Impact of School and Peer Connectedness on Adolescent Mental Health and Well-Being Outcomes during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Panel Survey

Abstract

School closures and social distancing measures during the pandemic have disrupted young people’s daily routines and social relationships. We explored patterns of change in adolescent mental health and tested the relationship between pre-pandemic levels of school and peer connectedness and changes in mental health and well-being between the first lockdown and the return to school. This is a secondary analysis of a longitudinal 3-wave panel survey. The study sample included 603 students (aged 13–14) in 17 secondary schools across south-west England. Students completed a survey pre-pandemic (October 2019), during lockdown (May 2020) and shortly after returning to school (October 2020). Multilevel models, with random effects, were conducted for anxiety, depression and well-being outcomes with school and peer connectedness as predictor variables. Symptoms of anxiety decreased from pre-pandemic to during the first UK lockdown and increased on the return to school; anxious symptoms decreased the most for students reporting feeling least connected to school pre-pandemic. Students reporting low levels of school and peer connectedness pre-pandemic experienced poorer mental health and well-being at all time points. Low school connectedness pre-pandemic was associated with a greater increase in anxious and depressive symptoms between lockdown and the return to school when compared to students with medium levels of school connectedness. No associations were found with high school connectedness or with low/high peer connectedness. For adolescents with poor school connectedness, the enforced time away from school that the pandemic caused led to reduced anxiety. Going forwards, we need to consider ways in which to promote connection with school as a way of supporting mental health and well-being.

Adolescent Experiences of the COVID-19 Pandemic and School Closures and Implications for Mental Health, Peer Relationships and Learning: A Qualitative Study in South-West England

“…Many young people experienced a sense of relief during the first lockdown due to being away from the in-person school environment. This may, in part, explain the reduction in anxiety reported by adolescents in our recent survey study [ 13 ]. Existing research demonstrates the associations between the school environment and mental health in adolescence [ 34 ].…”

“…These varied results range from a rise in depression and anxiety outcomes [ 8 , 9 , 10 ], no changes in mental health outcomes [ 11 ], and reductions in mental health outcomes, specifically in young people who had higher levels of mental health problems before the pandemic [ 12 ]. Our recent longitudinal study, with available pre-pandemic mental health and well-being data to explore change over time, found overall reductions in anxiety during lockdown but a subsequent increase in anxiety on return to school, particularly for adolescents reporting low levels of school connectedness pre-pandemic [ 13 ].…”

Increase of depression among children and adolescents after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Study characteristics are presented in the Table 1 . Of the 22 studies, five were from Germany [ 29 , 38 , 41 , 42 , 46 ], four from Norway [ 30 , 34 , 40 , 47 ] and the United Kingdom [ 21 , 27 , 37 , 45 ], two from Italy [ 31 , 33 ], Iceland [ 35 , 44 ], Netherlands [ 36 , 39 ], Switzerland [ 28 , 32 ] and one from Israel [ 43 ]. The majority were conducted in spring/summer 2020 (17 effects), followed by winter 2020/spring 2021 (five effects) and autumn 2020 (four effects).…”

“…Outcome measures differentiated between general depression symptoms (63,744 pre-pandemic and 116,858 during pandemic) and clinically relevant depression rates (743,736 pre-pandemic and 751,776 during pandemic). In 15 studies, measurement time point was classified as ‘full lockdown’ (Oxford COVID-19 Stringency Index > 60) [ 21 , 27 – 29 , 31 , 33 , 36 – 39 , 41 – 43 , 45 , 47 ], and in 11 studies, schools were partially or fully closed (School Closure Index ≥ 2) [ 21 , 27 , 29 , 31 , 33 , 36 , 37 , 39 , 42 , 43 , 45 ]. Additional unpublished data were provided by 16 studies [ 21 , 27 , 29 – 33 , 36 , 38 – 42 , 45 – 47 ] (in particular, gender and age-stratified data).…”

Kids adopt different ways of coping in wake of the pandemic

“…The answer, perhaps unsurprisingly for teenagers, seems to boil down to fitting in. Surveys of teens in southwest England found that kids who’d felt excluded, bullied, or generally lacked a sense of community at school in 2019 coped the best in lockdown ( 7 , 8 ). Emily Widnall, a postdoctoral public health researcher at the University of Bristol, UK, led the work, surveying 603 UK teens.…”