Psychological Well-being of Late Adolescents in Urban Karnataka and Tamil Nadu during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: The Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and prolonged lockdowns has impacted the mental health of adolescents. Late adolescence is an age peculiarly vulnerable to mental health issues, and very few studies have exclusively focused on this age group during the pandemic. Aim: To evaluate the presence and severity of anxiety and depression symptoms among late adolescents (15-18 years), taking into account their socio-demographic variables and additional stressors like board exams during the pandemic in India. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional questionnairebased study was conducted in High schools in Urban Karnataka and Urban Tamil Nadu from October 2020 to December 2021 with snowball sampling. An online form was given to 104 students, which included socio-demographic data, the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9, adopted for adolescents), and the Generalised Anxiety Disorder Assessment (GAD-7) questionnaires. The participants were divided into two groups for subgroup analysis. Group-1 constituted standard X and XII and Group-2 constituted standard XI. Unpaired t-tests, Spearman’s correlations, and univariate analysis of variance were used for data analysis. Results: A total of 104 late adolescents from an urban setting participated in the study. A total of 24% had significant clinical depression, and 20.2% had significant anxiety levels. Board exams did not influence the presence of depression or anxiety. Among the socio-demographic variables, presence or absence of pets caused significant differences in PHQ 9(A) levels between the two groups (p=0.01). The PHQ-9(A) scores for Group-1 (p=0.031) and Group-2 (p=0.001) showed a significant correlation with increased social media usage. GAD-7 scores also showed a significant correlation with increased social media usage in both groups (Group-1, p<0.001 and Group-2, p=0.018) and the presence of siblings in Group-2 (p=0.010). No other variable showed a significant correlation with PHQ-9(A) and GAD 7 scores in the groups. Suicide risk and ideation were seen in 17.7% of the cohort. Conclusion: The study revealed the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of late adolescents. The increased usage of social media impacted depression and anxiety levels.

Keywords

• anxiety
• coronavirus disease-2019
• depression