COVID-19 AND MENTAL HEALTH The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic do not stop at a drop in academic achievement and a decline in literacy rates. Indeed, it is impossible to discuss the full scope of years of pandemic-related school closures and lockdowns without considering the dire mental health crisis occurring among today’s children and adolescents. Numerous surveys from around the globe found that, after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic: • The prevalence of anxiety was 18.9–23.87% in children and 15.4–39.9% in adolescents (Walsh et al., 2021); • 7% of adolescents and children experienced an inability to feel pleasure (Patra et al., 2020);
• 55.6% of adolescents experienced trouble sleeping (Commodari & La Rosa, 2020);
• Child sleep disorders increased from 40% to 62% during the onset of the pandemic (Lecuelle et al., 2020); and • 41.9% of children and adolescents with a history of eating disorders experienced a reactivation of their condition (Graell et al., 2020).
Even more concerning:
• A longitudinal study of symptoms of adolescent depression during the pandemic noted a median increase of 28% in study participants (Barendse et al., 2023); • The percentage of children and adolescents diagnosed with severe depression increased from 10% to 27% over the course of the pandemic (Giannopoulou et al., 2021); and • Healthcare workers noted a sizeable increase in rates of self-harm and suicidal ideation, planning, and attempts between November 2019 and May 2020, particularly among girls (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2023). All told, 56% of young people experiencing mental health conditions during and after pandemic-era school closures attribute them to the closures themselves (Shah et al., 2020). These data speak to the severity of the mental health crisis exacerbated by COVID-19, and the critical need for schools and communities to do all we can to mitigate its impact on young people.
READING FOR LIFE: THE IMPACT OF YOUTH LITERACY ON HEALTH OUTCOMES 3
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs