Positive youth development qualities improve mental disorders and addiction: A cross-sectional survey of teenagers in China under the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract Background Positive youths development (PYD) has been found existing useful impact on the protection of mental health among adolescents in recent years. Anxiety and depression are the main representations of mental disorders in adolescents; meanwhile, internet addiction also is the main addictive behavior. The purpose in this study is to estimate the impact of general PYD quality (GPYDQ) on the anxiety, depression and internet addiction comprehensive; and considered the mental injury come from the COVID-19 pandemic furthermore.Methods 7426 valid questionnaires come from the follow-up of sociological investigation named Chengdu Positive Child Development (CPCD) survey. The corresponding international scales were used to evaluate the performance of PYD, the risk of anxiety, depression, and internet addiction, and the mental damage of COVID-19 pandemic respectively.Results The GPYDQ had a negative association with the score of mental disorders and addictive behavior, which meaning that higher PYD performance in adolescents was associated with a lower risk of mental illness and addiction. The CRIES-13 had the positive connection on the risk of anxiety, depression, and Internet addiction, and had the negative effect on the GPYDQ, which showed that COVID-19 was taking a toll on the mental health of adolescents.Conclusion The positive PYD attributes could effectively improve the mental health, and regulate the dependence on Internet addiction, and the COVID-19 pandemic also could aggravate the expression of depression, anxiety and Internet addiction, and damage their abilities of positive development.