Purpose

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused changes in the daily lives of Korean adolescents and affected their emotional well-being. This study compared lifestyle factors and the mental health status of adolescents before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

We conducted a secondary analysis using data from a national cross-sectional cohort (Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey, KYRBS) collected in 2019 before the COVID-19 outbreak and in 2020 during the pandemic. This study included 57,303 students from the 2019 KYRBS and 54,948 from the 2020 KYRBS. Lifestyle factors such as dietary habits, physical activity levels, time spent studying, duration of Internet use, and mental health status, including perceived stress, experience of depressive mood, and suicidal ideation and attempts, were included in the analyses.

Results

The perceived stress levels, self-reported depressive mood, and suicidal thoughts and attempts were lower in the students surveyed in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic than in the students surveyed in 2019 before the COVID-19 outbreak. The time spent studying and sleep duration decreased compared to before the pandemic, and sleep satisfaction increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Discussion

Our results showed an improvement in mental health status in Korean adolescents during the pandemic, but caution is needed when interpreting these results. Future research is needed to determine the effects of a long-lasting pandemic on mental health and lifestyle factors in adolescents.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19 大流行对韩国青少年心理健康和生活方式因素的影响

目的

2019 年冠状病毒病 (COVID-19) 大流行已经改变了韩国青少年的日常生活并影响了他们的情绪健康。本研究比较了 COVID-19 大流行之前和期间青少年的生活方式因素和心理健康状况。

方法

我们使用来自 2019 年 COVID-19 爆发前和 2020 年大流行期间收集的全国横断面队列（韩国青年风险行为网络调查，KYRBS）的数据进行了二次分析。这项研究包括来自 2019 年 KYRBS 的 57,303 名学生和来自 2020 年 KYRBS 的 54,948 名学生。生活方式因素，如饮食习惯、身体活动水平、学习时间、互联网使用时间和心理健康状况，包括感知压力、抑郁情绪经历以及自杀意念和尝试，都被纳入分析。

结果

2020 年 COVID-19 大流行期间接受调查的学生的感知压力水平、自我报告的抑郁情绪以及自杀念头和企图低于 2019 年 COVID-19 爆发前接受调查的学生。与大流行前相比，学习时间和睡眠时间有所减少，而在 COVID-19 大流行期间，睡眠满意度有所提高。

讨论

我们的结果显示，大流行期间韩国青少年的心理健康状况有所改善，但在解释这些结果时需要谨慎。未来的研究需要确定长期流行病对青少年心理健康和生活方式因素的影响。