Boys’ mental health impacted more by pandemic than girls’

Contrary to the findings of other studies, the COVID-19 pandemic had a greater impact on boys’ mental health than girls.

This is the main finding of new research published in European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry led by scientists at the University of Reading, Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Liverpool and King’s College London.

These findings could have a significant impact on the referral of adolescents to mental health services and on diagnoses, and greater awareness of age-related changes in mental health symptoms is needed by clinicians, educators and parents, the study team said.

According to the study, initial reports of a pandemic-related increase in depression in young adolescent girls could be explained by a natural rise in these symptoms as they get older. In contrast, pandemic-related increases in boys’ depression and both boys’ and girls’ behavioural problems may have been masked by maturational changes over early adolescence.

The team were able to draw the conclusions by following young adolescents over three waves of measurement pre- and post-pandemic onset, between ages 11 to 14 in a unique longitudinal dataset the Wirral Child Health and Development Study (WCHADS). This enabled them to examine changes associated with increasing age as well as with the pandemic.

Professor Jonathan Hill, University of Reading, one of the WCHADS investigators, said: “It is very important to take aging into account when considering diagnosis and prognosis in early adolescence, because maturational shifts may mask or over-state actual change in symptoms.”

Lead author Nicky Wright, a Lecturer in Psychology at Manchester Met, said: “Because of the general decrease in boys’ depression with age, and the general messaging about the impact of the pandemic being greater on girls, it is likely that boys’ mental health needs are being missed, but also there may be more referrals for boys than will be anticipated.”

The WCHADS is led by Jonathan Hill, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at University of Reading and Helen Sharp, Professor of Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology at the University of Liverpool. Statistical analysis is led by Andrew Pickles, Professor of Biostatics at King’s College London. The WCHADS cohort was established with funding from the Medical Research Council, and the adolescent waves were funded by the University of Reading, a consortium of Liverpool partners, and the British Academy.

Wright, N., Hill, J., Sharp, H. et al. COVID-19 pandemic impact on adolescent mental health: a reassessment accounting for development. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-023-02337-y