Mental health symptoms of youth initiating psychiatric care at different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic

Brent R Crandal; Andrea L Hazen; Kelsey S Dickson; Chia-Yu Kathryn Tsai; Emily Velazquez Trask; Gregory A Aarons

doi:10.1186/s13034-022-00511-9

Mental health symptoms of youth initiating psychiatric care at different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic

Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health. 2022 Sep 30;16(1):77. doi: 10.1186/s13034-022-00511-9.

Authors

Brent R Crandal^{1

2}, Andrea L Hazen^{3

4}, Kelsey S Dickson^{4

5}, Chia-Yu Kathryn Tsai⁶, Emily Velazquez Trask^{7

8}, Gregory A Aarons^{7

4

8}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, University of California, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, San Diego, CA, 92093, USA. bcrandal@rchsd.org.
² Behavioral Health Services, Rady Children's Hospital, 3020 Children's Way, San Diego, CA, 92123, USA. bcrandal@rchsd.org.
³ Chadwick Center for Children & Families, Rady Children's Hospital, 3020 Children's Way, San Diego, CA, 92123, USA.
⁴ Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, 3665 Kearny Villa Road, Suite 200N, San Diego, CA, 92123, USA.
⁵ Department of Child and Family Development, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Dr, San Diego, CA, 92182, USA.
⁶ California University of Science and Medicine, 1501 Violet Street, Colton, CA, 92324, USA.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry, University of California, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, San Diego, CA, 92093, USA.
⁸ Behavioral Health Services Department, Health and Human Services, County of San Diego, 3255 Camino del Rio South, San Diego, CA, 92108, USA.

Abstract

Objective: To examine differences in caregiver and youth reported mental health symptoms for youth initiating mental health treatment through phases of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic, compared with symptomology reported the prior year.

Study design: This retrospective study analyzes group differences in mental health symptoms (Pediatric Symptom Checklist; PSC-35) based on 7874 youth seeking treatment in publicly funded mental health treatment programs during California's Stay-At-Home order (March-May, 2020) and the prolonged pandemic (May-December, 2020) phases of the COVID-19 pandemic as compared with matching groups in 2019.

Results: Youth entering mental health treatment services, and their caregivers, reported significantly increased internalizing, externalizing, and attention-related symptoms during the prolonged pandemic phase, but not during the acute stay-at-home phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, and with small effect sizes. Group comparison analyses did not detect a significantly larger effect for Sexual and Gender Diverse (SGD) youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual, transgender, Two-Spirit, queer, and/or intersex, and Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC).

Conclusions: A large-scale comparison of youth mental health symptoms before and during the COVID-19 pandemic suggests that mental health was disrupted for youth seeking treatment as the pandemic prolonged throughout 2020.