Monday, May 23, 2022
No Result
View All Result
Medical Finance
  • Home
  • News
  • Interviews
  • Mediknowledge
  • Insights From Industry
  • Thought Leaders
  • Coronavirus
  • Whitepapers
  • Home
  • News
  • Interviews
  • Mediknowledge
  • Insights From Industry
  • Thought Leaders
  • Coronavirus
  • Whitepapers
No Result
View All Result
Medical Finance
No Result
View All Result
Home Coronavirus

Supportive relationships, healthy behaviors may have a positive effect on adolescents’ mental health during the pandemic

by Medical Finance
in Coronavirus
Supportive relationships, healthy behaviors may have a positive effect on adolescents’ mental health during the pandemic
9
SHARES
100
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Longitudinal survey data of more than 3,000 adolescents ages 11-14 recorded before and during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 found that supportive relationships with family and friends and healthy behaviors, like engaging in physical activity and better sleep, appeared to shield against the harmful effects of the pandemic on adolescents’ mental health.

The research, published today in the Journal of Adolescent Health, was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and other entities at the National Institutes of Health. The research is based on data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, the largest long-term study of brain development and child health ever conducted in the United States.

Researchers also explored predictors of perceived stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, and found that girls were more likely than boys to experience psychological distress during the pandemic. Psychosocial factors, including poorer quality and functioning of family relationships, more screen time, and witnessing discrimination in relation to the pandemic, also predicted youth distress.              

Early adolescence is a time when youth are already experiencing rapid change physically, emotionally, and socially, and the COVID-19 pandemic has caused immense disruption to this sensitive stage in life. This study helps us understand how modifiable lifestyle factors affect the mental health and well-being of adolescents, and it can inform the development of interventions to protect youth during a major life stress. This is important now, as we continue to grapple with the pandemic, and also in future crisis response at the local or national level.”


Nora D. Volkow, M.D., Director, NIDA

In this study, investigators analyzed data from a longitudinal cohort of over 3,000 ABCD Study participants ages 11 to 14-years-old and their families. These young adolescents and their parents completed pre-pandemic assessments by February 2020, which documented baseline parent/caregiver reports of externalizing problems (e.g., acting aggressively, breaking rules) and sleep disturbances (e.g., sleep duration), and youth reports of internalizing problems (e.g., feeling anxious or depressed). Participating parents and youth then separately completed three online COVID-19 surveys, conducted between May and August 2020, which featured more than 200 items across psychosocial and lifestyle domains.

Researchers used machine learning methods to look for patterns of positive affect, anxiety, stress, and depressive symptoms across the surveys. They then interpreted the results through an algorithm to provide an overall ranking of variables according to their importance for predicting youth mental health outcomes. The top variables were categorized into eight domains: demographics; coping behaviors (e.g., having a regular mealtime); physical activities; relationships; resources (e.g., unable to afford food), screen time, sleep (e.g., pre-pandemic sleep disturbances), and other (e.g., pre-pandemic psychological problems).

Out of all the possible predictors considered, positive relationship variables, such as talking about plans for the coming day with parents, participating in family activities, and those related to healthy behaviors like physical activities and better sleep were among the top predictors of high positive affect and were also protective against stress, anxiety, and depression. Conversely, more screen time activities, including social media and video games, as well as witnessing racism or discrimination in relation to the coronavirus, emerged as important predictors for negative affect. The study also found that girls, and those who entered the pandemic with existing mental health or sleep problems, appeared to be particularly vulnerable to the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Focusing on what you can do to support young people, like maintaining as much of a routine as possible, walking at least 10 minutes a day, and strengthening family relationships, really matters during times of stress.” said Fiona C. Baker, Ph.D., director of the Center for Health Sciences at SRI International, Menlo Park, California, and principal investigator of the ABCD study site at SRI.

The authors also note that compared to the full ABCD Study sample of about 11,800 people at study entry, this study included only a subsample of 3,000 youth with sufficient data from the pre-pandemic ABCD assessments and COVID-19 surveys. Compared to the full ABCD Study, this subsample of youth was less likely to be Hispanic/Latino (16% vs. 20%), less likely to be Black (7% vs. 15%), more likely to be Asian (5% vs. 4%), and their parents were more likely to have higher education (e.g., having a postgraduate degree 42% vs. 34%). Generalizability of this study is therefore limited by the fact that the sample is not representative of the U.S. population.

“This additional COVID data collection is also a valuable example of how the ABCD study team was able to effectively pivot within such a massive project, to leverage this important learning opportunity during the pandemic,” said Orsolya Kiss, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at SRI International and lead author of the study. “Further, machine learning techniques allowed the data itself to drive the findings, rather than expectations or hypotheses. While the team informed the structure of what data was incorporated from before and during the pandemic, the model then determined what was important.”

Source:

National Institutes of Health

Journal reference:

Kiss, O., et al. (2021) The pandemic’s toll on young adolescents: Prevention and intervention targets to preserve their mental health. Journal of Adolescent Health. doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.11.023.

Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
Share 0
Medical Finance

Medical Finance

Related Posts

Study: Levels of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies Among Fully-Vaccinated Individuals With Delta or Omicron Variant Breakthrough Infections: A Prospective Cohort Study. Image Credit: petovarga/Shutterstock

Risk of breakthrough infections by SARS-CoV-2 Omicron and Delta variants in fully vaccinated adults

by Medical Finance
May 23, 2022
0

In a recent study posted to the Preprints with The Lancet* server, researchers determined the risk of breakthrough infections by...

Study: An in vitro and in vivo approach for the isolation of Omicron variant from human clinical specimens. Image Credit: Fit Ztudio/Shutterstock

Researchers isolate Omicron variant, leveling the path to vaccine development and vaccine efficacy studies

by Medical Finance
May 23, 2022
0

Emergence of the Omicron variant of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (B.1.1.529) has startled the world. The...

Study: Associations between persistent symptoms after mild COVID-19 and long-term health status, quality of life, and psychological distress. Image Credit: Starocean/Shutterstock

Study identifies implications of long-COVID on long term physical and mental health

by Medical Finance
May 23, 2022
0

A recent study published in the Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses journal assessed the characteristics of persistent coronavirus disease 2019...

Study: Pre-existing SARS-CoV-2 immunity influences potency, breadth, and durability of the humoral response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Image Credit: Lightspring/Shutterstock

Scientists explore impact of SARS-CoV-2 natural immunity on vaccine-induced immunity

by Medical Finance
May 23, 2022
0

A recent study published in the Cell Reports Medicine journal investigated the impact of pre-existing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus...

Surveying communities may be a useful tool for predicting COVID-19 case trajectories

Funding for the next pandemic

by Medical Finance
May 23, 2022
0

President Joe Biden released his budget proposal for 2023 this week, and it calls for a nearly 27% increase in...

Study: Removal of Clinically Relevant SARS-CoV-2 Variants by An Affinity Resin Containing Galanthus nivalis Agglutinin. Image Credit: Lightspring/Shutterstock

Efficacy of affinity resin containing Galanthus nivalis agglutinin against SARS-CoV-2

by Medical Finance
May 23, 2022
0

A recent study posted to the bioRxiv* preprint server demonstrated the efficacy of the Galanthus nivalis agglutinin (GNA)-incorporated affinity resin against various severe...

Next Post
Study: The changing impact of vaccines in the COVID-19 pandemic. Image Credit: Ramcreative / Shutterstock.com

Impact of new COVID vaccinations as novel variants emerge

Scientists discover antibody that inhibits a broad range of sarbecoviruses

Breakthrough infection could provide broad protection against current SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Login
Notify of
guest
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Support

  • Contact
  • Disclaimer
  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms And Conditions

Categories

  • Coronavirus
  • Insights From Industry
  • Interviews
  • Mediknowledge
  • News
  • Thought Leaders
  • Whitepapers

More News

  • Study: Proteome-wide Mendelian randomization identifies causal links between blood proteins and severe COVID-19. Image Credit: Nhemz/Shutterstock
    Causal links between severe COVID-19 and blood proteins identified via proteome-wide Mendelian randomization in new study
  • Digital composite of highlighted red painful intestine of woman health care mi viri M1 e6797484d65c4349af727c0f40f1116a 620x480
    People who consume sugar for extended periods have increased risk of autoimmune disease
  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms And Conditions

© 2022 Medical Finance - Latest Financial and Business News

No Result
View All Result
  • Interviews
  • Mediknowledge
  • News
  • Insights From Industry
  • Coronavirus
  • Thought Leaders
  • Whitepapers
wpDiscuz
0
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x
| Reply