Wang, J;
Wang, H;
Lin, H;
Richards, M;
Yang, S;
Liang, H;
Chen, X;
(2021)
Study problems and depressive symptoms in adolescents during the COVID-19 outbreak: poor parent-child relationship as a vulnerability.
Globalization and Health
, 17
, Article 40. 10.1186/s12992-021-00693-5.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Little is known about the prevalence of and risk factors for adolescent mental health problems during the COVID-19 outbreak. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of depressive symptoms, their association with study-relevant problems, and the moderating effect of parent-child relationship among Chinese adolescents during the school closures. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional analysis with data collected in middle and high schools in Taizhou, China. Students completed an online survey between April 16 and May 14, 2020. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Children's Depression Inventory. Three types of study problems were recorded, including having difficulty in studying at home, dislike of remote learning, and excessive screen entertainment time. Parental relationships were categorized into good or normal relationship and poor relationship. Linear regression and logistic regression analyses were conducted to investigate the associations between study-relevant problems and depressive symptoms. RESULTS: Using data from 6435 adolescents, we found that the prevalence of depressive symptoms was 17.7%. All the study problem measures were associated with more severe depressive symptoms. There was a moderating effect of the parental relationship on the associations between study problems and depressive symptoms. The association between number of study problems and depressive symptoms was stronger in adolescents with a poor parent-child relationship (regression coefficient 4.34 [95% CI 2.97, 5.72]) than those with a good or normal relationship (2.55 [2.35, 2.75]), p for interaction 0.002, on multivariable adjustment. CONCLUSIONS: Study problems due to school closures were particularly problematic for adolescents who had poor parent-child relationships. Public health initiatives could help students to adjust study habits and improve parent-child relationships, thereby protecting against the development of depression.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Study problems and depressive symptoms in adolescents during the COVID-19 outbreak: poor parent-child relationship as a vulnerability. |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s12992-021-00693-5 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-021-00693-5 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. |
| Keywords: | Adolescents, COVID-19, Depression, Parent-child relationship, Study problem |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Cardiovascular Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Cardiovascular Science > Population Science and Experimental Medicine UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Cardiovascular Science > Population Science and Experimental Medicine > MRC Unit for Lifelong Hlth and Ageing |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10126360 |
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