# Adolescents’ health and well-being into the COVID-19 pandemic: A two-wave prospective investigation– The HUNT study

## TL;DR

This study examines how the mental health and well-being of Norwegian adolescents changed during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on differences based on socioeconomic status.

## Contribution

The study provides new insights into how adolescents' health and well-being changed during the pandemic, particularly highlighting differences based on gender and socioeconomic position.

## Key findings

- Boys and girls reported increased loneliness during the pandemic, while mental distress increased only in boys.
- Adolescents from low socioeconomic backgrounds experienced greater declines in health and well-being compared to those from high socioeconomic backgrounds.
- Girls in low socioeconomic groups showed improved health and well-being during the study period, unlike boys.

## Abstract

Using data on Norwegian adolescents, this study aimed to explore changes in mental health, quality of life, somatic health complaints and loneliness from before and one year into the COVID-19 pandemic, also considering the changes according to socioeconomic position (SEP).

The study involved a cross-sectional comparative design with data from Young-HUNT4 (2017–2019) (n = 4347) and Young-HUNT COVID (May/June 2021) (n = 2033), aged 16–19 years. Additionally, longitudinal changes from Young-HUNT4 (n = 1565), aged 13–15 years, with follow-up in Young-HUNT COVID were explored. The impact of SEP was investigated through regression analyses and investigating prevalence changes in high and low SEP groups.

In the cross-sectional comparison, boys and girls reported higher levels of loneliness and mental distress (boys only) into the pandemic compared to before, while general health and quality of life remained stable. Longitudinally, all factors changed adversely except for general health in boys. Comparing younger (13–15 years) with older (16–19 years) adolescents from Young-HUNT4, demonstrated the same adverse pattern as in the longitudinal sample. Poor health, poor quality of life and loneliness were more prevalent in the low compared to the high SEP group. In the low SEP group, mental distress, poor general health and life quality worsened in boys while improved in girls during the study period.

Except for mental distress in boys, general health and life quality did not deteriorate in the study period, although loneliness increased in both sexes. In the low SEP group, girls seemed to cope better than boys where health and well-being even improved.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00127-025-02978-1.