Mental Health Issues in Youth Durin g Pandemic Situation

    Mental Health Issues in Youth Durin g Pandemic Situation

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak was first reported in Wuhan, China, and was later reported to have spread throughout the world to create a global pandemic. As of March 30, 2021, the coronavirus had spread to more than 221 countries with at least 128,914,875 confirmed cases, resulting in 2,818,509 deaths globally. Several countries declared this pandemic as a national emergency, forcing millions of people to go into lockdown. This unexpected imposed social isolation has caused enormous disruption of daily routines for the global community, especially youth. Among the measures intended to reduce the spread of the virus, most schools, Colleges and universities closed, canceled classes, and moved it to home-based or online learning to encourage and adhere to social distancing guidelines. Education and learnings of around 70% of students are impacted globally due to coronavirus.The transition away from physical classes has significantly disrupted the lives of students and their families, posing a potential risk to the mental well-being of children. An abrupt change in the learning environment and limited social interactions and activities posed an unusual situation for children's developing brains. 

 

The outbreak of COVID-19 has disrupted the lives of many people across the world. The pandemic has imposed a sense of uncertainty and anxiety, as the world was unable to predict or prepare for this crisis. It has caused a tremendous stress level among children, adolescents, and all students in general, primarily due to the closure of their schools. This stress may lead to undesirable adverse effects on the learning and psychological health of students. Children exposed to these incidents can precipitate the development of anxiety, panic attacks, depression, mood disorders, and other mental illnesses. Distressing events such as separation from family and friends, seeing or being aware of critically ill members affected with coronavirus, or the passing of loved ones or even thinking of themselves perhaps dying from the virus would have a detrimental effect on the mental health. Additionally, the healthy daily routines of children have been disrupted due to the COVID-19, which contributes to the additional stress and sleeping difficulties that many children face. Uncertainty of their future ambitions, academics, personal relationships, and inactivity due to the pandemic poses a significant threat to their mental well-being and putting them at risk of drug abuse. COVID-19 can seriously leave a negative impact on children's mental health, just like other traumatic experiences humans may face. It can lead to higher rates of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. This causes fear in children because the virus threatens not just them but also their families and surroundings, especially as they see their parents working from home, leading to fear and shock. 

 

In summary, the mental health problems remain serious among the most of youth group during public health emergency. This study also indicated that low education level, enterprise employee, PTSD symptom and negative coping styles were the influence factors of youth mental health. These results highlight the need for local governments to take appropriate mental health interventions based on the characteristics of youth groups. The future research should moved beyond the cross-sectional design of the present study to explore the other factors affecting the youth mental health in public health emergency.