Depression and Anxiety in Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Relation to the Use of Digital Technologies: Longitudinal Cohort Study

Abstract

Background: Adolescents are susceptible to mental illness and have experienced substantial disruption owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. The digital environment is increasingly important in the context of a pandemic when in-person social connection is restricted. Objective: This study aims to estimate whether depression and anxiety had worsened compared with the prepandemic period and examine potential associations with sociodemographic characteristics and behavioral factors, particularly digital behaviors. Methods: We analyzed cross-sectional and longitudinal data from a large, representative Greater London adolescent cohort study: the Study of Cognition, Adolescents and Mobile Phones (SCAMP). Participants completed surveys at T1 between November 2016 and July 2018 (N=4978; aged 13 to 15 years) and at T2 between July 2020 and June 2021 (N=1328; aged 16 to 18 years). Depression and anxiety were measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire and Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale, respectively. Information on the duration of total mobile phone use, social network site use, and video gaming was also collected using questionnaires. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of sociodemographic characteristics, digital technology use, and sleep duration with clinically significant depression and anxiety. Results: The proportion of adolescents who had clinical depression and anxiety significantly increased at T2 (depression: 140/421, 33.3%; anxiety: 125/425, 29.4%) compared with the proportion of adolescents at T1 (depression: 57/421, 13.5%; anxiety: 58/425, 13.6%; P for 2-proportion z test