In the years since the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s tempting to forget how much it influenced the lives of everyone around the world. There were many obvious negative impacts: people lost their lives, economies were impacted, and healthcare services were put under enormous pressure. But one of the less obvious consequences was the effect of COVID on teen mental health.
The life disruptions created by the COVID-19 pandemic not only created potentially new problems for teen mental health but also made dealing with existing ones more challenging.1 If you’re worried about your mental health in the aftermath of the pandemic or that of someone else, there is support available to you. You’re not alone; many people have found coping with the effects of COVID-19 a challenge.
This post can help by highlighting why the pandemic was such a challenge for teen mental health, how it potentially impacted it, and the ways some teens coped.
Why Were There Mental Health Challenges for Teens During the Pandemic?
Every teenager is unique, so the pandemic may have impacted them in different ways and for varying reasons. However, evidence from research points towards a couple of potential reasons for the impact of COVID-19 on teen mental health.
Covid May Have Affected a Teen’s Social Skills
Adolescence is a time when social skills are developing rapidly. However, multiple lockdowns meant that teenagers were no longer able to spend time with friends, which could have led to problems such as loneliness and withdrawal. Additionally, even the way people were required to socially distance and wear facemasks in public may have affected teens’ social skills. This may be because they weren’t given opportunities to fine-tune the ability to read peoples’ emotions from facial expressions. Each of these factors could lead to mental health issues such as social anxiety.2
Increased Time Spent at Home
Teens were around family members a lot more during lockdown. While family members can be a great source of support for teens, the pandemic was a highly stressful time for many people. Some adults may have worried a lot about balancing work, finances, and homeschooling – which may have led to chronic stress. Teenagers can be highly tuned in to their parents’ mental state, which may have led to confusion, stress, and fear.3
Higher Amounts of Social Media Use
Teens weren’t given many opportunities for physical exercise during COVID and also had reduced social activities, which might have led to increased screen time and social media use – activities which are linked to higher levels of anxiety.4
Reduced Support
Teens and families coping with special educational needs and developmental issues didn’t receive the same level of support during the pandemic as they did beforehand. Such teens might not have the same emotional and developmental ability to “bounce back” after lockdowns, so they may be at increased risk of mental health concerns.1
Fear
The COVID-19 pandemic was a time of worldwide panic and fear. Teenagers may have been afraid of becoming ill or losing a loved one, or they might even just have worried about the unknown. Each of these worries can impact mental health.
All of these factors mentioned could have created a range of mental health challenges for teenagers by themselves, let alone in combination. If you’re concerned about a teen’s mental health after the pandemic, the following section discusses the different ways COVID-19 may have impacted a teen’s well-being.
Impact of COVID on Teen Mental Health
There is a wide range of evidence which shows that COVID had a profound impact on teens’ mental health, including issues such as mental health conditions, emotional difficulties, behavioral problems, and relationship issues.
However, the extent of the impact of COVID-19 on teen mental health may depend on factors such as a teen’s gender and age. For instance, girls and older adolescents may have been affected more, especially when it comes to anxiety symptoms.4
The Emotional Impact of COVID-19 on Teens
COVID-19 had a serious impact on teens’ emotions, with many showing an increase in problems coping with difficult feelings. This may have led to issues such as anxiety, increased stress, and “internalizing” problems like eating disorders. Plus, it has also been shown that teens sleeping patterns were interrupted during the pandemic, which could have worsened its emotional impact.4,5
Teen Depression During COVID-19:
In general, teen mental health during COVID-19 took a big hit. One study that looked at the mental health of thousands of high school students found that young people who went through the pandemic were more likely to experience mental health conditions such as depression. In fact, whereas pre-pandemic cases of depression were present in 0.3% of this population, there was an increase of 8.5% after the pandemic.3
The Impact of COVID-19 on Teens’ Behaviors
The evidence shows that the early stages of the pandemic may have affected teenagers’ ability to manage emotions such as frustration, leading to behavioral issues such as anger and aggression. However, there may be factors that influence whether teenagers struggled with behaviors during and after the pandemic. These include whether or not a teen had issues that affected behavior before the pandemic – for instance, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, regardless of whether or not a teen had a preexisting issue, many families reported that teenagers struggled to adapt behaviorally during isolation and lockdowns.5
Effects of Covid on Teens’ Relationships With Friends
Teenagers also struggled socially due to the pandemic, likely because they were required to isolate during such an important stage of development. In fact, it has been suggested by mental health professionals that teenagers might have been the age group most affected by social isolation. As a result, teens could have struggled to adjust socially after the pandemic. This may mean they find issues such as social anxiety a challenge.2
COVID’s Effects on the Family Environment
Every family environment is different, so findings suggest that life confined to the home could have influenced teens’ mental health in both positive and negative ways. However, as the pandemic was such a stressful time for both financial and personal reasons, many teens may have been exposed to chronic stress, conflict, and chaos in the family household, potentially including violence. These issues can affect teens’ mental health in a variety of ways.2,6,7
Although the impact of COVID-19 on teen mental health may have been serious, if you’re concerned about yourself or someone you care about in the pandemic’s aftermath, there is support and advice available to you. For starters, how certain teenagers managed to protect themselves from COVID’s effects can highlight ways of coping with mental health issues.
Coping Strategies for Teens During COVID
Even though the evidence points towards COVID having a potentially strong negative effect on teen’s mental health, it also highlights ways that teens were able to protect themselves from this impact. Further, building awareness of these techniques could provide avenues for support for teens who may be struggling with their mental health in the aftermath of the pandemic.
The following are some coping strategies that may have protected teen mental health during COVID-192-4:
- Better Quality Friendships: While teens’ amount of social interactions with friends may have suffered due to the pandemic, the quality of their friendships may have improved. This finding could come down to how teenagers had to be more selective about who they called or screen-timed. In other words, teens often focused on maintaining their closest relationships – allowing less positive ones to fall by the wayside. Such close bonds with a smaller group of friends could potentially go a long way toward protecting a teen from long-term mental health impacts.
- Safe and Supportive Family Environments: A family environment in which parents were aware of their emotions and able to help a teen form an understanding of theirs may have helped prevent long-term effects on a teen’s mental health. Also, interacting with siblings could have provided a sense of much-needed peer connection.
- Structure: Returning to school, even for short periods of time, may have helped to give teens structure in their lives. Partial schooling, rather than no attendance at all, could have helped with adjustment, managing difficulties with learning at home, and improving social skills.
Although these factors may have protected some teenagers from COVID-19’s effects during and after the pandemic, they also show how important close friendships, family support, and a structured environment are to a teen’s well-being. If you’re concerned about the long-term impact of COVID on teen mental health, focusing on these areas is a good place to start.
Mental Health Support for Post-Pandemic Teen Mental Health Challenges
As the evidence from research suggests, the COVID-19 pandemic may have caused widespread mental health challenges for teens. Factors such as isolation, family conflict, increased social media use, and a general sense of fear could each have contributed to a mental health issue. Or, a teen may have struggled due to a combination of these factors.
If you’re worried about a teen’s mental after the pandemic, support and advice are available to you – and Mission Prep can help. We aim to provide mental health support and sustainable change for any teen or family trying to cope with mental health issues. Our mental health programs for teens can help teens heal from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and give them the best outlook for a bright and hopeful future. Contact us today to find out more.
References
- Creswell, C., Waite, P., & Hudson, J. L. (2021). Young people’s mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 5(8), 535–537. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(21)00177-2
- Breaux, R., Cash, A. R., Lewis, J., Garcia, K. M., Dvorsky, M. R., & Becker, S. P. (2023). Impacts of COVID-19 quarantine and isolation on adolescent social functioning. Current Opinion in Psychology, 52, 101613. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2023.101613
- Montero-Marin, J., Hinze, V., Mansfield, K., et al. (2023). Young people’s mental health changes, risk, and resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. JAMA Network Open, 6(9), e2335016. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.35016
- Chawla, N., Tom, A., Sen, M. S., & Sagar, R. (2021). Psychological Impact of COVID-19 on Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1177/02537176211021789
- Bera, L., Souchon, M., Ladsous, A., et al. (2022). Emotional and behavioral impact of the COVID-19 epidemic in adolescents. Current Psychiatry Reports, 24, 37–46. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-022-01313-8
- Campione-Barr, N., Rote, W., Killoren, S. E., & Rose, A. J. (2021). Adolescent Adjustment During COVID-19: The Role of Close Relationships and COVID-19-related Stress. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 31(3), 608-622. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12647
- Liang, Z., Delvecchio, E., Yucong, C., & Mazzeschi, C. (2021). Parent and Child’s Negative Emotions During Covid-19: The Moderating Role of Parental Attachment Style. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1-9.
