Prevalence of anxiety and associated psychological factors in French-Canadian adolescents before, during and later in the COVID-19 pandemic

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Reference

Pinsonneault A, Therriault D, Smith J, Gosselin P, Dupuis A, *Saint-Pierre Mousset E, Roy M, Morin P, Lane J. (2026). Prevalence of anxiety and associated psychological factors in French-Canadian adolescents before, during and later in the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Mental Health & Clinical Psychology. 1 : 52-59.

Abstract

Mental health professionals and researchers worldwide are concerned about the impact of the pandemic on mental health, particularly that of adolescents who have been identified as a vulnerable subpopulation. This study was therefore interested in comparing the prevalence of anxiety and associated psychological factors in French-Canadian adolescents before the pandemic, in its early phase and late in the pandemic. Three independent cohorts were recruited at three time points, one before the pandemic (2019), one early in the pandemic (2020) and one later in the pandemic (2022). The full sample included 3963 French-Canadian adolescents (Mage = 12.55 years, 50.6% girls). They were invited to complete questionnaires targeting their anxiety and associated psychological factors (depressive symptoms, intolerance to uncertainty, cognitive avoidance, negative attitudes when faced with problems, self-esteem, self-efficacy, impact of anxiety on academic, social, and family activities). Their answers were analysed with multivariate analysis of variance. Results showed that several types of anxiety (panic symptoms, separation anxiety, social anxiety) did not differ between pre-pandemic and early-pandemic cohorts, but were lower in the late-pandemic cohort, whereas generalized anxiety was higher in the early-pandemic cohort and lower in the late-pandemic cohort. Moreover, self-esteem, self-efficacy and negative attitude towards problems were worse in the late-pandemic cohort compared with pre-pandemic and early-pandemic cohorts. Depressive symptoms were higher in the early-pandemic cohort compared to pre-pandemic and late-pandemic cohorts. Our study suggests that overall, the pandemic did not have longer-term negative effects on anxiety symptomology, highlighting the importance of documenting the evolution of anxiety throughout the pandemic.

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