ArticleJournal of adult development2023
The Generation Gap Revisited: Generational Differences in Mental Health, Maladaptive Coping Behaviors, and Pandemic-Related Concerns During the Initial COVID-19 Pandemic.
Article in Journal of adult development, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 50 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness of Interventions for Interpersonal Functioning Among Adolescents With Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms: A Meta-Analysis.Journal of adolescence · 2026Pooled it
- Brazilian higher education system at the crossroads: the undergraduate student mental health crisis.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2026Review
- Psychological Interventions for Reducing Interpersonal Problems and Enhancing Interpersonal Competence among Adolescents with Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms: A Meta-Analysis.Journal of child & adolescent trauma · 2026Article
- Dental Educators' Stress and Wellbeing in the Workplace-An International Perspective.European journal of dental education : official journal of the Association for Dental Education in Europe · 2026Article
- Satisfaction-Related Well-Being Among Working Young Adults and Their Parents: Core Self-Evaluations and Life Values in a Preregistered Cross-Sectional Study.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- Depression and psychiatric help-seeking as joint outcomes: a Bayesian multilevel analysis of household-level dependence.Health and quality of life outcomes · 2026Article
- Antidepressant discontinuation in France from an intersectional perspective: a discrete-time survival analysis within the MAIHDA framework.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Dissociative Bipolar At-Risk Phenotype: Traumatic Burden and Subthreshold Affective Psychopathology in a Help-Seeking Youth Sample.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- Generational differences in mental health and drivers of youth mental health decline in Australia and the United Kingdom.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Gendered networks of psychological adaptation under prolonged war.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Leaning into Necessary Discomforts: Striving for Clinical Excellence While Maintaining Wellness.ATS scholar · 2025Review
- Caregiver Mental Health Across Generations.Journal of family issues · 2025Article
- Trajectory and Trend of Weight Status, Emotional Wellbeing and Sleep From Infancy to Childhood to Adolescence in Scotland: An Analysis of Growing up in Scotland Birth Cohort 1.Pediatric obesity · 2025Article
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on symptoms of depression and anxiety among older adults: the MYHAT study.Aging & mental health · 2025Article
- Aging and the neuropsychiatry of multiple sclerosis: a cross-sectional study.Journal of neurology · 2025Article
- Relationship Between Personality Traits and Emotional Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Canadian Emerging Adults.Emerging adulthood (Print) · 2025Article
- Changes of well-being over the pandemic: a survey across generational cohorts.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Contributing Factors to the Rise in Adolescent Anxiety and Associated Mental Health Disorders: A Narrative Review of Current Literature.Journal of child and adolescent psychiatric nursing : official publication of the Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nurses, Inc · 2025Review
- Clustering of > 145,000 symptom logs reveals distinct pre, peri, and menopausal phenotypes.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Social support is not enough to buffer the effects of stressors on substance use at midlife.Discover psychology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess differences in mental health symptoms, pandemic-related concerns, and maladaptive coping behaviors among adults in the United States across generations during the initial period of the COVID-19 pandemic. A social media campaign was used to recruit 2696 U.S. individuals to participate in an online survey in April 2020, assessing various validated psychosocial factors, including major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), perceived stress, loneliness, quality of life, and fatigue, along with pandemic-specific concerns and changes in alcohol use and substance use. Participants were grouped based on generation status (Gen Z, Millennial, Gen X, and Baby Boomer) and statistical comparisons were conducted based on demographics, psychosocial factors, pandemic-related concerns, and substance use. During the initial period of the COVID-19 pandemic, the younger cohorts (Gen Z and Millennials) rated significantly worse on mental health indices, including major depression, GAD, perceived stress, loneliness, quality of life, and fatigue. Further, the participants in the Gen Z and Millennial generational groups exhibited greater increase in maladaptive coping with substance use, specifically alcohol use and increased use of sleep aids. Our results indicate that during the initial period of the COVID-19 pandemic, members of the Gen Z and Millennial generational cohorts were considered a psychologically vulnerable population due to their mental health and maladaptive coping behaviors. Improving access to mental health resources during early stages of a pandemic is an emerging public health concern.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.