TY - JOUR
T1 - Socioeconomic disparities in adolescent anxiety and depression in Finland have not increased during the COVID-19 pandemic
AU - Kaltiala, Riittakerttu
AU - Aalt-Setälä, Terhi
AU - Kiviruusu, Olli
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Juho Vainio Foundation (O.K., grant number 202100463).
Publisher Copyright:
© Author(s) 2023.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Aims: The purpose of this research was to assess whether socioeconomic disparities in adolescent depression and anxiety in Finland increased among middle adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Repeated cross-sectional surveys (the School Health Promotion Study) from spring 2019 and spring 2021 were compared. The respondents were 87,283 eighth and ninth graders (14–16-year-olds) in 2019 and 91,560 in 2021, corresponding respectively to 73% and 75% of the age groups. Depression was measured by Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2), and anxiety with GAD-7, and adverse socioeconomic background using low parental education, not living with both parents, and family’s poor financial situation. Associations of socioeconomic adversities with depression and generalised anxiety, and the effect of COVID-19 (2021 vs 2019), were analysed using logistic regression. Results: Depression and anxiety were more common in both sexes the more sociodemographic adversities there were in the adolescent’s background. However, increases in the prevalence of anxiety and depression from pre- to in-pandemic time did not differ with accumulating sociodemographic adversities. Conclusions: Depression and anxiety increased in prevalence among Finnish adolescents during the pandemic. Sociodemographic disparities in depression and anxiety show no increase. Emotional symptoms are nevertheless more common in adolescents from lower socioeconomic status families.
AB - Aims: The purpose of this research was to assess whether socioeconomic disparities in adolescent depression and anxiety in Finland increased among middle adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Repeated cross-sectional surveys (the School Health Promotion Study) from spring 2019 and spring 2021 were compared. The respondents were 87,283 eighth and ninth graders (14–16-year-olds) in 2019 and 91,560 in 2021, corresponding respectively to 73% and 75% of the age groups. Depression was measured by Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2), and anxiety with GAD-7, and adverse socioeconomic background using low parental education, not living with both parents, and family’s poor financial situation. Associations of socioeconomic adversities with depression and generalised anxiety, and the effect of COVID-19 (2021 vs 2019), were analysed using logistic regression. Results: Depression and anxiety were more common in both sexes the more sociodemographic adversities there were in the adolescent’s background. However, increases in the prevalence of anxiety and depression from pre- to in-pandemic time did not differ with accumulating sociodemographic adversities. Conclusions: Depression and anxiety increased in prevalence among Finnish adolescents during the pandemic. Sociodemographic disparities in depression and anxiety show no increase. Emotional symptoms are nevertheless more common in adolescents from lower socioeconomic status families.
KW - adolescence
KW - anxiety
KW - COVID-19
KW - depression
KW - socioeconomic adversity
U2 - 10.1177/14034948231166466
DO - 10.1177/14034948231166466
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85153627336
SN - 1403-4948
VL - 51
SP - 656
EP - 663
JO - SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
JF - SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
IS - 5
ER -