Post-Pandemic Youth Mental Health: A Serial Cross-Sectional Survey of Illinois Parents with Four Timepoints

Youth mental health was declining before the COVID-19 pandemic and worsened during the pandemic, yet less is known for the post-pandemic period. We examined parents' reports of youth mental health between 2022 and 2024.

We administered serial cross-sectional surveys to four independent samples of Illinois parents in 6/2022, 5/2023, 10/2023, 3/2024, in English and Spanish, through the QualtricsXM panel (convenience sample of adults who agree to take surveys). Parents read a list of 14 youth mental health symptoms and indicated, for one randomly selected 2-17-year-old child, if the child experienced each symptom less often, the same amount, or more often than a year ago; or never. Parents indicated their own stress levels.

At each timepoint, symptoms of irritability were most commonly reported, with different expression across developmental periods: tantrums in early childhood; easy frustration in school-age children. Approximately half of parents reported their child experienced ≥1 mental health symptom more often at each timepoint (6/2022: 49.7%, 5/2023: 51.6%, 10/2023: 53.9%, 3/2024: 48.7%). Multivariable logistic regressions indicated parent stress was associated with higher odds of the child having ≥1 mental health symptom more often (6/2022 aOR:3.37, 5/2023 aOR:2.07, 10/2023 aOR:1.76, 3/2024 aOR:3.31).

At four survey timepoints over 2 years, approximately half of 2-17-year-old youth experienced mental health symptoms more often than they had before. This was most evident via transdiagnostic irritability symptoms. Screening for mental health, beginning in toddlerhood, and preventive interventions for parents and youth are potential mechanisms to mitigate the youth mental health crisis.