Rising Adolescent Mental Health Challenges in Post-Pandemic Era: A Comparative Analysis of Its Influential Factors in China and the U.S.

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-323-8_54How to use a DOI?

Keywords

adolescent mental health; depression; social media; comparative study

Abstract

This paper explores the contributing factors that lead to adolescent mental health in China and the U.S., two countries with high and increasing cases of mental health issues. Specifically, the paper focuses on depression since it is the most significant mental health challenge globally, and its prevalence has been on the rise in the post-pandemic era. By identifying four major factors that contribute to adolescent mental health: 1) social media use, 2) academic pressures, 3) COVID-19 and quarantine impact, and 4) family structure, this paper compares the negative impacts caused by the four factors in adolescent mental health in China and the US. This paper concludes that the Chinese academic system and lockdown policy had a more negative effect when compared to that in the U.S. Considering the social media environment and familial structure, the U.S. has experienced more negative impacts on adolescent mental health than China has. While both nations have a similar prevalence of depression, the paper concluded that the level of significance of each factor in causing adolescent depression varies based on a country’s societal, cultural, educational, and ideological situations. This comparative approach sheds light on the nuance of adolescent mental health. It provides policy and program implications to needed stakeholders, such as families, schools, and policymakers, to address the increasingly severe mental health challenges among teenagers.

Copyright

© 2024 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Ziyang Yang
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/12/23
TI  - Rising Adolescent Mental Health Challenges in Post-Pandemic Era: A Comparative Analysis of Its Influential Factors in China and the U.S.
BT  - Proceedings of the 2024 7th International Conference on Humanities Education and Social Sciences (ICHESS 2024)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 452
EP  - 462
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-323-8_54
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-323-8_54
ID  - Yang2024
ER  -