The cost of stress from COVID-19 is a family affair: 3 ways to support children’s mental health

Since the start of the pandemic, parents and researchers have been trying to understand how it affects children’s mental health. For 18 months, the children they treated the interruption of their daily life, the fear of the contagion of COVID-19 and, sometimes, death in the family. The emergence and spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus has renewed uncertainty about the safety of young people as schools reopen around the world.

At the start of the global COVID-19 crisis, children and adolescents were the lowest risk group for medical problems and disease complications. Today, more than a year after the pandemic, they appear to be the invisible victims of this global crisis.

Many physicians and child health professionals draw attention to a youth mental health crisis. Recently, the national children’s charity Children First Canada declared a #codePINK, a term commonly used in healthcare facilities to indicate a pediatric emergency.

Recently, a research team in child psychology sought to better understand the current state of children’s mental health around the world, one year after the pandemic. This research summary, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, show that, at the World level, one in four young people have clinically elevated depressive symptoms, while one in five people have clinically elevated symptoms of anxiety. These rates are even more alarming compared to pre-pandemic estimates, which were closer to one in 10 young people with clinically elevated anxiety and depression.

In a new article published in the magazine PLOS ONE, researchers from the psychology department Harvard, the associate researcher Maya L. Rosen, the postdoctoral fellow Alexandra M. Rodman, the doctoral student Steven W. Kasparek, and the clinical psychologist Katie L. McLaughlin, Professor of Social Sciences John L. Loeb, worked with colleagues from Washington University examine the impact of pandemic stressors on children’s mental health. The aim was to develop a set of practical strategies for caregivers to help young people develop greater resilience in the face of potential mental health issues.

“The most important thing we hope parents learn from study is that, Although the mental health of young people has been negatively affected by the pandemic, there are some simple steps families can take that can have a positive impact ”, He said Rosen, lead author of the research.

To evaluate the effect of pandemic stressors (including financial, health, social, educational and physical stressors) on the internalization of psychopathologies (like anxiety) and externalize psychopathology (like behavior problems) children, the group recruited 224 participants aged 7 to 15 and their caregivers of two longitudinal studies underway in the Seattle area and assessed their mental health through questionnaires distributed between 2020 and 2021.

After creating a composite “score” of pandemic stressors to measure the cumulative effects of the various pressures on each child and their family, Researchers compared the responses given during the pandemic with the results of previous studies of the same children and determined the differences in psychopathological symptoms reported during different study periods.

Research results indicated that “Have a structured routine, limit passive screen time, and limit pandemic-related news, especially for young children,” may have a positive influence on children’s mental health “. “To a lesser extent, spending time in nature and getting enough sleep can also be beneficial,” he added. Rosen.

Three ways to build children’s mental resilience

1. Less time spent in front of the screen

The researchers found that At the start of the pandemic, young people of all ages who spent less time on the internet and digital devices had fewer psychopathological symptoms of internalizing and externalizing. Six months later, they found that children who spent more time in front of the screen had greater internalized psychopathology.

The same has not happened with teenagers, but despite this, Researchers recommended less passive screen time for children of all ages during and after the pandemic.

“One of the reasons that young people with less screen time may protect themselves against the increase in psychopathology linked to the pandemic is that adopt other behaviors that promote well-being, like getting enough sleep, among others, ”the authors wrote. “Together, these results suggest some potential benefits associated with time limitation passive in front screening among young people during the pandemic ”.

2. Less information consumption

The group’s findings suggest a correlation between the consumption of media information about the pandemic and higher levels of externalization and internalization of psychopathology, especially during the first months of the pandemic.

However, this connection it depended on the age. At the start of the pandemic, teenagers who consumed more news (more than two hours a day) showed a reduction in the externalizing symptoms of psychopathology. Six months later they were showing a weaker association between pandemic stress and internalized psychopathology compared to young people who consumed less information (less than two hours per day).

“It is possible that for adolescents, knowing more about the pandemic early on may have been beneficial over time ”, the researchers wrote.

Even like that, news consumption does not appear to reduce psychopathology in young children, which led researchers to suggest that parents should ration young children’s consumption of information about the pandemic and instead talk to them about what is going on, taking care to listen to their concerns and respond to them in a manner appropriate to their age.

3. A structured daily routine

Young people of all ages who had a structured daily routine had weaker externalizing symptoms six months after the start of the pandemic, compared to children less structured in their daily life.

Using evidence from previous studies suggesting that youth psychopathology is linked to the lack of predictability in everyday life, Researchers recommended more structure for children of all ages as a positive approach to building resilience.

“Although maintaining routine and structure is difficult,” due to changes in school hours and other unpredictable aspects of daily life, the authors wrote: “Creating a structured daily routine for children and teens can promote better mental health during the pandemic. “

Children and adolescents who have suffered the various disorders and the emotional and physical consequences of the pandemic they are the future of our society. To help promote your well-being and our prosperity as a society, now is the time to act to protect the next generation. To face this current crisis, Equitable and accessible mental health services for all children and adolescents are needed.

Children and youth are our greatest investment in the future. While there have been a few COVID-19 recovery initiatives targeting this group, We need clear and actionable elements to move forward with a mental health recovery plan that addresses the increased severity of mental illness in children and youth and the growing need for services. Ultimately, the political decisions we make now will have lasting effects on the prosperity of the next generation of young people.

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