Adolescent Worries About Societal Challenges: Changing Associations With Internalizing Symptoms, 1977-2021

Adolescents' worries about salient societal challenges are potential contributors to worsening adolescent internalizing symptoms after 2011. We examined changes in the associations of adolescent societal worries and internalizing symptoms in the United States between 1977 and 2021.

We conducted latent profile analyses to categorize 118,167 12th grade students from annual cross-sectional Monitoring the Future surveys, 1977-2021, based on their level of self-reported worry about ten U.S. societal challenges, and examined adjusted associations of worry profiles with loneliness, low self-esteem, and self-derogation before and after 2011, overall and by gender.

The mean age of participants was 17.6 years and 51% were female. We identified four worry profiles: Low Worry across all worry domains, Sustainability Worry (elevated worry about pollution, energy shortages, land use, population growth), Social Disorder Worry (elevated worry about crime, drugs, poverty, race relations), and High Worry across all worry domains. After 2011, adolescents in the High Worry profile (vs. Low Worry), were significantly more likely to experience elevated loneliness (adjusted risk ratio [aRR]: 2.49, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.01-3.11), low self-esteem (aRR: 1.20, 95% CI: 1.03-1.37), and self-derogation (aRR: 1.54, 95% CI: 1.32-1.81). There was no consistent directional pattern in these associations before 2011. The changes in pre- vs post-2011 associations were greater for female adolescents.

During the recent period of deteriorating mental health among U.S. adolescents, internalizing symptoms increased most rapidly among adolescents expressing elevated worries across all assessed domains of societal challenges. This pattern was most pronounced among female adolescents.