Youth in a pandemic: a longitudinal examination of youth mental health and substance use concerns during COVID-19.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

This study analyses longitudinal data to understand how youth mental health and substance use are evolving over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is critical to adjusting mental health response strategies.

Setting

Participants were recruited from among existing participants in studies conducted in an urban academic hospital in Ontario, Canada.

Participants

A total of 619 youth aged 14-28 years participated in the study (62.7% girls/young women; 61.4% Caucasian).

Measures

Data on mood, substance use and COVID-19-related worries were collected over four time points, that is, every 2 months beginning in the early stages of the pandemic in April 2020. Latent class analyses were conducted on the longitudinal data to identify distinct groups of you

SUBMITTER: Hawke LD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8561825 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature