Depression among schoolchildren and adolescents aged 9–17 years during the outbreak of COVID‑19 in Beijing: a cross-sectional online survey

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 outbreak and related confinement have highly impacted psychological health among children and adolescents. This study aimed to explore the potential risk factors for depression among primary and middle school students and provide advices for psychological interventions during the outbreaks. An online cross-sectional survey was conducted among 18 primary and middle school students via quota sampling in Beijing during March 2020. The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was used to assess depression. Differences between characteristics and depression were examined by chi-square tests. Multivariate logistic regression was used to reveal the potential risk factors for depression. A total of 7377 participants were included. The proportion of depression was 29.7%. Students in rural areas, with higher school categories, in graduating grades, with poor or excessive sleep duration, and without daily exercise were associated with a higher proportion of depression. Furthermore, students with a higher knowledge performance of COVID-19 showed a lower proportion of depression (odds ratio [OR] = 0.900, 95% confidence intervals [95% CI]: 0.888–0.913). Students who worried about academic performance (OR = 1.919, 95% CI: 1.718–2.144) or COVID-19 infection (OR = 1.450, 95% CI: 1.268–1.658) exhibited a high proportion of depression. The proportion of depression among primary and middle school students was negatively associated with the knowledge score and positively associated with their worry. Our findings suggest that psychological intervention might be more necessary for students with specific characteristics.

KEYWORDS:

• Beijing
• COVID-19
• depression
• children
• adolescents

Acknowledgments

The study was supported by The National Key Research and Development Program of China [grant numbers: 2016YFC0900600/2016YFC0900603]. All authors contributed to the manuscript. F.W. and Y.M. managed database establishment, statistical analysis and writing of the paper. K.L., J.X., H.L., and H.Q. managed data collection. K.M. and L.Z. managed study design, data collection, direction of statistical analysis and writing and modification of the paper. The authors would like to thank all of the participants in our study. The authors have declared that they have no competing or potential conflicts of interest.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the The National Key Research and Development Program of China [2016YFC0900603].