Association between fear of COVID-19, religious belief and depressive symptoms in adolescents

Abstract

Abstract There has been accumulating interest in the association of religion with mental status in adolescents. However, the impact of the interaction between religion and stress on adolescents remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the psychiatric symptoms among religious adolescents at the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic in China. A total of 11,603 Chinese adolescents were recruited in this survey. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 Scale (GAD-7), the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) were assessed for all adolescents. Of 11,069 valid questionnaires collected, 847 (7.7%) reported holding religious beliefs. Religious adolescents showed significantly more severe depressive and anxiety symptoms compared to non-religious adolescents. 249 (2.2%) reported exposure to COVID-19 and had more severe depressive and anxiety symptoms as compared to those without such exposure. Logistic regression analysis revealed that religiosity was a risk factor for the symptoms of depression (OR = 1.37, 95%CI: 1.16–1.61, p < 0.001) and anxiety (OR = 1.49, 95%CI: 1.23–1.79, p < 0.001). Our finding suggests that religious adolescents easily develop depressive and anxiety symptoms, compared to non-religious adolescents. Parents and education workers should regularly monitor adolescents with religious beliefs, especially those who had poor parent-child relationships and emotional or physical abuse.