Public Health & Health Science Division, ULAB

Multitudes of epidemiological factors contribute to the resultant effects in the mental health of adolescents, defined by the World Health Organization as between ages of 10 to 19. Presently, both prevailing aspects, including the occuring Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent social lockdown, and inherent social determinants like certain academic environments, poverty, chronic loneliness, and lack of available treatment or research influence the state of adolescent mental health. This literature review seeks to identify critical determinants of adolescent mental health and study their long term influence on mental health epidemiology as a whole. By compiling a plethora of various case studies from publications on PubMed and MEDLINE, APA PsycInfo, and PLOS One along with data from important surveys such as Youth Self Report, Adult Self Report, and TRacking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey, this study generates a comprehensive overview of facets underlying the current trends in specifically adolescent mental health. Through the review of critical results extracted from these sources, this paper displays the causal relationship with Covid-19’s social disruptions, especially quarantine, on Vitamin D deficiency and in academic contexts. Furthermore, this paper explores the generalized risk factors associated with mental illness onset in the context of adolescent development along with an evaluation of current trends in mental health research.