ArticleThe Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry2023
Mental health symptoms in children and adolescents during COVID-19 in Australia.
Article in The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Psychoeducational Challenges of Dyslexic Children During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review.Dyslexia (Chichester, England) · 2026Pooled it
- Prevalence of mental health symptoms in children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: A meta-analysis.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Substance use and adolescent mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil: a longitudinal approach.Jornal de pediatriaTrial
- Mental health and healthcare use during COVID-19 among neurodivergent youth and youth with pre-existing psychiatric disorders: A systematic review.JCPP advances · 2026Article
- Persistence of antidepressant treatment in children and adolescents: A population-based cohort study.The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry · 2026Article
- Association Between Physical Activity, Quality of Life, Barriers to Physical Activity, and Mental Health in Chilean Adolescents: The MOV-ES Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Will restricting the age of access to social media reduce mental illness in Australian youth?The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry · 2025Review
- The impact of universal mental health screening on stigma in primary schools.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2025Article
- The psychometric properties of the child anxiety and depression life interference scale (CADLIS).Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2025Article
- Measuring mental wellbeing in children aged 5 to 12 years: validation of the COMPAS-KIDS and COMPAS-PARENTS mental wellbeing scales in the general community.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Trajectories of emotional and behavioral problems in young children during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal study.PLOS mental health · 2025Article
- Mental health problems and associated factors in secondary school students from Foshan, Guangdong, China.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- The "supercompensation" effect of children's lockdown during COVID-19: based on the analysis of changes in physical activity, sleep, and psychology.BMC public health · 2024Article
- What aspects of the pandemic had the greatest impact on adolescent mental health: duration of lockdown or subjective experience?Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2024Article
- Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on prescription of psychotropic medications in the Italian paediatric population during 2020.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2024Article
- Article
- Evaluation of COVID-19 Effect on Mental Health, Self-Harm, and Suicidal Behaviors in Children and Adolescents Population.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- The COVID-19 pandemic, psychologists' professional quality of life and mental health.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Factors associated with mental health of young children during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2023Article
- The thriving kids and parents schools project: protocol of an incomplete stepped wedged cluster randomised trial evaluating the effectiveness of a Triple P seminar series.BMC public health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveCOVID-19 has led to disruptions to the lives of Australian families through social distancing, school closures, a temporary move to home-based online learning, and effective lockdown. Understanding the effects on child and adolescent mental health is important to inform policies to support communities as they continue to face the pandemic and future crises. This paper sought to report on mental health symptoms in Australian children and adolescents during the initial stages of the pandemic (May to November 2020) and to examine their association with child/family characteristics and exposure to the broad COVID-19 environment.
methodsAn online baseline survey was completed by 1327 parents and carers of Australian children aged 4 to 17 years. Parents/carers reported on their child's mental health using five measures, including emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention, anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms. Child/family characteristics and COVID-related variables were measured.
resultsOverall, 30.5%, 26.3% and 9.5% of our sample scored in the high to very high range for emotional symptoms, conduct problems and hyperactivity/inattention, respectively. Similarly, 20.2% and 20.4% of our sample scored in the clinical range for anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms, respectively. A child's pre-existing mental health diagnosis, neurodevelopmental condition and chronic illness significantly predicted parent-reported child and adolescent mental health symptoms. Parental mental health symptoms, having a close contact with COVID-19 and applying for government financial assistance during COVID-19, were significantly associated with child and adolescent mental health symptoms.
conclusionOur findings show that Australian children and adolescents experienced considerable levels of mental health symptoms during the initial phase of COVID-19. This highlights the need for targeted and effective support for affected youth, particularly for those with pre-existing vulnerabilities.
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