AU - Boecker, Maren

AU - Napp, Ann-Kathrin

AU - Reiss, Franziska

AU - Zoellner, Fionna

AU - Ravens-Sieberer, Ulrike

N1 - © 2024. The Author(s).

PY - 2024/7/18

Y1 - 2024/7/18

N2 - BACKGROUND: Mental health and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in children and adolescents deteriorated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this population-based longitudinal study was to explore whether distinct mental health trajectories in youths can be identified over the course of the pandemic.METHODS: Mental health problems (MHP), psychosomatic symptoms and HRQoL were assessed at five time points between May 2020 and October 2022 in 744 children and adolescents aged 7 to 20 years using established instruments. We used generalized mixture modeling to identify distinct mental health trajectories and fixed-effects regressions to analyse covariates of the identified profiles of change.RESULTS: We found five distinct linear latent trajectory classes each for externalising MHP and psychosomatic symptoms and four trajectory classes for internalising MHP. For HRQoL, a single-class solution that indicates a common development process proved to be optimal. The largest groups remained almost stable at a low internalising and externalising symptom level (64 to 74%) and consistently showed moderate psychosomatic symptoms (79%), while 2 to 18% showed improvements across the pandemic. About 10% of the youths had consistently high internalising problems, while externalising problems deteriorated in 18% of youths. Class membership was significantly associated with initial HRQoL, parental and child burden, personal resources, family climate and social support.CONCLUSIONS: The mental health of most children and adolescents remained resilient throughout the pandemic. However, a sizeable number of youths had consistently poor or deteriorating mental health. Those children and adolescents need special attention in schools and mental health care.

AB - BACKGROUND: Mental health and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in children and adolescents deteriorated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this population-based longitudinal study was to explore whether distinct mental health trajectories in youths can be identified over the course of the pandemic.METHODS: Mental health problems (MHP), psychosomatic symptoms and HRQoL were assessed at five time points between May 2020 and October 2022 in 744 children and adolescents aged 7 to 20 years using established instruments. We used generalized mixture modeling to identify distinct mental health trajectories and fixed-effects regressions to analyse covariates of the identified profiles of change.RESULTS: We found five distinct linear latent trajectory classes each for externalising MHP and psychosomatic symptoms and four trajectory classes for internalising MHP. For HRQoL, a single-class solution that indicates a common development process proved to be optimal. The largest groups remained almost stable at a low internalising and externalising symptom level (64 to 74%) and consistently showed moderate psychosomatic symptoms (79%), while 2 to 18% showed improvements across the pandemic. About 10% of the youths had consistently high internalising problems, while externalising problems deteriorated in 18% of youths. Class membership was significantly associated with initial HRQoL, parental and child burden, personal resources, family climate and social support.CONCLUSIONS: The mental health of most children and adolescents remained resilient throughout the pandemic. However, a sizeable number of youths had consistently poor or deteriorating mental health. Those children and adolescents need special attention in schools and mental health care.

U2 - 10.1186/s13034-024-00776-2

DO - 10.1186/s13034-024-00776-2

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 39026337

VL - 18

SP - 89

JO - CHILD ADOL PSYCH MEN

JF - CHILD ADOL PSYCH MEN

SN - 1753-2000

IS - 1

ER -