Young people, mental health, and civil conflict: Preliminary findings from Ethiopia's Tigray region

Journal article

We examine the association between mental health and violent conflict in Ethiopia's Tigray region. Two longitudinal phone-surveys (08/2020–10/2020; 11/2020–01/2021) interviewed 122 young people in Tigray. We use t-tests for the difference in means outcomes between calls to investigate how their mental health evolved before and after the outbreak of conflict (11/2020). Post-outbreak rates of anxiety (34%) were three times higher than 2–3 months before. Similarly, rates of depression increased significantly from 16% to 25%. Males experienced greater increases in anxiety, females in depression. Mental health issues have likely worsened further during the ongoing conflict, making mental health support urgently needed.

Authors: Favara, M; Hittmeyer, A; Porter, C; Singhal, S; Woldehanna, T

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Journal: Psychiatry Research Communications
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 1
• Article number: 100025
• Publication date: 2022-02-02
• Acceptance date: 2022-01-30
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psycom.2022.100025
• EISSN: 2772-5987
• Language: English
• Keywords: anxiety; conflict; depression; FFR