Purpose The 2019 COVID-19 pandemic poses a challenge to adolescent psychological health. The aim of this study was to survey junior high and high school students in China to better understand the psychological consequences, such as anxiety, depression, and stress, of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods A cross-sectional online survey using structural questionnaires was conducted from April 7, 2020, to April 24, 2020. Demographic information and general information related to the pandemic were collected. Psychological consequences were assessed by the Impact of Event Scale-Revised and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale. Influencing factors were assessed by the Brief Resilience Scale and Coping Style Questionnaire. Results Our sample comprised 493 junior high school students (male = 239, mean age = 13.93 years) and 532 high school students (male = 289, mean age = 17.08 years). Resilience and positive coping were protective factors for the occurrence of depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms in junior high and high school students ( p < .05). Positive coping was a protective factor for trauma-related distress in junior high school students ( p < .05). Negative coping is a risk factor for depression, anxiety, stress symptoms, and trauma-related distress in junior high and high school students ( p < .05). Conclusions During the COVID-19 pandemic in China, more than one fifth of junior high and high school students' mental health was affected. Our findings suggested that resilience and positive coping lead to better psychological and mental health status among students. In contrast, negative coping is a risk factor for mental health.

Light plays a pivotal role in the regulation of affective behaviors. However, the precise circuits that mediate the impact of light on depressivelike behaviors are not well understood. Here, we show that light influences depressive-like behaviors through a disynaptic circuit linking the retina and the lateral habenula (LHb). Specifically, M4type melanopsin-expressing retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) innervate GABA neurons in the thalamic ventral lateral geniculate nucleus and intergeniculate leaflet (vLGN/IGL), which in turn inhibit CaMKIIa neurons in the LHb. Specific activation of vLGN/IGL-projecting RGCs, activation of LHbprojecting vLGN/IGL neurons, or inhibition of postsynaptic LHb neurons is sufficient to decrease the depressive-like behaviors evoked by longterm exposure to aversive stimuli or chronic social defeat stress. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the antidepressive effects of light therapy require activation of the retina-vLGN/IGL-LHb pathway. These results reveal a dedicated retina-vLGN/ IGL-LHb circuit that regulates depressive-like behaviors and provide a potential mechanistic explanation for light treatment of depression.

Aims: Depression is prevalent among university students worldwide, and the prevalence appears to be increasing. As an intermediate stage between being healthy and having depression, students with subthreshold depression could develop worsening depression or recover with intervention to prevent depression. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) is a useful tool to assess subthreshold depression. The primary purpose of the current study was to evaluate the psychometric characteristics of CES-D in Chinese university students. Secondly, we aimed to describe the prevalence of subthreshold depression among the student sample and examine its demographic correlates. Methods: A total of 2,068 university students participated in the study, and they were asked to respond to the Chinese CES-D, Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The factor structure was evaluated by conducting exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using a structural equation modeling approach. The reliability was assessed by calculating Cronbach’s alpha, inter-item correlation, and item-total correlation coefficients. The prevalence of subthreshold depression was calculated and demographic correlates of gender, grade, and major were examined by multiple regression. Results: The final sample included 1,920 participants. The EFA results suggested extraction of three factors (somatic symptoms, negative affect, and anhedonia) that account for 52.68% of total variance. The CFA results suggested that the newly derived model with 14 items was the best fit for our data. Six items were removed from the original scale (item 9, 10, 13, 15, 17, and 19). The Cronbach’s alpha of the 14-item CES-D was 0.87. The prevalence of subthreshold depression among university students reached 32.7% for the 20-item CES-D and 31% for the 14-item CES-D, although there was no significant difference of prevalence in gender, grade, and major. Conclusions: The CES-D has good reliability and validity for assessing subthreshold depression in Chinese university students.