TY  - JOUR
U1  - Wissenschaftlicher Artikel
A1  - Kaman, Anne
A1  - Devine, Janine
A1  - Wirtz, Markus A.
A1  - Erhart, Michael
A1  - Boecker, Maren
A1  - Napp, Ann-Kathrin
A1  - Reiss, Franziska
A1  - Zoellner, Fionna
A1  - Ravens-Sieberer, Ulrike
T1  - Trajectories of mental health in children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: findings from the longitudinal COPSY study
JF  - Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health
N2  - Abstract
                
                Background
                Mental health and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in children and adolescents deteriorated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this population-based longitudinal study was to explore whether distinct mental health trajectories in youths can be identified over the course of the pandemic. 
                Methods
                Mental health problems (MHP), psychosomatic symptoms and HRQoL were assessed at five time points between May 2020 and October 2022 in 744 children and adolescents aged 7 to 20 years using established instruments. We used generalized mixture modeling to identify distinct mental health trajectories and fixed-effects regressions to analyse covariates of the identified profiles of change. 
                Results
                We found five distinct linear latent trajectory classes each for externalising MHP and psychosomatic symptoms and four trajectory classes for internalising MHP. For HRQoL, a single-class solution that indicates a common development process proved to be optimal. The largest groups remained almost stable at a low internalising and externalising symptom level (64 to 74%) and consistently showed moderate psychosomatic symptoms (79%), while 2 to 18% showed improvements across the pandemic. About 10% of the youths had consistently high internalising problems, while externalising problems deteriorated in 18% of youths. Class membership was significantly associated with initial HRQoL, parental and child burden, personal resources, family climate and social support. 
                Conclusions
                The mental health of most children and adolescents remained resilient throughout the pandemic. However, a sizeable number of youths had consistently poor or deteriorating mental health. Those children and adolescents need special attention in schools and mental health care.
KW  - -
KW  - Quality of life
KW  - Externalising mental health problems
KW  - Internalising mental health problems
KW  - Psychosomatic symptoms
KW  - Youths
Y1  - 2024
UN  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:frei129-opus4-34324
SN  - 1753-2000
SS  - 1753-2000
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13034-024-00776-2
DO  - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13034-024-00776-2
VL  - 18
IS  - 1
PB  - BioMed Central
CY  - London
ER  -