National trends in alcohol consumption, smoking, suicide attempts, and COVID-19 pandemic-related factors among South Korean adolescents, 2012-2022

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about substantial disruptions in the lives of adolescents worldwide through school closures, diminished access to physical and mental health services, and decreased social interactions (Kang et al., 2023). Before the pandemic, a declining trend in adolescent alcohol consumption in developed countries was observed, and studies in South Korea also reported similar decreases in smoking and suicide attempts among adolescents (Jeong et al., 2020, Kang et al., 2018). However, there is controversial evidence about trends in such outcomes. Some research showed decreased alcohol consumption and smoking during the pandemic, while others negated significant changes after the pandemic (Park et al., 2023b, Shin et al., 2023). These discrepancies in previous studies could be attributed to limitations such as small sample sizes or short observation periods. Hence, there is a pressing need for comprehensive research demonstrating the trends and risk factors of adolescent alcohol consumption, smoking, and suicide attempts before and during the pandemic.