Youth emotional well-being during the COVID-19-related lockdown in South Africa

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only caused serious threats to people’s physical health but has also triggered a wide range of mental health problems. This study sought to assess the prevalence of, and factors associated with depressive symptoms among young people age 18-35 years during the COVID-19 related lockdown in South Africa. An online survey was conducted leading to a sample of 11 700 participants covering all the provinces of the country; of these 5 693 participants responded to all the emotional well-being questions. The 10-item Centre for Epidemiological Studies on Depression Scale (CES-D 10 Scale) was used to establish the prevalence of, and factors associated with depressive symptoms. Our results show a prevalence of depressive symptoms of 72% among the young participants, which is high and worrisome when compared to mental health results among youth gathered outside of the COVID-19 context. When disaggregated by various characteristics, the prevalence of depressive symptoms was found to be higher among older, female, and white youth and those with higher education. Multivariate regression analysis further shows that depressive symptoms were positively associated with being female, being older, having higher education and residing in urban informal areas, while they were negatively associated with being employed and offering family care. These findings suggest that while combating the COVID-19 pandemic, the government needs to pay closer attention to the mental health issues among young people and the effects of lockdown regulations on mental health, to avoid longer-term negative effects of mental ill-health among youth.