The impact of lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic on mental and social health of children and adolescents

Abstract

Purpose During the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands, governmental regulations resulted in a lockdown for adults as well as children/adolescents. Schools were closed and contact with other people was limited. In this cross-sectional, population-based study, we aimed to investigate the mental/social health of children/adolescents during COVID-19 lockdown. Methods Two representative samples of Dutch children/adolescents (8–18 years) before COVID-19 (2018, N = 2401) and during lockdown (April 2020, N = 844) were compared on the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) domains: global health, peer relationships, anxiety, depressive symptoms, anger, sleep-related impairment by linear mixed models and calculating relative risks (RR (95% CI)) for the proportion of severe scores. Variables associated with worse mental/social health during COVID-19 were explored through multivariable regression models. The impact of COVID-19 regulations on the daily life of children was qualitatively analyzed. Results Participants reported worse PROMIS T-scores on all domains during COVID-19 lockdown compared to before (absolute mean difference range 2.1–7.1 (95% CI 1.3–7.9). During lockdown, more children reported severe Anxiety (RR = 1.95 (1.55–2.46) and Sleep-Related Impairment (RR = 1.89 (1.29–2.78) and fewer children reported poor Global Health (RR = 0.36 (0.20–0.65)). Associated factors with worse mental/social health were single-parent family, ≥ three children in the family, negative change in work situation of parents due to COVID-19 regulations, and a relative/friend infected with COVID-19. A large majority (> 90%) reported a negative impact of the COVID-19 regulations on daily life. Conclusion This study showed that governmental regulations regarding lockdown pose a serious mental/social health threat on children/adolescents that should be brought to the forefront of political decision-making and mental healthcare policy, intervention, and prevention.

COVID-19-related changes in adolescents' daily-life social interactions and psychopathology symptoms

“…We were surprised to observe a decrease in anxiety symptoms, and lower than expected general psychopathology symptoms. Previous early-pandemic studies have reported high levels of adolescent psychopathology and anxiety symptoms (e.g., Luijten et al, 2021;Waite et al, 2021). However, since many of these studies have no pre-COVID-19 data, their results may reflect the moderate to high levels of adolescent psychopathology already present in adolescent populations before the pandemic (e.g., Kessler et al, 2005;Solmi et al, 2021).…”

The Role of a Mentorship Program on the Relationship between Neglect and Depression among Adolescents in Low-Income Families

“…Of note, the recent COVID-19 pandemic has also contributed to increased depression among adults in South Korea and adolescents in other countries, including Australia, China, and the United States [6,[15][16][17]. Such increases in depression have been particularly evident among low-income adolescents or among adolescents whose parents have experienced a job loss [18][19][20]. Increases in depression during the COVID-19 pandemic may be associated with reduced contact with friends and extended family, a reduction in physical activity or participation in sports, difficulties with virtual schooling, boredom, and fear of coronavirus infection, for example [15,16,18,19].…”

Multiple Mediating Effects of Conflicts With Parents and Self-Esteem on the Relationship Between Economic Status and Depression Among Middle School Students Since COVID-19

“…A number of studies comparing depression prevalence among adolescents before and during the COVID-19 pandemic showed increased rates of depression among adolescents in many different countries (Hafstad et al, 2021;Jones et al, 2021;Luijten et al, 2021;Magson et al, 2021;Ravens-Sieberer et al, 2021;Thorisdottir et al, 2021). In a sample of Australian adolescents, there was a significant increase in depression symptoms from 12 months before the COVID-19 pandemic to 2 months into the pandemic (Magson et al, 2021).…”

“…Icelandic adolescents were also administered a survey in 2016, 2018, and during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and there was an increase in depressive symptoms across all age groups, with the increase worse for girls than boys (Thorisdottir et al, 2021). Moreover, Dutch children and adolescents showed worse depression symptoms in April 2020 than in 2018, controlling for factors, such as age and parental education (Luijten et al, 2021). Clinical levels of depression also increased slightly among Norwegian adolescents from February 2019 to June 2020, and German children and adolescents experienced more mental health problems, including depression, after the pandemic began (Hafstad et al, 2021;Ravens-Sieberer et al, 2021).…”

“…Although overall less negatively affected than some other countries, South Korea's economy has been negatively affected by decreased factory output, a reduction in exports, and rising unemployment rates that hit 20-year highs in December 2020 (Jeong et al, 2020;Jackson et al, 2021;Trading Economics, 2021). Further, three studies have examined how adolescents with lower socioeconomic status particularly have been affected by depression since the COVID-19 pandemic (Luijten et al, 2021;McGuine et al, 2021;Szwarcwald et al, 2021). Data collected in May 2020 from adolescent athletes in the United States showed that as their level of household poverty increased, so did their symptoms of depression (McGuine et al, 2021).…”