With children and adolescents being socially isolated during the COVID-19 pandemic, how has that affected their brain development and mental health?
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COVID-19 affecting children and adolescents' mental health
Given all the challenges of COVID-19, the biggest has been the affect on the mental health of adolescents. Because of children being online learners, they have not been able to experience any socialization, which greatly affects their mental health and their development of different emotions. Children may also have issues at home they may be experiencing and by keeping them at home with these issues, they are being exposed to dangerous situations for longer periods of time. -
COVID-19 is declared a national emergency
President Donald Trump declares COVID-19 a national emergency. Schools moved to online learning temporarily and shops and restaurants temporarily closed for business. -
Schools provide extra resources for students
Many parents rely of the food provided at school for their children so some schools around the country provided their students with essentials-- such as food-- through a pickup service. This positively impacts the children in the sense that not only are they receiving food, they are also seeing a sense of strong community during difficult times. -
Schools close for the academic year
Schools announce they will be closing for the rest of the academic year. Children and adolescents will now be forced to stay at home and participate in online learning, isolated from their friends, which is detrimental to their mental health because without proper socialization, the brain will not develop social skills needed for later in life. -
Schools cancel graduation, prom, and end of year events
Most schools by now have announced they will not be returning in the fall and therefore, cancelling all end of the year events including prom and graduation. This tremendously affected the seniors because they will be missing out on major high school opportunities. Missing out on these opportunities affects their mental health because again, they are not getting any socialization from their classmates. It is also incredibly hard for them to end high school without a "goodbye" to their old life. -
The morale of students and teachers is decreasing
As the pandemic gets worse, both students and teachers start to lack the motivation to continue with online learning. The percentage of students and teachers lacking motivation increased for 56% to about 66% in the span of 2 weeks. Online learning itself affects a child because they may not be receiving the help that they need, causing them to fall further and further behind their classmates, which is not good for their mental health either. -
Students begin to miss the school environment
Children and beginning to miss the school and the school environment. They miss being around their teachers every day and around their friends. They miss the socialization that school provides them. Although students have gained an appreciation for school at this point, they have reached a point where they are receiving no isolation which can lead to developmental delays further down the line, such as not developing the emotional skills needed for life. -
Adolescents' mental health is deteriorating
By June of 2020, about 48% of students feel isolated and disconnected from their friends. Isolation for young kids especially can lead to serious problems later in their life. -
Schools "return" in the fall
Students return back to school in the Fall of 2020, but not entirely. For most students, school is entirely online, meaning they still are receiving no socialization. -
Seniors are still unable to experience major high school events
The class of 202, who are now seniors, are having their entire senior year essentially cancelled because they will most likely not receive a prom or graduation in the upcoming spring. Many children and adolescents during this time period are also experiencing isolation which leads to an increase in depression and anxiety. -
Teachers start to receive the vaccine
In early December, the first teacher received the COVID-19 vaccine. This goes hope to students and parents that they will be able to return to fully in person schooling, with few restrictions. -
Spring break is cancelled for most students
At this point in the ongoing pandemic, most schools have cancelled their spring break in order to decrease the amount of travel, in hopes to slow the spread. However, the severely affects the mental health of children and adolescents because they are being worked to their limit for an extended period of time with no break in sight, possibly leading to a decline in their motivation to do anything else. -
Works Cited
www.edweek.org/leadership/a-year-of-covid-19-what-it-looked-like-for-schools/2021/03. covid-19archive.org/s/archive/item/29318. covid-19archive.org/s/archive/item/10103.