Western Australian adolescent emotional wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020

Abstract

Background The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have been vast and are not limited to physical health. Many adolescents have experienced disruptions to daily life, including changes in their school routine and family’s financial or emotional security, potentially impacting their emotional wellbeing. In low COVID-19 prevalence settings, the impact of isolation has been mitigated for most young people through continued face-to-face schooling, yet there may still be significant impacts on their wellbeing that could be attributed to the pandemic. Methods We report on data from 32,849 surveys from Year 7–12 students in 40 schools over two 2020 survey cycles (June/July: 19,240; October: 13,609), drawn from a study of 79 primary and secondary schools across Western Australia, Australia. The Child Health Utility Index (CHU9D) was used to measure difficulties and distress in responding secondary school students only. Using comparable Australian data collected six years prior to the pandemic, the CHU9D was calibrated against the Kessler-10 to establish a reliable threshold for CHU9D-rated distress. Results Compared to 14% of responding 12–18-year-olds in 2013/2014, in both 2020 survey cycles almost 40% of secondary students returned a CHU9D score above a threshold indicative of elevated difficulties and distress. Student distress increased significantly between June and October 2020. Female students, those in older Grades, those with few friendships or perceived poor quality friendships, and those with poor connectedness to school were more likely to score above the threshold. Conclusions In a large dataset collected during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the proportion of secondary school students with scores indicative of difficulties and distress was substantially higher than a 2013/2014 benchmark, and distress increased as the pandemic progressed, despite the low local prevalence of COVID-19. This may indicate a general decline in social and emotional wellbeing exacerbated by the events of the pandemic. Trial registration: ANZCTRN (ACTRN12620000922976). Retrospectively registered 17/08/2020. https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=380429&isReview=true.

Trajectories of child mental health, physical activity and screen-time during the COVID-19 pandemic considering different family situations: results from a longitudinal birth cohort.

“…2 Also data from the Netherlands showed decreased mental health in children and adolescents. 8 Similar results were found for adolescents living in Australia 9 , primary school aged children living in Wales 7 , as well as for students in China. 10,11 Those results are underpinned by a meta-analysis and a systematic review suggesting that during the COVID-19 pandemic children's mental health was generally negatively impacted.…”

Economic and health impacts of the Change4Life Food Scanner app: Findings from a randomized pilot and feasibility study

“…Results suggested some worsening of HRQoL outcomes, though minimal, within the intervention group at follow-up. Given that COVID-19 was a study confounder, the pandemic may have impacted negatively on child outcomes and mental health ( 65 ). On the other hand, the lack of variability in CHU9D responses could suggest that the CHU9D is not sensitive enough to detect changes in HRQoL in a predominantly healthy sample.…”

Child well‐being before and after the 2020 COVID‐19 lockdowns in three Australian states

“…There are also concerns that vulnerable children may have struggled to re‐engage with school (Brown et al, 2020). For example, a survey of adolescents in Western Australia carried out in 2020 found that those who reported poor school connectedness and poorer quality friendships were more likely to have mental health problems (Thomas et al, 2022). On the contrary, some children who experienced difficulties in the classroom prior to the pandemic might have found online learning a better fit for their needs or have benefited from a break from peer groups (Dabravolskaj et al, 2021; Vaillancourt, McDougall, et al, 2021).…”

“…However, these differences in average levels do not necessarily mean that girls or boys would be differentially affected by the initial COVID‐19 lockdowns. Some reviews of the literature on COVID‐19 and mental health suggest that depressive symptoms were more pronounced for girls (Samji et al, 2022), but this may be mostly the case for adolescent girls (Thomas et al, 2022). Only a few of the studies reviewed earlier that focussed on social‐emotional well‐being in primary school‐aged children examined gender differences and where they were examined few differences were found (Bignardi et al, 2020; Hussong et al, 2021; Kurz et al, 2022; Ravens‐Sieberer et al, 2021).…”