Time trends in emotional well-being and self-esteem in children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Objective Given their unique COVID-19 pandemic experience, it is necessary to evaluate the mental health of youth beyond the initial stages of the pandemic, in relation to the stringency of the social distancing measures. We aimed to describe long-term trends in emotional well-being and self-esteem among youth in Japan during the pandemic. Method Using serial cross-sectional data from April 2020 to December 2021, we evaluated the trends in emotional well-being and self-esteem of youth aged 6–17 years using the self-report KINDL questionnaire, weighted to represent the age and gender distributions in the Japanese population. We then tested the associations between emotional well-being and self-esteem and stringency of social distancing policies, measured using the Oxford COVID-19 Stringency Index. Analyses were also stratified by gender and age group. Results The emotional well-being and self-esteem of youth improved transiently in 2020, followed by a slight worsening trend into 2021. While emotional well-being stayed lower compared to initial levels nearly 2 years into the pandemic, self-esteem began to improve by late 2021. 12–17 year-olds had lower emotional well-being and self-esteem compared to 6–11 year-olds throughout the study period. Females had lower emotional well-being than males in May 2020 and lower self-esteem than males in May and September/October 2020. More stringent social distancing measures were associated with lower emotional well-being and self-esteem, especially 6–11 year-olds’ self-esteem and females’ emotional well-being. Conclusion During the COVID-19 pandemic, older youth tended to have lower emotional well-being and self-esteem than younger youth. Younger and female youth were especially vulnerable to stringent social distancing measures.

Impact of COVID‐19 pandemic on physical health amongst children: Difference‐in‐differences analyses of nationwide school health checkup database

“…As previously reported, the increase in obesity could be attributed to complex behavioural factors, such as decreased physical activity, prolonged sedentary time, changes in food behaviours and alterations in the socioeconomic status of parents 26–28 . The increase in eating disorders and underweight amongst children, with a majority of the patients being girls, have been reported in several studies, which might be linked to worsening mental health (e.g., social isolation and feeling of uncertainty) and economic factors affecting both children and parents 7,29–34 . Importantly, our findings suggest that underweight is more prevalent in boys, who may not have as much access to health care as girls, highlighting a need for improvement in this area.…”

“…[26][27][28] The increase in eating disorders and underweight amongst children, with a majority of the patients being girls, have been reported in several studies, which might be linked to worsening mental health (e.g., social isolation and feeling of uncertainty) and economic factors affecting both children and parents. 7,[29][30][31][32][33][34] Importantly, our findings suggest that underweight is more prevalent in boys, who may not have as much access to health care as girls, highlighting a need for improvement in this area.…”

Trajectories of social withdrawal and social anxiety and their relationship with self-esteem before, during, and after the school lockdowns

“…Students who indicated higher self-esteem also reported a more positive trajectory in social withdrawal. Self-esteem is an intra-individual factor that seems to protect adolescents from mental health issues during unpredictable situations 56 . In alignment with other evidence, our results indicate that self-esteem seemed to have acted as positive coping mechanism for young people to deal with stressful situations, particularly with social distancing, and mediated the negative impact of the pandemic lockdowns on mental health 57 .…”

Three years of COVID-19-related school restrictions and children's mental health in Japan

“…The survey was initially sent to parents through an online survey company. They were asked to complete the survey with their children to accurately assess their children's mental health status and subjective well-being, as done in previous studies that used online surveys to explore children's mental health during the pandemic 25 . The survey was conducted during March 15-20, 2023, when the graduation ceremony was held across schools in Japan, by hiring one of the largest survey companies in Japan.…”