High Prevalence of Depression, Anxiety and Stress Among Secondary School Students During COVID-19 Lockdown and Social Distancing and Its Associated Factors: An Online Cross-Sectional Survey

Abstract

Background: Stressors introduced to adolescents by COVID-19 social distancing measures may cause mental health problems to (re)surface. We studied depression, anxiety and stress among adolescents experiencing lockdown. Methods: From May-June 2020, secondary school students were enrolled in an online cross-sectional survey through social media. We assessed presence and severity of depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7) and stress (PSS-10) in the last month, demographics, degree of social distancing, and other associated issues.Results: Of 392 respondents (56.4% male, 43.1% female), mostly from Thailand (59.2%) and UK (26.5%). We identified depressive symptoms in 58.7%, anxiety in 40.3% and high levels of stress in 9.7%. We found, by multivariate analysis, significant associations between being female and depression and anxiety, being in late secondary school years and depression, and changes in patterns of substance use and anxiety and stress.Conclusions: We propose that girl-centred mental health support platforms should be readily available and tailored to fit specific countries’ contexts. Schools must closely monitor and act upon any concerns which arise from their students and must also monitor mental health wellbeing as changes in academic routine due to COVID-19 could be drastic for some. Harm reduction services must adapt and utilise innovative telemedicine interventions, tailored towards adolescent users.

Mediating effects of protective factors on COVID-19 anxiety and academic performance of K to 12 Filipino Learners: A PLS-SEM analysis with WarpPLS

“…This also suggests that mindfulness and preventive behavior are good protective factors that help learners cope with their COVID-19 anxiety while also influencing their academic performance. These findings corroborate other studies (Barocas et al, 2021;Pungpapong & Kalayasiri, 2020;Rettie & Daniels, 2021).…”