Investigating adolescent mental health of Chinese students during the COVID-19 pandemic: Multicenter cross-sectional comparative investigation

Table 1 The positive effects of the adolescents

	Mean point [-1,1]	Disagree	Agree
Do not have to go to school
All	-0.307	50.5%	15%
Primary school	-0.370	55.4%	12.8%
Junior high school	-0.256	47.5%	19%
Senior high school	-0.303	49.1%	13.0%
Increased time staying at home
All	0.082	23.4%	37.9%
Primary school	0.021	27.2%	34.4%
Junior high school	0.149	21.7%	43.2%
Senior high school	0.070	21.7%	35.6%
Increased time spent with parents
All	0.232	15.5%	49.6%
Primary school	0.157	18.0%	43.8%
Junior high school	0.342	13.1%	58.0%
Senior high school	0.185	15.9%	46.0%
Increased time spent in personal stuff
All	0.159	18.7%	42.9%
Primary school	0.059	23.2%	35.4%
Junior high school	0.246	16.3%	48.6%
Senior high school	0.161	17.1%	43.8%
Decreased teachers’ monitoring
All	-0.182	42%	20.6%
Primary school	-0.248	47.6%	18.4%
Junior high school	-0.163	41.4%	22.3%
Senior high school	-0.140	37.2%	20.9%

Table 2 The negative factors of the adolescents

Learning effects	Mean point [-1,1]	Disagree	Agree	Life influence	Mean point [-1,1]	Disagree	Agree
Increased parents’ monitoring				Distance from friends
All	0.073	20.1%	33.2%	All	-0.111	34.0%	23.0%
Primary school	0.165	17.5%	44.4%	Primary school	0.017	25.2%	32.2%
Junior high school	0.090	19.9%	34.0%	Junior high school	-0.204	42.6%	20.3%
Senior high school	-0.031	22.7%	21.6%	Senior high school	-0.134	33.0%	17.1%
Difficulty concentrating				Don't socialize with people
All	-0.098	34.3%	24.6%	All	-0.243	44.5%	14.6%
Primary school	-0.051	31.1%	27.6%	Primary school	-0.160	38%	18.3%
Junior high school	-0.185	42.2%	21.0%	Junior high school	-0.353	54.3%	12.7%
Senior high school	-0.051	28.9%	25.6%	Senior high school	-0.205	40.2%	13.1%
Worry about the future				Less entertainment
All	0.065	25.3%	37.1%	All	-0.02	27.1%	26.7%
Primary school	0.031	27.9%	34.4%	Primary school	0.076	21.1%	34.1%
Junior high school	0.101	25.8%	42.0%	Junior high school	-0.119	36.4%	21.9%
Senior high school	0.058	22.2%	34.5%	Senior high school	-0.005	22.9%	24.7%
Interference with academic performance				Reduce pocket money
All	0.108	23.4%	40.6%	All	-0.209	37.4%	11.1%
Primary school	0.072	26.1%	37.9%	Primary school	-0.192	34.9%	10.8%
Junior high school	0.160	23.3%	46.2%	Junior high school	-0.243	43.9%	13.9%
Senior high school	0.086	21.0%	37.1%	Senior high school	-0.187	33.0%	8.2%
Unable to adapt to online classes				Pay more attention to news reports
All	-0.057	31.3%	25.7%	All	0.236	11.9%	48.2%
Primary school	-0.027	30.5%	28.8%	Primary school	0.193	12.0%	45.0%
Junior high school	-0.092	35.6%	25.5%	Junior high school	0.236	14.7%	46.8%
Senior high school	-0.050	27.6%	22.9%	Senior high school	0.278	8.8%	52.7%
Feel an increase in homework				Change of living environment
All	-0.167	35.3%	14.4%	All	0.091	18.5%	35.1%
Primary school	-0.242	41.5%	10.8%	Primary school	0.119	15.9%	37.6%
Junior high school	-0.160	38.5%	18.8%	Junior high school	0.067	23.4%	34.3%
Senior high school	-0.105	26.0%	13.3%	Senior high school	0.090	15.7%	33.6%
				Less travel
				All	0.317	13.4%	53.7%
				Primary school	0.407	11.7%	60.9%
				Junior high school	0.258	17.4%	49.5%
				Senior high school	0.295	10.8%	51.4%
				Feel the traffic is inconvenient
				All	0.072	20.8%	32.2%
				Primary school	0.108	10.7%	35.3%
				Junior high school	0.030	26.6%	30.6%
				Senior high school	0.083	15.5%	31.1%
				Hospital care is harder
				All	0.145	18.5%	39.7%
				Primary school	0.205	17.1%	44.5%
				Junior high school	0.095	23.4%	37.7%
				Senior high school	0.142	14.6%	37.4%

Table 3 Comparison of Patient Health Questionnaire-9 responses before and after coronavirus disease 2019

	n	Mean (95%CI)	Level of severity, n (%)
			Minimal (0-4)	Mild (5-9)	Moderate (10-14)	Moderately severe (15-19)	Severe (≥ 20)
Before COVID-19
Whole sample	3184	3.862 (3.685-4.043)	2083 (65.4)	779 (24.5)	183 (5.7)	78 (2.4)	61 (1.9)
Primary school	1002	3.329 (3.036-3.623)	702 (70.1)	227 (22.7)	37 (3.7)	24 (2.4)	12 (1.2)
Junior high school	1126	4.211 (3.863-4.560)	746 (66.3)	224 (19.9)	83 (7.4)	34 (3.0)	39 (3.5)
Senior high school	1056	4.001 (3.726-4.276)	635 (60.1)	328 (31.1)	63 (6.0)	20 (1.9)	10 (0.9)
Post COVID-19
Whole sample	3184	2.932 (2.763-3.102)	2348 (73.7)	607 (19.1)	116 (3.6)	67 (2.1)	46 (1.4)
Primary school	1002	2.277 (2.016-2.539)	787 (78.5)	175 (17.5)	17 (1.7)	16 (1.6)	7 (0.7)
Junior high school	1126	3.383 (3.046-3.719)	810 (71.9)	196 (17.4)	54 (4.8)	35 (3.1)	31 (2.8)
Senior high school	1056	3.074 (2.810-3.338)	751 (71.1)	236 (22.3)	45 (4.3)	16 (1.5)	8 (0.8)

Table 4 Comparison of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Screener responses before and after coronavirus disease 2019

	n	Mean (95%CI)	Level of severity, n (%)
			Minimal (0-4)	Mild (5-9)	Moderate (10-14)	Severe (15-21)
Before COVID-19
Whole sample	3184	2.465 (2.330-2.600)	2408 (75.6)	627 (19.7)	98 (3.1)	51 (1.6)
Primary school	1002	1.984 (1.766-2.202)	802 (80.0)	168 (16.8)	22 (2.2)	10 (1.0)
Junior high school	1126	2.598 (2.340-2.856)	860 (76.4)	186 (16.5)	49 (4.4)	31 (2.8)
Senior high school	1056	2.780 (2.563-2.997)	746 (70.6)	273 (25.9)	27 (2.6)	10 (0.9)
Post COVID-19
Whole sample	3184	2.273 (2.133-2.412)	2436 (76.5)	584 (18.3)	109 (3.4)	55 (1.7)
Primary school	1002	1.775 (1.557-1.994)	813 (81.1)	156 (15.6)	23 (2.3)	10 (1.0)
Junior high school	1126	2.536 (2.262-2.809)	856 (76.0)	182 (16.2)	48 (4.3)	40 (3.6)
Senior high school	1056	2.464 (2.246-2.682)	767 (72.6)	246 (23.3)	38 (3.6)	5 (0.5)