Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed social life within a very short time. Lockdown policies often consider the tradeoff between containing the spread of the pandemic and negative consequences for the economy. Policymakers should pay more attention to the psychological and social impacts of the lockdown.

Research question: How did the mental health of adolescents in Germany change during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown?

Materials and methods: Analyses are based on longitudinal data from nationwide randomly selected anchors of the German family panel pairfam. The age group considered here, born between 2001 and 2003, was surveyed for the first time in 2018/2019 in the course of a refreshment sample, and 854 of these adolescents and young adults aged 16–19 also participated in the COVID-19 supplementary survey from May to July 2020 (first lockdown). Depressiveness is assessed with the State-Trait Depression Scale.

Results: During the first lockdown, adolescents show a significant increase in depressive symptoms. Prior to the lockdown, 10.4% had clinically relevant depressive symptoms [95% CI: 8.4; 12.5]. In spring 2020, the prevalence increased to 25.3% [95% CI: 22.4; 28.2]. Young women have a significantly higher risk of developing depressive symptoms than men of the same age. Immigrant background is an equally strong risk factor. The prevalence of depressive symptoms among adolescents with an immigrant background increased from 11% to 33%.

Discussion: To address this increased mental health risk and the inequalities, policymakers and society should ensure access and availability of target-group-specific and low-threshold prevention and counselling.