“We Are at Risk Too”: The Disparate Mental Health Impacts of the Pandemic on Younger Generations: Nous Sommes Aussi à Risque: Les Effets Disparates de la Pandémie Sur la Santé Mentale des Générations Plus Jeunes
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Abstract
The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in profound global impact, with older adults at greater risk of serious physical health outcomes. It is essential to also understand generational differences in psychosocial impacts to identify appropriate prevention and intervention targets. Across generational groups, this study examined: (1) rates of precautions and adaptive and maladaptive health behaviors, (2) differences in levels of anxiety, and (3) rates of COVID-related concerns during Wave 1 of COVID-19 in Canada.
Participants:
We analyzed data from 2 Canadian population-based data sets: the Canadian Perspective Survey Series: Impact of COVID-19 survey ( N = 4,627; March 29 to April 3, 2020), and Crowdsourcing: Impacts of COVID-19 on Canadians—Your Mental Health ( N = 45,989; April 24 to May 11, 2020).
Measures:
We categorized generational age group. Participants self-reported changes in behaviors and COVID-related concerns, and a validated measure assessed anxiety symptoms.
Results:
There are generational differences in behavioral responses to the pandemic. Adaptive health habits (e.g., exercise) were comparable across groups, while changes in maladaptive health habits (e.g., substance use) were highest among younger age groups, particularly Millennials (15 to 34 years old). COVID-related precautions were also highest among the younger generations, with Generation X (35 to 54 years old) exhibiting the highest rate of precautionary behavior. Results also revealed that the highest rate of clinically significant anxiety is among Millennials (36.0%; severe anxiety = 15.7%), and the younger generations have the highest rates of COVID-related concerns.
Conclusion:
These early data are essential in understanding at-risk groups given the unpredictable nature of the pandemic and its potential long-term implications.
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SciScore for 10.1101/2020.07.21.20159236: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
No key resources detected.
Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:Despite the strengths of the current study including a large population-based sample of contemporary and timely data, there are limitations. First, these trends are based on self-report as opposed to clinical …
SciScore for 10.1101/2020.07.21.20159236: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement not detected. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Table 2: Resources
No key resources detected.
Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).
Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:Despite the strengths of the current study including a large population-based sample of contemporary and timely data, there are limitations. First, these trends are based on self-report as opposed to clinical assessments/semi-structured interviews. Second, given time constraints, Statistics Canada was unable to employ rigorous sampling procedures (for survey 2) which may limit generalizability. Third, both surveys were cross-sectional and therefore longitudinal trends could not be examined. Fourth, this study utilized public access data and therefore groups were aggregated to protect the identity of participants; therefore, there were limitations in how we defined generational groups. Finally, findings were based on Canadian data and trends may not be representative of other countries. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in widespread fear and anxiety as indicated by the elevated mental health rates across all generational groups. Clinically significant anxiety ranged from 14.5-36.0%, with Millennials exhibiting the highest levels of both worries and anxiety. Trends in both precautions and maladaptive behaviours varied according to generation. While members of the Greatest/Silent Generations engaged in the fewest precautionary behaviours, Millennials endorsed the highest number of maladaptive behaviours; interestingly, all generations engaged in similar rates of adaptive health behaviours. One distinction that will be important to further investigate is differentiating adaptiv...
Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.
Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.
Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.
Results from rtransparent:- Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
- No protocol registration statement was detected.
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