Long-Term Trends and Sociodemographic Inequalities of Emotional/Behavioral Problems and Poor Help-Seeking in Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Adolescents COVID-19 Emotional/behavioral problems Poor help-seeking behavior Sociodemographic inequalities

Journal

The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine
ISSN: 1879-1972
Titre abrégé: J Adolesc Health
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 9102136

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
15 Nov 2023
Historique:
received: 27 01 2023
revised: 11 08 2023
accepted: 11 09 2023
medline: 15 11 2023
pubmed: 15 11 2023
entrez: 15 11 2023
Statut: aheadofprint

Résumé

During the first 3 years of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, we investigated the long-term trends of emotional/behavioral problems and poor help-seeking behavior in adolescents and examined the sociodemographic inequalities in these trends. A multiwave cross-sectional survey was conducted in Japan from October-November 2020, June-July 2021, and June-July 2022 using an anonymous questionnaire. Trends of emotional/behavioral problems (e.g., emotional symptoms, hyperactivity/inattention, and total difficulties) and poor help-seeking were tested using a chi-squared test with Bonferroni correction. The effects of sociodemographic factors (grade, gender, country of origin, and number of parents) on emotional/behavioral problems and poor help-seeking were examined by two mixed-effect logistic regression models: (1) with fixed effects for years and sociodemographic factors and (2) stratified by years if the interaction terms between years and each sociodemographic factor were significant. The prevalence of total difficulties and emotional symptoms was the highest in 2021. The number of adolescents reporting hyperactivity/inattention and poor help-seeking increased between 2020 and 2021 and remained high in 2022. Inequalities in emotional/behavioral problems and poor help-seeking behavior were found with respect to all sociodemographic factors. Despite the persistent emotional/behavioral problems, the results suggested that the number of adolescents who were unable to seek help increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, heterogeneities in the trends with respect to grade, gender, country of origin, and number of parents were detected. Prioritized supports targeting those with sociodemographic disadvantages may be needed to mitigate these inequalities in response to the pandemic.

Identifiants

DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2023.09.015 PMID: 37966408
pubmed: 37966408
pii: S1054-139X(23)00498-6
doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2023.09.015
pii:
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Sous-ensembles de citation

IM

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2023 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Auteurs

Ryo Morishima (R)

Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; Department of Psychology, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Kawamura Gakuen Woman's University, Chiba, Japan; Waseda Institute of Social & Human Capital Studies (WISH), Tokyo, Japan; The Health Care Science Institute, Tokyo, Japan. Electronic address: morishimar-tky@umin.ac.jp.

Akiko Kanehara (A)

Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.

Toshiaki Aizawa (T)

Graduate School of Economics and Business, Hokkaido University, Hokkaido, Japan.

Naohiro Okada (N)

Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; International Research Center for Neurointelligence (WPI-IRCN), The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study (UTIAS), Tokyo, Japan.

Kaori Usui (K)

Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; Department of Community Mental Health and Law, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo, Japan.

Haruko Noguchi (H)

Waseda Institute of Social & Human Capital Studies (WISH), Tokyo, Japan; Faculty of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.

Kiyoto Kasai (K)

Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; International Research Center for Neurointelligence (WPI-IRCN), The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study (UTIAS), Tokyo, Japan.

Classifications MeSH