Changes in mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexican youth: Insights from the Voces-19 study.
Int J Soc Psychiatry
; 69(8): 2128-2138, 2023 Dec.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37665221
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Previous research suggests that the mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic were stronger during the first months of it. It has also been proposed that those impacts depended on gender and other social determinants.AIMS:
We aim to describe the change in prevalence of mental health problems (symptoms of common mental disorders [CMD], alcohol, and drug use) between two time periods during the pandemic, and the association of mental health problems with social determinants, in adolescents and young adults in Mexico.METHODS:
We conducted a repeated cross-section analysis of data from VoCes-19, an online survey in November 2020 to February 2021 and November 2021 to March 2022 (combined n = ×224,099). We assessed the change in the prevalence of mental health problems, the differences in prevalence and change in the prevalence by gender, and the association of social determinants and pandemic-related variables with mental health problems, by means of multivariate regression models.RESULTS:
The prevalence of CMD decreased (46.0% vs. 42.4%), while the prevalence of alcohol (frequent use 8.4% vs. 10.3%) and drug use (4.6% vs. 7.7%) increased. The three conditions increased more among girls/young women and trans/queer/non-binary participants than among boys/young men.CONCLUSIONS:
The results point to the importance of considering the gendered social context of young people. A better understanding of the social circumstances that relate with mental health is required to inform interventions for these age groups.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19
/
Mental Disorders
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
Mexico
Language:
En
Journal:
Int J Soc Psychiatry
Year:
2023
Type:
Article