Early Interv Psychiatry. 2025 Oct;19(10):e70090. doi: 10.1111/eip.70090.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to examine trajectories of depression and anxiety and predictors of these trajectories among Chinese adolescents in the later stage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
METHODS: This study was a three-timepoint repeated cross-sectional survey with a nested longitudinal subsample. Data collection took place from April 2021 to June 2022. A total of 7529 Chinese adolescents completed the online questionnaire across three timepoints (50% male, mean age 13.89 years). Participants completed the Patient Heath Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Generalised Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), Adolescent Self-Rating Life Events Checklist (ASLEC), and self-developed questionnaire. Latent Growth Mixture Modelling was employed to investigate the heterogeneous trajectories of depression and anxiety, while multivariate logistic regression analysis was applied to examine predictors for trajectories.
RESULTS: Three trajectories were identified: resilience group (55.6% depression and 63.7% anxiety), mild group (38.4% depression and 30.2% anxiety) and dysfunction group (6% depression and 6.1% anxiety). Predictors of the mild depression/anxiety group were female, study in public school, academic activities and social communication impacted by COVID-19. Female, lack of exercise, academic activities and social communication impacted by COVID-19 were also risk factors for dysfunction depression/anxiety group.
CONCLUSIONS: The patterns of depression and anxiety are different, and each trajectory is influenced by different predictors. Resilience group remains the most common outcome, while over one-third of adolescents exhibit mild and dysfunction symptoms, indicating the need for individualised intervention.
PMID:41036680 | DOI:10.1111/eip.70090
