During the COVID-19 pandemic, adolescents are experiencing developmentally salient challenges, including lack of in-person schooling and peer interactions. Adolescents highly value peer connection and approval and are more likely to experience the onset of psychological disorders than during childhood. The researchers wanted to discover what adolescents view as their biggest challenges during school shutdowns.

Study Background

To explore variability in responses by different sociodemographic groups, they separated responses by the class year, gender, and race/ethnicity.

Results #2: Challenge categories by sociodemographic group

Results: Overall thematic categories

- Although e-learning platforms are well accepted, the results indicate that challenges related to academics and work habits are of highest concern. School officials should prioritize helping students successfully navigate remote education.

- Mental and physical health are challenging to navigate during isolation, and our results indicate adolescents are experiencing substantial hardship. Parents and school officials should ensure barriers to mental health care and ease of use are addressed. App-based psychosocial interventions may be helpful.

- Only 1.4% of all challenges reported involved concerns about contraction of or exposure to the virus itself. This is important to consider as the pandemic unfolds and more shutdown orders flux. Public health experts may consider educating adolescents with accurate information about how COVID-19 can affect them. 

- Generally, efforts should focus on helping adolescents cultivate academic skills needed during school closures, providing mental/physical health resources and helping them navigate peer relationships—especially given ongoing remote education and social distancing due to the pandemic.


Conclusion/Next Steps

In a 2021 study by Scott et al. on adolescents' challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers analyzed open-ended responses from a diverse group of high schoolers ($$N = 719$$) to the question: “What are your three biggest challenges right now?” The 30-minute survey also included instruments assessing physical and mental health symptoms. Using open and axial coding, they identified $$N = 1,902$$ thematic units ($$M = 2.64$$, $$SD = 0.701$$) across 14 categories, such as mental and physical health, family, academics, and socioeconomic issues.

Methods: Qualitative Analysis of Adolescents' Challenges During COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic presents unique challenges for adolescents because of disruptions in both school and social life.

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

- Caregivers of people with mental health disorders 
- Parents of hospitalized newborns
- People quarantined or isolated
- People quarantined in abusive households 
- Patients with confirmed and suspected infections
- People who have had close contacts with patients
- People who refused to seek medical treatment
- People who are incarcerated  
- People with mental health disorders
- Medical care personnel/Health care workers
- Susceptible groups (elderly, children, pregnant women)
- Homeless population
- Migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers
- People who experience financial hardship and/or unemployment
- Mental health providers

Populations affected psychologically by the COVID-19 pandemic

Scott, S. R., Rivera, K. M., Rushing, E., Manczak, E. M., Rozek, C. S., & Doom, J. R. (2021). “I Hate This”: A Qualitative Analysis of Adolescents' Self-Reported Challenges During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Adolescent Health, 68(2), 262-269. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.umich.edu/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.11.010

Individuals who have been incarcerated are a vulnerable group in terms of the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only are they already isolated from the general population, but the rise of the pandemic has influenced a reduction in social interaction between inmates which poses as a threat for their mental health.

Psychological Effect of COVID-19 on Prisoners

The global population of refugees and asylum seekers is continually growing as people are being forcibly displaced from their homes and are fleeing their countries. These forced displacements are largely due to human rights violations, amongst other reasons, which leads to a disproportionately high percentage of mental health issues in these groups. Not only is their access to proper sanitation and necessary food supply severely limited at this time but the restriction of community-based support due to social distancing procedures is having detrimental psychosocial effects. Many people in these groups are also the victims of xenophobia and are being blamed for "spreading the virus". 

Psychological Effects of COVID-19 on Migrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers

COVID-19 is more severe in older age groups and in those with common age-associated comorbidities, such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Therefore, the COVID-19 crisis is drastically affecting the quality of life of older adults, especially those living in retirement homes. In their effort to prevent infections, retirement homes have been forced to separate residents from the outside world and to reduce their activities and programs. These decisions have impacted residents’ wellbeing and mental health.

Psychological Effects of COVID-19 on the Elderly in Care Homes


The effects the pandemic/COVID may be having on motivation in students who have to work online.

Pandemic's effect on Motivation in Students

Results from a study which asked caregivers in Italy and Spain to report changes seen in their children (aged 3-18) after going through isolation or quarantine showed that 85.7% of them perceived changes in both the emotional state and behaviors of their kids. These emotional changes included increases in: difficulty concentrating (76.6%), boredom (52%), irritability (39%), restlessness (38.8%), nervousness (38%), feelings of loneliness (31.3%), uneasiness (30.4%), and worries (30.1%). The behavioral changes seen were more screen-time, less physical activity, and more sleep. It was seen that difficult family situations caused more stress and more emotional issues within the kids. Caregivers who reported themselves as feeling more stressed reported that their children also appeared more worrisome and anxious which can indicate the effect of the caregivers’ mentality on the children’s psychological changes.

Psychological effect of COVID-19 on youth quarantined or isolated

Psychological effects of Covid-19 on Adolescents

The COVID-19 pandemic greatly affected the education experience of students. The lockdowns had serious implications on students' mental health, resulting in psychological problems including frustration, stress, and depression

Psychological Effects of COVID-19 on Students

The rise of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a worldwide encouragement of quarantine and isolation protocols to curb the spread of the disease. However, these self-quarantining practices may prove detrimental to the mental and psychological well-being of individuals at home with abusive family or household members, increasing the risk of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. 

Psychological Effects of COVID-19 on Individuals Subjected to Household Abuse

A qualitative study conducted in China evaluated the psychological effects of COVID-19 on parents of hospitalized neonatal patients, as they tend to endure more stress than the general population (a separate study mentioned in this article (n=307) showed that 22% parents of hospitalized newborns experienced anxiety and 29% had depression. This study, which took place in China and surveyed parents of patients admitted within two weeks of the initial response to COVID, acted to evaluate the psychological needs of parents and propose suggestions to help alleviate their stress. This article identified 5 themes of parents’ needs: 

1. Urgent demand for timely up-to-date information on the child’s condition
2. Need for psychological and emotional support
3. Reduction of inconvenience cause by the epidemic outbreak
4. Demand for protective information after discharge
5. Demand for financial support

This study proposed that installing changes in hospitals to tailor medical services to each family would be helpful in fulfilling those needs and alleviating their stress. 

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