Depression eases but PTSD lingers in war-exposed Ukrainian adolescents over 12 months

By the third survey wave, 90 percent of participants reported experiencing at least one traumatic event, 43 percent reported moderate to severe depression, and 42 percent reported symptoms consistent with clinically significant PTSD.

The study drew participants from the AUDRI cohort, short for Adolescents of Ukraine During the Russian Invasion. Adolescents aged at least 15 years at baseline completed three survey waves spaced six months apart. Of 559 respondents at the third wave, 311 took part in all three waves and formed the analytical sample for the study.

The researchers, led by Yuliia Yachnik and Irina Pinchuk with colleagues including Bennett L. Leventhal and Norbert Skokauskas, compared the third-wave figures with baseline, where 42 percent of adolescents had reported moderate to severe depression and 46 percent had reported clinically significant PTSD. Adjusted analyses using linear mixed-effects models showed significant improvement in PTSD scores by the third wave, with an estimated change of minus 11.47 points (95 percent confidence interval, minus 16.08 to minus 6.86), and in depression scores, with a change of minus 5.59 points (95 percent confidence interval, minus 8.06 to minus 3.10).

Resilience followed a different path. Scores fell at the second wave, with an estimated change of minus 0.89 points (95 percent confidence interval, minus 1.52 to minus 0.26), then rose by the third wave to an estimated change of plus 5.86 points (95 percent confidence interval, 3.35 to 8.37). The authors concluded that resilience levels gradually recovered to baseline after the initial decline, suggesting a delayed rather than immediate rebound in adolescents’ capacity to sustain mental health under prolonged adversity.

The study also examined which factors shaped outcomes. Witnessing family violence predicted lower resilience and higher mental health symptoms, whereas social capital, the resources available through family, peer, and community networks, had a protective effect. These findings point to relational and community-level conditions as modifiable targets alongside individual symptom treatment.

Latent trajectory analyses revealed substantial heterogeneity in how adolescents fared over time. Patterns ranged from stable adaptation to persistent distress and declining adjustment, indicating that a single population-level average conceals divergent individual courses.

A central analytical question was whether earlier mental health symptoms predicted later resilience. Using causal modelling g-estimation, the researchers assessed associations between earlier depressive symptoms and later resilience and found the associations were weak and did not reach statistical significance. This suggests that, in this cohort, prior symptom levels were not a reliable statistical predictor of subsequent resilience, complicating any simple assumption that reducing symptoms automatically builds resilience.

The authors emphasized that the coexistence of resilience and psychological distress in some adolescents means adaptation during prolonged adversity cannot be understood solely through symptom reduction. They recommended that interventions address distress while simultaneously strengthening family, peer, and community resources that support resilience during ongoing conflict. The study is an open-access research article published on 13 October 2026, and the reported improvements should be read against the caveat that the conflict context persisted throughout the observation period, meaning the third-wave figures still reflect a population under sustained war exposure rather than a post-crisis recovery.

Subject of Research: Longitudinal changes in depression, PTSD, and resilience among war-exposed Ukrainian adolescents

Article Title: A longitudinal study on depression, trauma, and resilience in war-exposed Ukrainian adolescents

Article References: Yachnik, Y., Pinchuk, I., Leventhal, B. L., Kano, Y., Goto, R., & Skokauskas, N. (2026). A longitudinal study on depression, trauma, and resilience in war-exposed Ukrainian adolescents. Conflict and Health. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13031-026-00840-y

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s13031-026-00840-y

Keywords: Ukraine, adolescents, depression, PTSD, resilience, longitudinal study, war exposure, mental health, AUDRI cohort, social capital, trauma, Conflict and Health