Multiple medical organizations have warned that the isolation of school closings and the lack of social events has caused a pandemic in young people’s mental health.
Kathleen Ethier, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that “this really gives us evidence to say with certainty the pandemic was extremely disruptive for young people and families.”
These reports were based on anonymous surveys that included approximately 7,700 students at 128 high schools in the first six months 2021. The report is based upon a similar survey that the CDC conducts every year in schools.
Among these findings:
44% of respondents reported feeling hopeless and persistently sad in the last year. The figure was 37% according to a similar survey conducted before COVID-19.
-66% of respondents said it was more difficult to finish schoolwork.
29% of respondents said that a parent or another adult in their household lost a job, and 11% claimed they were subject to physical abuse from a parent.
24% of those surveyed said that they were hungry because there wasn’t enough food at their homes during the pandemic.
It is possible that there was underreporting of certain questions regarding emotional or physical abuse in the family. According to Ilan Cerna Turoff, a Columbia University researcher who studies the mental health of children, teens might fear that their responses might be seen by an abusive parent or another adult.
Officials from the CDC stated that teens were not equally affected by the pandemic. LGBT youth reported having poorer mental health, and making more suicide attempts than other teens. Around 75% of those surveyed reported being subject to emotional abuse at home, while 20% said they were victims of physical abuse. According to the CDC, half of heterosexual students experienced emotional abuse while 10% suffered physical abuse.
