The DOI matches its Crossref record; 47 of the 47 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 38 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.
Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey
Open accessAbstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-ranging consequences for general physical and mental health. Country-specific research reveals a general reduction in mental and physical well-being, due to measures undertaken to stop the spread of COVID-19 disease. However, research is yet to examine the impact of the pandemic on global psychological distress and its effects upon vulnerable groups. Exploration of the factors that potentially mediate the relationship between stress and mental health during this period is needed, to assist in undertaking concrete measures to mitigate psychological distress and support vulnerable groups. Therefore, this study examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on psychological distress globally, and identified factors that may exacerbate decline in mental health. N = 1653 participants (mean age 42.90 ± 13.63 years; 30.3% males) from 63 countries responded to the survey. Depression and anxiety were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire and State Trait Anxiety Inventory, respectively. Other measures included the Perceived Stress Scale, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, 3-item UCLA Loneliness Scale and the Brief Resilient Coping Scale. Globally, consistently high levels of stress, anxiety, depression and poor sleep were observed regardless of number of COVID-19 cases. Over 70% of the respondents had greater than moderate levels of stress, with 59% meeting the criteria for clinically significant anxiety and 39% reporting moderate depressive symptoms. People with a prior mental health diagnosis experienced greater psychological distress. Poor sleep, lower levels of resilience, younger age and loneliness significantly mediated the links between stress and depression, and stress and anxiety. Age-based differences revealed that younger age-groups were more vulnerable to stress, depression and anxiety symptoms. Results show that these vulnerable individuals need more support. Age-specific interventions for modifiable factors that mediate the psychological distress need to urgently deployed to address the global mental health pandemic.
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50 Own result · 24 Not checked yet · 5 Own method · 2 No basis given
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The relationship between stress and anxiety remained significant even after accounting for all mediators (β = 1.57, t (1493) = 43.16, p < .001), indicating partial mediation.”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Results > Factors mediating the relationship between stress, and depression and anxiety during the pandemic
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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In the paper
“Subsequent post-hoc testing revealed that participants from South Africa reported a significantly higher proportion of at least moderate levels of depression compared to the other countries.”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Results > Differences in mental health outcomes based on number of cases and country
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Significant mediation effects were observed (Fig. 1 ), where poor sleep quality accounted for 10% of the variance in the relationship between stress and depression, followed by loneliness (by 5%) and resilient coping (by 2%).”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Results > Factors mediating the relationship between stress, and depression and anxiety during the pandemic
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Poor sleep quality was the largest mediator, predicting 11% change in the relationship between stress and anxiety, followed by isolation (by 4%) and age (by 3%).”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Results > Factors mediating the relationship between stress, and depression and anxiety during the pandemic
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Higher resilient coping was associated with lower symptoms of anxiety (r = −0.11, p < .001) and depression (r = −0.33, p < .001).”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Results > Rates of stress, depression, anxiety and poor sleep
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“In addition, poor sleep quality, higher levels of loneliness shared positive relationships with anxiety and depression.”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Results > Rates of stress, depression, anxiety and poor sleep
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Within younger adults, loneliness and financial distress were associated with poorer depression and anxiety outcomes, respectively.”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Discussion > Mediators of stress and mental health: age effects
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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In the paper
“Younger adults fared the worst with regards to depression, stress and anxiety symptoms. In comparison, older adults had the lowest ratings on these measures.”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Discussion > Mediators of stress and mental health: age effects
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Additionally, resilience was an inverse contributor to the relationship between stress and depression.”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Discussion > Mediators of stress and mental health: age effects
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Older individuals reported higher resilient coping (p < .05) compared to the other age groups but slightly poorer sleep quality (p < .05) compared to the youngest age group.”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Results > Factors predicting depression and anxiety across different age groups
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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- Probably not a substantial claim. 18
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A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“With regards to difference in psychological distress across different age-groups, results revealed significant group differences for all measures (Table 2).”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Results > Factors predicting depression and anxiety across different age groups
Not yet classified.
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In the paper
“Previous diagnosis of a mental health condition had a low, but significant, correlation with depression (r = 0.26, p < .001) and anxiety (r = 0.15, p < .001) symptoms.”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Results > Rates of stress, depression, anxiety and poor sleep
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“After controlling for the mediators, the relationship between stress and depression still remained significant (β = 0.61, t (1493) = 39.86, p < .001), indicating partial mediation.”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Results > Factors mediating the relationship between stress, and depression and anxiety during the pandemic
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Older individuals reported higher resilient coping (p < .05) compared to the other age groups but slightly poorer sleep quality (p < .05) compared to the youngest age group.”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Results > Factors predicting depression and anxiety across different age groups
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“In particular, moderate to large effect sizes were noted for both anxiety (p < .001) and stress (p < .001), with younger people reporting significantly higher scores on both measures compared to the other age groups (Fig. 3 ).”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Results > Factors predicting depression and anxiety across different age groups
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Notably, factors like weekly exercise minutes, adjusting to lockdown and distress due to financial changes were not significant predictors of anxiety in any age group.”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Results > Factors predicting depression and anxiety across different age groups
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Further, 20% of respondents reported significant distress related to their financial situation, which was associated with both psychological distress and poorer sleep.”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Discussion
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“A total of 2555 individuals from 63 countries opened the survey. Of these, 902 participants did not complete all of the mental health outcome measures. Therefore, 1653 participants were included in the final analysis.”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Results > Participant characteristics
plainn = 1,653- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“In contrast, resilience and perception of social support can be protective against psychiatric disorders.(Serafini et al., 2020)”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Introduction
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Serafini et al., 2020 source
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
In the paper
“It is also possible that there was a selection bias in that individuals suffering and feeling frustrated with mild anxiety and stress may be more likely to notice an online survey mentioning salient symptoms and opt-in to participate.(Keusch, 2015)”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Discussion > Strengths and limitations
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Keusch, 2015
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The study was approved by the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee and conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Methods
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Psychological resilience – a construct representing ability to withstand set-backs and adapt positively in the face of adversity(Luthar and Cicchetti, 2000) – is linked to better mental health outcomes during the pandemic.(Killgore et al., 2020b)”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Introduction
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Luthar and Cicchetti, 2000 source
- Not checked yetcites Killgore et al., 2020b
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
In the paper
“Individuals who have experienced childhood trauma, who are at increased risk of depression and suicide,(Pompili et al., 2014) and those impacted by domestic violence or at risk of abuse during the pandemic,(Bradbury-Jones and Isham, 2020) may need additional support.”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Discussion > Mediators of stress and mental health: age effects
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Pompili et al., 2014 source
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
In the paper
“On the other hand, older adults may also be at risk of poor mental health outcomes as a result of isolation and anxieties about infection risk, particularly those with comorbid health conditions or cognitive impairment.(World Health Organization, 2020)”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Introduction
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites World Health Organization, 2020
hedgedconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
In the paper
“For instance, poor sleep has a well-known bidirectional relationship with depression and anxiety.(Bartlett and Jackson, 2016)”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Introduction
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Bartlett and Jackson, 2016
boostedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
In the paper
“For instance, improving sleep can result in positive outcomes for both depression and anxiety even when the conditions are not directly treated.(Cunningham and Shapiro, 2018)”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Discussion > Mediators of stress and mental health: age effects
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Cunningham and Shapiro, 2018
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The levels of depression detected in this study were at most mild-moderate across all groups, therefore the findings need to be interpreted cautiously and not overstated.”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Discussion > Strengths and limitations
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Poor sleep can degrade neurocognitive functioning, impacting mood and emotion regulation.(Konjarski et al., 2018; Palmer and Alfano, 2017)”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Introduction
What the sources say
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Factors such as a previous psychiatric diagnosis, isolation, financial distress, hopelessness, loneliness and uncertainty due to COVID-19 outbreaks can also increase the risk of psychiatric conditions and suicide.(Killgore et al., 2020a; Serafini et al., 2020; Xin et al., 2020; Serafini et al., 2012)”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Introduction
What the sources say
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Consequently, reduced sleep quantity and quality during the pandemic is related to poor mental health outcomes.(Ernstsen and Havnen, 2020; Janati Idrissi et al., 2020)”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Introduction
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Ernstsen and Havnen, 2020
- Not checked yetcites Janati Idrissi et al., 2020 source
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
In the paper
“It appears that both sleep and resilience are modifiable factors, with the latter associated with more daily exercise and perceived social support.(Killgore et al., 2020b)”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Introduction
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Killgore et al., 2020b
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“The strength of this study is that it included respondents from more than 60 countries. It has been noted that several countries and communities have been underrepresented in recent research,(Holmes et al., 2020) and the current study was able to overcome this issue by surveying participants from a range of different countries.”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Discussion > Strengths and limitations
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Holmes et al., 2020 source
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“However, these figures are comparable to other national surveys during this period,(Fisher et al., 2020; Gao et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2020) and are well above pre-pandemic prevalence figures.(McGinty et al., 2020)”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Discussion
What the sources say
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The sample was also highly educated, and the majority of respondents were employed, thus it may not be representative of a broader demographic.”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Discussion > Strengths and limitations
hedged- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Similarly, employing stress reduction strategies, such as mindfulness, can have positive outcomes for mental health.(Gu et al., 2015)”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Discussion > Mediators of stress and mental health: age effects
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Gu et al., 2015
plainconditional- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
In the paper
“In particular, reports from China suggest that depression and anxiety are associated with higher levels of insomnia in adolescents and young adult during the pandemic.(Zhou et al., 2020)”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Discussion > Mediators of stress and mental health: age effects
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Zhou et al., 2020 source
hedgedcorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
In the paper
“Previous studies have shown that sleep and affective brain functioning are linked.(Palmer and Alfano, 2017)”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Discussion > Mediators of stress and mental health: age effects
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Palmer and Alfano, 2017 source
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
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Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Country specific data has revealed high levels of stress, depression and anxiety symptoms, increased loneliness and suicidal ideation.(Killgore et al., 2020a; Reger et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2020; Rossell et al., 2020; Serafini et al., 2020)”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Introduction
What the sources say
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
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- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
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It may state two separate claims as one.
The paper relies on this without support.
Participants' self-reported responses accurately reflect their true mental health and sleep status.
“A global online survey was disseminated between April 9 and May 25, 2020 through social media channels, targeting adults over 18 years of age.”
The paper relies on this without support.
The number of COVID-19 cases in a country as of May 25, 2020 accurately reflects the pandemic burden experienced by respondents in that country.
“Participants were divided into three groups based on number of COVID-19 cases in their country (based on the data available on May 25th 2020).”
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“this is a lower prevalence when compared to those reported by research carried out on young adult populations at the early stages of the pandemic when social isolation was imposed to limit the spread of the virus (Faisal et al., 2022; Liu et al., 2020; Varma et al., 2021).”
From Social connections combat loneliness and promote wellbeing among college students coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic (2025) · cites this paper as Varma et al., 2021
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Statistics recomputed
Every reported test result, recomputed from its test statistic and degrees of freedom. A result shows as not adding up only once an independent check has confirmed it.
- Consistentt(1493) = 39.86reported p < .001 · recomputed p < .001
“t (1493) = 39.86, p < .001”
- Consistentt(1493) = 43.16reported p < .001 · recomputed p < .001
“t (1493) = 43.16, p < .001”
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.
Rated major: it would touch a result — a value a result rests on, reported and recomputed p-values on opposite sides of the significance level, two passages that conflict with no sign which is right, or a cited work retracted before this paper was published.
In the paper
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Abstract
“Globally, consistently high levels of stress, anxiety, depression and poor sleep were observed regardless of number of COVID-19 cases. Over 70% of the respondents had greater than moderate levels of stress, with 59% meeting the criteria for clinically significant anxiety and 39% reporting moderate depressive”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Results > Rates of stress, depression, anxiety and poor sleep
“High rates of perceived stress were observed in the sample, with 77% of the respondents reporting at least moderate levels of stress (Table 1). Moderate or higher levels of depression was noted for 35% of respondents.”
Rated major: it would touch a result — a value a result rests on, reported and recomputed p-values on opposite sides of the significance level, two passages that conflict with no sign which is right, or a cited work retracted before this paper was published.
In the paper
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Results > Differences in mental health outcomes based on number of cases and country
“Subsequent post-hoc testing revealed that participants from South Africa reported a significantly higher proportion of at least moderate levels of depression compared to the other countries.”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Discussion > Country level differences in mental health
“However, post-hoc testing did not reveal any significant differences across the countries.”
Rated major: it would touch a result — a value a result rests on, reported and recomputed p-values on opposite sides of the significance level, two passages that conflict with no sign which is right, or a cited work retracted before this paper was published.
In the paper
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Abstract
“39% reporting moderate depressive symptoms.”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Results > Rates of stress, depression, anxiety and poor sleep
“Moderate or higher levels of depression was noted for 35% of respondents.”
Rated major: it would touch a result — a value a result rests on, reported and recomputed p-values on opposite sides of the significance level, two passages that conflict with no sign which is right, or a cited work retracted before this paper was published.
In the paper
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Discussion > Mediators of stress and mental health: age effects
“Within younger adults, loneliness and financial distress were associated with poorer depression and anxiety outcomes, respectively.”
§ Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey > Results > Factors predicting depression and anxiety across different age groups
“Notably, factors like weekly exercise minutes, adjusting to lockdown and distress due to financial changes were not significant predictors of anxiety in any age group.”
Citations
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Metadata
- Authors
- Varma, P., Junge, M., Meaklim, H., & Jackson, M. L.
- Affiliations
- Monash University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Jackson, Melinda L.
- Venue
- Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-07
- Volume
- 109
- Pages
- 110236
- ISSN
- 0278-5846 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7834119
- OpenAlex
- W3116683217
- Cited by
- 719
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 46 · 2025: 81 · 2024: 127 · 2023: 180 · 2022: 191 · 2021: 93
- FWCI
- 46.29
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Keywords
- COVID-19 pandemic, psychological distress, depression, anxiety, perceived stress, young adults, age differences, sleep quality, loneliness, resilience, vulnerable populations, mediation
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, Adaptation, Psychological, Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Anxiety, Cross-Sectional Studies, Depression, Female, Humans, Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders, Loneliness, Male, Mental Health, Middle Aged, Neuropsychological Tests, Surveys and Questionnaires, Stress, Psychological, Resilience, Psychological, Young Adult, Pandemics
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-09-28, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).
A second model labelled each claim on 2026-09-28 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
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