Korean J Psychosom Med.  2022 Jun;30(1):16-21. 10.22722/KJPM.2022.30.1.16.

The Association Between Socioeconomic Changes and Adolescent Mental Health After COVID-19 Pandemic

• Kim HJ
• Kim MH
• Min S
• Lee J

• KMID: 2537038
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.22722/KJPM.2022.30.1.16

Abstract

Objectives
: The purpose of this study is to investigate depression and suicide ideation according to socioeconomic changes after COVID-19 among Korean adolescent.
Methods
: Data on the study population were obtained from the 16th Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey (KYRBS). The KYRBS is a nationally representative sample of Korean adolescents (aged 12-18 years) that originally included over 103 questions in 15 domains of health-risk behaviors. In the 16th KYRBS, a total 54,948 students from 793 schools responded to the survey. Chi-square test and logistic regression analysis were conducted regarding depression and suicide ideation.
Results
: This study suggests that changes in the family household before and after COVID-19 pandemic are also affecting the mental health of the adolescents. The study shows that worse change of family household is significant associations with suicidal ideation and depression. Adolescents reporting worse (AOR 1.38; 95% CI 1.38-1.57) and much worse (AOR 2.07; 95% CI 1.87-2.29) were significantly more likely to report depression. Adolescents reporting worse (AOR 1.34; 95% CI 1.34-1.60) and much worse (AOR 2.01; 95% CI 1.76-2.29) were significantly more likely to report suicide ideation.
Conclusions
: In this study, it was confirmed that young people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds are at high risk of suicide ideation and more depression. The results of this study suggest that we should consider improving the screening and prevention of mental health problems for adolescents with poor socioeconomic changes of COVID-19.

Keyword

Covid-19; Depression; Suicide ideation; Socioeconomic; Adolescents