{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,19]],"date-time":"2026-09-19T19:03:45Z","timestamp":1789844625751,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"23","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,6]],"date-time":"2020-12-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1607212800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Medical Scientific Fund of the Mayor of the City of Vienna","award":["COVID068"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["COVID068"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Little is known about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health and psychological well-being of young people. The aim of this study is to investigate the psychological well-being and changes in the mental-health state of young people living in Austria and Turkey. By using an anonymous online survey, we recruited 1240 people aged 15\u201325 years from these two countries. We used the \u201cPsychological General Well-being\u201d and a self-created questionnaire to capture individual experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine period. The native Turks indicated higher \u201canxiety\u201d (ps &lt; 0.010), lower \u201cvitality\u201d (ps &lt; 0.011), and lower \u201cgeneral health\u201d (ps &lt; 0.011) than native Austrians or Austrian migrants and increased \u201cdepression\u201d (p = 0.005) and lower \u201cself-control\u201d (p = 0.022), than Austrian migrants. Moreover, 50.9% of native Turks reported a decrease in their mental health status, compared to 31.1% of native Austrians and 23.7% of Austrian migrants. Participants with financial problems (OR = 1.68) and prior mental health problems (i.e., already in treatment by the time of COVID-19, OR = 5.83) reported a higher probability for a worsening in their mental health status. Our results show that the COVID-19 pandemic impaired the psychological well-being and mental health of young people. Especially people in Turkey were most affected, probably due to the stringent policies to fight COVID-19.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph17239111","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,7]],"date-time":"2020-12-07T12:24:39Z","timestamp":1607343879000},"page":"9111","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":41,"title":["The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Mental Health and Psychological Well-Being of Young People Living in Austria and Turkey: A Multicenter Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3779-7490","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"T\u00fcrkan","family":"Akkaya-Kalayci","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Outpatient Clinic of Transcultural Psychiatry and Migration Induced Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence, Medical University of Vienna, W\u00e4hringer G\u00fcrtel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria"},{"name":"Postgraduate University Program Transcultural Medicine and Diversity Care, Medical University of Vienna, Spitalgasse 23, 1090 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3243-0238","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Oswald D.","family":"Kothgassner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical University of Vienna, W\u00e4hringer G\u00fcrtel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Thomas","family":"Wenzel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, W\u00e4hringer G\u00fcrtel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria"},{"name":"Scientific Section on Psychological Aspects of Torture and Persecution, World Psychiatric Association (WPA), 1226 Th\u00f4nex, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andreas","family":"Goreis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, 1010 Vienna, Austria"},{"name":"Outpatient Unit for Research, Teaching and Practice, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, 1010 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anthony","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Scientific Section on Psychological Aspects of Torture and Persecution, World Psychiatric Association (WPA), 1226 Th\u00f4nex, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6152-0227","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Veysi","family":"Ceri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Child Development, Faculty of Health Sciences, Batman University, Batman \u00dcniversitesi, Merkez Kamp\u00fcs\u00fc, 72060 Batman, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7862-2630","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zeliha","family":"\u00d6zl\u00fc-Erkilic","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Outpatient Clinic of Transcultural Psychiatry and Migration Induced Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence, Medical University of Vienna, W\u00e4hringer G\u00fcrtel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria"},{"name":"Postgraduate University Program Transcultural Medicine and Diversity Care, Medical University of Vienna, Spitalgasse 23, 1090 Vienna, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"World Health Organization (2020). 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