Table 1.
– Description of total sample and those with elevated vs. low ADHD and ASD traits, with p-values from Chi-squared tests. Note for the percentages of individuals above anxiety (GAD-7), depression (SMFQ) and poor mental wellbeing (WEMWBS) cut-points, percentages do not include missing data (for proportions see Supplementary Table 1).
| Total sample | Binary ADHD classification (SDQ ≥6) |
Binary ASD classification (AQ ≥ 32) |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elevated traits | Low traits | P-value | Elevated traits | Low traits | P-value | ||
| N | 3058 (100%) | 386 (13%) | 2672 (87%) | – | 79 (3%) | 2979 (97%) | – |
| Sex | |||||||
| Females (%) | 2103 (69%) | 240 (62%) | 1863 (70%) | 0.003 | 53 (67%) | 2050 (69%) | 0.84 |
| ADHD traits | |||||||
| Mean SDQ score (SD) | 3.04 (2.10) | 6.82 (0.99) | 2.49 (1.60) | - | 4.82 (2.46) | 2.99 (2.07) | – |
| ADHD based on SDQ ≥6 (%) | 386 (13%) | 386 (100%) | 0 (0%) | - | 33 (42%) | 353 (12%) | 2.0x10−10 |
| ASD traits | |||||||
| Mean AQ score (SD) | 15.99 (7.19) | 20.73 (7.97) | 15.31 (6.80) | – | 35.61 (3.74) | 15.47 (6.50) | - |
| ASD based on AQ ≥ 32 (%) | 79 (3%) | 33 (9%) | 46 (2%) | 2.0x10−10 | 79 (100%) | 0 (0%) | - |
| Events during pandemic | |||||||
| Financial difficulties (%) | 764 (25%) | 116 (30%) | 648 (24%) | 0.01 | 23 (29%) | 741 (25%) | 0.39 |
| Lost job (%) | 239 (8%) | 37 (10%) | 202 (8%) | 0.17 | 6 (8%) | 233 (8%) | 0.94 |
| Death of someone close (%) | 533 (17%) | 82 (21%) | 451 (17%) | 0.03 | 10 (13%) | 523 (18%) | 0.26 |
| Illness/injury of someone close (%) | 514 (17%) | 63 (16%) | 451 (17%) | 0.78 | 10 (13%) | 504 (17%) | 0.32 |
| Percentage above mental health cut-points | |||||||
| Anxiety (GAD-7) | |||||||
| Pre-pandemic (%) | 13% | 21% | 12% | 3.7x10−5 | 26% | 12% | 0.008 |
| COVID1 (%) | 24% | 37% | 22% | 2.1x10−7 | 42% | 24% | 0.002 |
| COVID2 (%) | 23% | 41% | 20% | 1.1x10−12 | 46% | 22% | 3.8x10−5 |
| COVID3 (%) | 27% | 42% | 25% | 1.4x10−12 | 47% | 27% | 6.2x10−5 |
| Depression (SMFQ) | |||||||
| Pre-pandemic (%) | 21% | 45% | 17% | 1.8x10−36 | 61% | 20% | 8.2x10−19 |
| COVID1 (%) | 15% | 29% | 13% | 8.0x10−11 | 40% | 14% | 1.3x10−7 |
| COVID2 (%) | 18% | 35% | 16% | 2.6x10−13 | 54% | 17% | 1.9x10−12 |
| COVID3 (%) | 19% | 33% | 16% | 3.8x10−15 | 42% | 18% | 5.1x10−8 |
| Poor mental wellbeing (WEMWBS) | |||||||
| Pre-pandemic (%) | 19% | 34% | 17% | 8.2x10−12 | 42% | 18% | 2.8x10−6 |
| COVID1 (%) | 31% | 47% | 29% | 6.9x10−9 | 61% | 30% | 2.8x10−6 |
| COVID2 (%) | 32% | 50% | 29% | 2.0x10−10 | 60% | 31% | 4.5x10−6 |
| COVID3 (%) | 31% | 49% | 28% | 2.5x10−17 | 60% | 30% | 2.4x10−8 |
“-” Indicates no statistical test was carried out.