Contributing Factors to the Rise in Adolescent Anxiety and Associated Mental Health Disorders: A Narrative Review of Current Literature.
Thea L Anderson, Rasa Valiauga, Christian Tallo and 7 others
PMID 39739929WHAT IT FOUND
Adolescent anxiety is rising, and this review links it to biology, social media, family strain, school pressure, extracurricular load, and political or climate worry.
Nurses can use these factors to ask targeted questions and counsel families.
Key findings
01The review reports that 48 of 52 studies in a systematic review linked academic pressure with worse adolescent mental health outcomes.
02The review reports that a meta-analysis found a small association between adolescent sports participation and lower anxiety and depression, but it did not show that sports cause these effects.
03The review reports that children with consistent care and support from extended family members had lower anxiety and depression than children without that support.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This is a narrative review, not a new study of patients, so it summarizes other papers rather than testing anything directly. The methods do not describe quality appraisal of the included articles, so the strength of evidence behind each factor is unclear. Many cited findings are associations, so they do not prove that any factor causes anxiety or that changing that factor will reduce anxiety. The review notes that causation could not be established for sports participation and that further research is needed for academic pressure. The review says there are no established guidelines for prevention and that school-based anxiety interventions are not supported by existing evidence. The included articles were limited to English publications from 2000 to 2023 with full texts, which may limit the range of evidence.
Declared interests
The authors reported no conflicts of interest and nothing to report.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that limiting screen time, adding sports, or nature exposure lowers adolescent anxiety. The review mostly reports associations from other studies, and it says causation was not established and school interventions are not supported by existing evidence.