Cited by 1,000COVID-19 and Mental HealthChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentMaternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum

An investigation of mental health status of children and adolescents in China during the outbreak of COVID-19

Open access
Duan, Li, Shao, Xiaojun, Wang, Yuan, Huang, Yinglin, Miao, Junxiao, Yang, Xueping, Zhu, Gang·2020·Journal of Affective Disorders

Abstract

Highlight • Children and adolescents who are often neglected in the wake of the outbreak were taken as subjects to investigate their mental health status and analyze the related influencing factors during the global pandemic of COVID-19.• The presence of clinical depressive symptoms, resident in urban regions, implementation of the precaution and control measures, being female, having a family member or friend infected with coronavirus were associated with increased levels of anxiety.• Smartphone addiction, Internet addiction, resident in Hubei province and urban areas, family members or friends infected with coronavirus, graduation affected by the epidemic, levels of separation anxiety, physical injury fear, and tendency to adopt an emotion-focused coping style were associated with increased levels of respondents’ depressive symptoms.• It's urgent to concern and address emotional distress for children and adolescents during the epidemic. Targeted intervention measures could be formulated based on the significant influencing factors on anxiety and clinical depressive symptoms.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.jad.2020.06.029

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  • Depression and anxiety were higher among children and adolescents in other pandemics, and specifically COVID-19.

    “Depression and anxiety were higher among children and adolescents in other pandemics, and specifically COVID‑19 [22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34].”

    From Mental Health of Children and Adolescents Amidst COVID-19 and Past Pandemics: A Rapid Systematic Review (2021) · cites this paper as [24]

    The Discussion reports higher anxiety levels in Chinese children and adolescents during COVID-19 than before the outbreak, and a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms than earlier estimates. It does not establish that both were higher among children and adolescents during other pandemics. (LLM, conf=0.85)

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  • Female adolescents showed higher depression and anxiety levels during COVID-19 than male adolescents.

    “Studies also reported that female adolescents showed higher depression and anxiety levels during COVID‑19 than male adolescents did [23,24,25,32,33].”

    From Mental Health of Children and Adolescents Amidst COVID-19 and Past Pandemics: A Rapid Systematic Review (2021) · cites this paper as [24]

    The Results (Table 3; page not provided) show higher anxiety scores for adolescent females than adolescent males during the COVID-19 outbreak. The paper reports depressive symptoms overall, but the cited Results passages do not establish that adolescent females had higher depression levels than adolescent males. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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  • Adolescents spent 5-10 h per day online.

    “The respondents in Ellis et al.’s (2020) and Duan et al.’s (2020) studies reported that adolescents spent 5–10 h per day online, which is a potential risk factor for addiction to the Internet or smartphone [24,25].”

    From Mental Health of Children and Adolescents Amidst COVID-19 and Past Pandemics: A Rapid Systematic Review (2021) · cites this paper as Duan et al. (2020)

    The Results report that 29.58% of respondents spent at least five hours per day online during the epidemic; the Discussion describes this as a potential risk factor for Internet or smartphone addiction. The paper does not give a 5–10-hour range, and the figure applies to a minority of respondents rather than adolescents generally. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Spending 5-10 h per day online is a potential risk factor for addiction to the Internet or smartphone.

    “The respondents in Ellis et al.’s (2020) and Duan et al.’s (2020) studies reported that adolescents spent 5–10 h per day online, which is a potential risk factor for addiction to the Internet or smartphone [24,25].”

    From Mental Health of Children and Adolescents Amidst COVID-19 and Past Pandemics: A Rapid Systematic Review (2021) · cites this paper as [24]

    The Discussion reports that 29.58% of respondents spent more than five hours per day online during the epidemic and calls this a potential risk factor for Internet or smartphone addiction. The Results categorize time as ≥5 hours, not 5–10 hours, and the sample included both children and adolescents. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Adolescents spent 5-10 h per day online.

    “The respondents in Ellis et al.’s (2020) and Duan et al.’s (2020) studies reported that adolescents spent 5–10 h per day online, which is a potential risk factor for addiction to the Internet or smartphone [24,25].”

    From Mental Health of Children and Adolescents Amidst COVID-19 and Past Pandemics: A Rapid Systematic Review (2021) · cites this paper as [24]

    The Results (Table 2; page not provided) report that 29.58% of respondents spent at least five hours per day online during the epidemic; the sample included both children and adolescents. The Discussion (page not provided) describes this as a potential addiction risk. Neither passage establishes a 10-hour upper limit or reports the figure for adolescents separately. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. National Health Commission of China, 2020. The Transcript of the Press Conference On February 4, 2020. Beijing: National Health Commission of China. http://www.nhc.gov.cn/xcs/xwbd/202002/35990d56cfcb43f4a70d7f9703b113c0.shtml (accessed Mar. 12, 2020; in Chinese)].

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Authors
Duan, L., Shao, X., Wang, Y., Huang, Y., Miao, J., Yang, X., & Zhu, G.
Affiliations
  • Chengde Medical University (CN)
  • First Hospital of China Medical University (CN)
  • Sheng Jing Hospital (CN)
  • Liaoning Provincial People's Hospital (CN)
Corresponding author
Zhu, Gang
Venue
Journal of Affective Disorders
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2020-10
Volume
275
Pages
112-118
ISSN
0165-0327 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3039247277
Cited by
991
References
39
Citations by year
2026: 26 · 2025: 59 · 2024: 124 · 2023: 215 · 2022: 256 · 2021: 258 · 2020: 51
FWCI
77.60
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Affective Disorders (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
Keywords
COVID-19 pandemic, child mental health, adolescent mental health, anxiety, depressive symptoms, coping styles, emotion-focused coping, problem-focused coping, smartphone addiction, internet addiction, Hubei Province
MeSH terms
COVID-19, Adaptation, Psychological, Adolescent, Anxiety, Child, Depression, Disease Outbreaks, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Pneumonia, Viral, Surveys and Questionnaires, Stress, Psychological, Coronavirus Infections, Pandemics

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