A recent journal article drawing on data from The SHRN Student Health and Well-being Survey, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, examined teenagers’ mental and physical health complaints before and two-years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The study analysed data from 792,606 teenagers aged 11, 13 and 15 years across 35 countries (including Wales), as part of the international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. Drawing on four waves of HBSC data between 2010 and 2022, the study found that, cross-nationally, both mental and physical health complaints reported by teenagers in 2022 were considerably higher than what would have been expected based on pre-pandemic trends, particularly among adolescent girls.
Key Findings:
- Gender Differences: Both boys and girls reported substantially higher levels of mental health issues in 2022 (e.g. feeling low, nervous, irritable, and having difficulty sleeping), compared to past trends from 2010 to 2018. For physical health issues (e.g. feeling dizzy, headache, stomach ache, and back ache), a small but significant increase was observed only among girls.
- Sociodemographic Differences: Pre-existing inequalities by age widened between 2018 and 2022, with 13- and 15-year-olds reporting more complaints than 11-year-olds. In contrast, differences between socioeconomic groups observed prior to the pandemic for physical health issues got smaller: this was due to a greater increase in physical health issues reported by young people from higher compared to lower affluent families.
- Family Structure Impact: Young people living in single-parent households reported considerably higher levels of mental and physical health issues compared to those living with both parents, with this gap widening between 2018 and 2022.
One of the article’s co-authors, Dr Nick Page (Research Fellow and SHRN analytical lead), said:
“Drawing on data from 35 countries, our study highlights how changes in young people’s mental and physical health were substantially worse than expected following the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly among girls and those living in single-parent homes. Given youth mental health was declining before the pandemic, this international evidence supports a narrative that COVID exacerbated an already existing crisis that needs urgently addressing.”
Read more detailed findings and insights from this study in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
