Publication date: Sep 22, 2025
Concerns have been raised about an increase in children’s mental health symptoms over the past 30 years, including after COVID-19 lockdowns. Yet, few studies have investigated variations over generations, while considering sex and socioeconomic status. We aimed to address this gap by comparing mental health symptoms (emotional distress, impulsivity/hyperactivity/inattention, disruptive behaviours) reported by classroom teachers of 11-year-olds in three population-based, prospective, representative cohorts in Quebec, Canada. Analyses included 1665 (83%) of the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Kindergarten Children, in 1993; 1305 (62%) of the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, 2009; and 3871 (100%) of the Quebec Survey of Child Development in Kindergarten, 2022; ~50% boys. Teacher-rated symptoms on the validated Social Behavior Questionnaire showed higher scores of emotional distress and impulsive/hyperactive/inattentive symptoms in 2022 than 2009, and higher in 2009 than 1993 (very small-to-small effect sizes: Cohen’s d 0. 12 and 0. 26 for emotional distress, 0. 06 and 0. 25 for impulsive/hyperactive/inattentive symptoms, respectively; P
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| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| Canada | Childhood depression |
| Hyperactive | COVID-19 pandemic |
| Teachers | Epidemiology |
| Inattention and hyperactivity | |
| Temporal trends. |
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | MESH | COVID-19 |
| disease | MESH | emotional distress |
| disease | MESH | impulsivity |
| disease | MESH | depression |