Depression and Anxiety Symptoms in Young Adults Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from a Canadian Population-Based Cohort

Abstract

Objectives: Concerns have been raised that the COVID-19 pandemic could increase risk for adverse mental health outcomes, especially in young adults, a vulnerable age group. We investigated changes in depression and anxiety symptoms (overall and severe) from before to during the pandemic, as well as whether these changes are linked to COVID-19 related stressors and pre-existing vulnerabilities in young adults followed in the context of a population-based cohort. Method: Participants (n=1039) from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development reported on their depression and anxiety symptoms and completed a COVID-19 questionnaire during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the summer of 2020 (age 22 years). Assessments at age 20 (2018) were used to estimate pre-pandemic depression and anxiety symptom severity. Results: While overall levels of depression and anxiety symptoms did not change, there was an increase in rates of severe depression (but not severe anxiety) from before (6.1%) to during (8.2%) the pandemic. Depressive and anxiety symptoms increased from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic among young adults with the lowest levels of symptoms before the pandemic, while they decreased among those with the highest levels of pre-existing symptoms. Youth who were living alone experienced an increase in depressive symptoms. Other COVID-19 related variables (e.g., loss of education/occupation, frequent news-seeking) and pre-existing vulnerabilities (e.g., low SES, low social support) were not associated with changes in depression or anxiety symptoms. Conclusion: Depression and anxiety symptoms in young adults from Quebec in Summer 2020 were comparable to symptoms reported in 2018. Most COVID-19 related stressors and pre-existing vulnerabilities were not associated with changes in symptoms. However, the increased rate of severe depression and the increase in depression and anxiety symptoms among young adults with the least mental health symptoms before the COVID-19 pandemic are concerning.

First-Year University Students’ Mental Health Trajectories Were Disrupted at the Onset of COVID-19, but Disruptions Were Not Linked to Housing and Financial Vulnerabilities: A Registered Report

“…Anticipation of a universal basic income may have mitigated some of the incremental distress we might otherwise have expected to observe in students from more financially vulnerable households. Data gathered in the summer of 2020 from a sample of 22-yearolds in the province of Québec showed that most emerging adults were not very concerned about being able to meet their basic needs, and mental health scores were not significantly elevated relative to an assessment two years prior (Watkins-Martin et al, 2021). Whether social safety net policies protect mental health as well as economic security during public emergencies is a question worthy of further study.…”

A Qualitative Investigation of the Positive and Negative Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Post-Secondary Students’ Mental Health and Well-Being

“…For example, in longitudinal studies of emerging adults living in Canada and The Netherlands, average levels of depression and anxiety symptoms were fairly stable, at least in the early months of the pandemic. A key emergent finding in the literature that should be considered though, is there seems to be significant variability in risk, with some individuals more or less at-risk of elevations in mental health symptoms than others (van den Berg et al, 2021; van Zyl et al, 2021; Watkins-Martin et al, 2021). This work has led authors to conclude that impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic may not be uniformly detrimental (Prati & Mancini, 2021; Watkins-Martin et al, 2021).…”

“…Contrary to expectations, in post-secondary and emerging adult samples, some studies suggest that individuals with pre-existing mental health concerns have shown stability in mental health over time. In contrast, individuals without pre-existing mental health concerns have shown declining mental health (Hamza et al, 2020; Meda et al, 2021; Watkins-Martin et al, 2021). For example, Hamza et al (2020) found that during the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian post-secondary students without pre-existing mental health concerns showed worsening stress, depressive, and anxious symptoms compared to 1 year prior to the pandemic.…”

Dual mediating effects of changes in daily life and anxiety on the relationship between occupation and depression in Korea during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…According to the survey results released by the Korean Society for Traumatic Stress Studies [3], the most common cause of stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic is the inability to implement plans. This is followed by financial difficulties due to reduced income or debt, physical and mental health problems, and difficulties associated with academic or job performance due to changes such as telecommuting.…”

“…This implies that people are experiencing changes across all aspects of daily life due to the pandemic. Owing to these changes in daily life, depression and anxiety levels have been markedly increasing worldwide after the COVID-19 outbreak [3,4]. In particular, depression is considered the most typical negative mental health outcome caused by the pandemic, signaled by the neologism "corona blues" [5][6][7].…”