The COVID-19 pandemic is having a long-term impact on mental health and substance use among adolescents, according to a study published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. The research is based on survey responses from a national sample of more than 64,000 adolescents aged 13-18 from North America and Iceland who were assessed before and within two years of the pandemic.
In a 2021 study, researchers from Columbia University in the US and colleagues found an increase in depressive symptoms and a decrease in mental well-being among adolescents aged 13-18 years within a year of the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A decrease in the use of addictive substances, especially cigarette smoking, electronic cigarette use and alcohol intoxication, was also observed. Extending these findings, the new study shows that the negative effect on adolescent mental health persisted up to two years after the pandemic.
“It is worrying that two years after the pandemic we are still seeing an increase in mental health problems among teenagers. And this is happening despite social restrictions being eased in Iceland,” said Thorhildur Halldorsdottir, an assistant professor at ReykjavÃk University in Iceland and lead author of the study.
The initial decline in cigarette smoking and e-cigarette use observed shortly after the onset of the pandemic was also maintained up to two years into the pandemic, the researchers said.
However, the frequency of alcohol intoxication among teenagers appears to be returning to pre-pandemic levels, they said. “Of course it’s positive to see that the restrictions on cigarette smoking and vaping have been maintained,” said Ingibjorg Eva Thorisdottir, senior data analyst at Icelandic research consultancy Planet Youth and lead author of the study.
“We will need to monitor adolescent alcohol intoxication in the coming years, especially given the rise in mental health issues,” Thorisdottir said.
The study also examined the association of immigration status, residence, parental social support, and sleep duration with adolescent mental health and substance use. Parental social support and getting an average of 8 or more hours of sleep per night were linked to better mental health and less substance use among teens, researchers said.
The relationship between immigration status and residency with adolescent mental health was less clear, they said. These findings suggest that exposure to stress, like the COVID-19 pandemic, is affecting all adolescents to some extent, not just vulnerable subgroups.
“Policymakers should consider implementing large-scale, evidence-based prevention efforts targeting depressive symptoms to mitigate the negative impact of the pandemic,” said John Allegrante, a professor at Columbia University and lead co-investigator on the study.
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