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

Abstract

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. • Violent conflict broke out on November 4th, 2020, in Ethiopia's Tigray region. • Two consecutive phone surveys correlate mental health and the ongoing conflict. • Young people's mental health significantly worsened after the outbreak of conflict. • By end-year, 2 in 5 young people were experiencing mental health issues. • The results call for timely interventions to support vulnerable youth in Tigray.