The Psychological Effects of COVID-19 on Adolescents
Natasha Macias
Department of Psychology, San Jose State University
PSYC 100W: Writing Workshop
Dr. Lucinda Cabral
December 5, 2022
The Psychological Effects of the COVID-19 on Adolescents
The COVID-19 disease outbreak inflicted by Sars-CoV-2, is an acute, respiratory virus that causes mild to severe flu symptoms such as chest pain, fever, shortness of breath, and lethargy (Mayo Clinic, 2022). In reference to Mayo Clinic (2022), Those with the coronavirus may carry few, many, or no symptoms at all while the virus itself is spread through exposure of other people’s respiratory fluids through sneezing, speaking, or coughing. In less severe cases, symptoms presented by COVID-19 appeared to be of the common cold, however intense symptoms of many kinds led to death and hospitalization, which initiated the lockdown in the United States on March 15th of 2020. As of December 5th, 2022, there is a total of 98,777,220 cases and 1,077,303 deaths from COVID-19 in the United States (Center for Disease Control [CDC], 2022). People with underlying health conditions have higher vulnerability to the severe symptoms of COVID-19, which have resulted in death. According to Erin Bryant from National Institutes of Health [NIH] (2021), studies around medical conditions and COVID-19 have determined age is an important factor in considering severity of symptoms paired with underlying conditions; because those of young age with heart failure, diabetes, or hypertension were less likely to be hospitalized compared to adults. Hospitalized or not, infected or not, the majority of the world has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic socially and economically. Drake & Rudowitz (2022) relayed the damaging effects of the pandemic; more than 61.3% of adults declared struggle in paying household costs, 10.3% disclosed lack of food adequacy, and 31.4% of adults recorded depression and anxiety symptoms. Referenced statistics are attributed to the pandemic restrictions which instituted lack of employment and social interaction between groups of individuals. In reflection of how the pandemic has impacted the world, it is important to understand how certain groups of people have been affected directly.
One population psychologically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic is adolescents. Adolescents are 10-19 years of age and encounter major life events in this period such as: puberty, social changes, academic development, graduation, and introduction to college life/adulthood. Not only are they students, but they are also children facing life’s challenges associated with aging during the teenage years. Adolescents are affected by the pandemic through closures of social locations, those being: their schools, public libraries, restaurants, parks, movie theatres, and shopping centers. Such a drastic change of social and personal environment due to the pandemic has disrupted a regular experience for those growing up in the teenage years, by the lack of social interaction with peers and stress regarding being infected. In considering the impact of the pandemic, this literature review will evaluate how adolescents have psychologically been affected by Covid-19.
Sleep Deprivation
The first psychological effect of COVID-19 amongst adolescents is sleep deprivation. Factors surrounding sleep deprivation in adolescents are attributed to social and structural changes made effective by the pandemic. For example, school shutdowns that introduced online learning stopped students from physically interacting with their academics and peers, which changed attitudes towards school itself. Having rearranged school and leisure activity schedules, adolescents have adopted new, disrupted sleeping routines. In reference to Windarwati et al. (2022), “Poor sleep quality in adolescents is caused by family worries about being infected, diet quality, exercise time per day, anxiety, time spent searching for information about COVID‐19, and time spent on electronics” (p. 212). Throughout the teenage years the human mind is still learning and being presented with such a drastic change in the way of life has shown to rearrange the cognitive processes of adolescents, which in turn enacts behavior. Being away from peers influenced them to increase engagement with their personal devices and to have worrisome thoughts about COVID-19, which dwindled the optimism of those affected. The maladaptive behavior of additional screentime in response to the pandemic caused adolescents to stay up later and sleep in longer. Gaming is a form of screen time that allows users to play online from the comfort of their own space with friends as well as escape their own reality. Insufficiently dealing with psychological issues presented by the pandemic is a reason why internet gaming has spiked, in turn causing adolescent’s quality of sleep to decline (Fernandes, et al. 2020). Adolescents facing worries, stress, or sadness about changes in their academic and social structures have been able to access internet gaming which not only causes them to want to stay up later to play games, but also influences them to set aside their schoolwork which creates more stress. The more stressed one is, the more likely they are to fill the time they should be using to sleep with other activities. Furthermore, increased gaming and social media use by the pandemic’s pressures held up as a major distraction in adolescents receiving an adequate amount of sleep. Social media and gaming are both positively associated with an adverse effect on sleep quality (Nilsson, et al. 2022). In addition to gaming, social media has just as much as an impact on increased screen time in adolescents due to its convenience. Anyone can access social media sites such as TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter from their cellphone, and these apps particularly are popular for mindless scrolling. People attend social media sites for comedy, their personal interests, and to connect with their peers. The lack of social physical contact means adolescents has resorted to interacting online, which is not entirely positive when considering how the spawn of maladaptive behaviors have interrupted sleep schedules of adolescents.
Anxiety
The next psychological effect of COVID-19 is anxiety. The pandemic heightened states of anxiety in adolescents by disturbing access to personal relationships, testing academic abilities, and provoking fear of infection. School and public restrictions in attempt to stop the spread of the virus brought worries to adolescents on accounts of their ability to interact with their close friends and hobbies. Lacking emotional assistance is positively associated with elevated levels of anxiety (Zhang et al., 2020). Despite accessing friends or peers virtually, being unable to meet in public with close friends created a dependency on those in the home for support and resulted in tension when it was absent. From the 2021 study, strong and valuable connections with the family warranted less anxiety symptoms than those without them, highlighting the significance of personal interaction (Kiss et al., 2021). Outside of the home, adolescents during their senior year of high school faced increased anxiety on abilities to perform academically under pressures from school closures. In reference to Zhang et al. (2020), “Troublesome anxiety can be exacerbated during the senior high school years as students face extreme transitions and social and academic pressures” (p. 753). Students preparing to continue to college as well as enter adulthood under circumstances of remote support systems fell to high anxiety levels during the pandemic. Concentration on achieving a diploma, having poor sleep quality, and not being to adapt to online learning have all contributed as risk factors to the high levels of anxiety (Windarwati et al., 2022). Additionally, anxiety in adolescents had been induced by the perceived danger of being infected by COVID-19. At the time of the pandemic, the rising amount of cases, limited quantities of sanitizers and personal protective gear, as well as sweeping headlines were among the sources of anxiety (Zhang et al., 2020). These aspects accumulated to feeling a lack of control in their personal lives, which was directly associated to fears of having themselves, a family member or friend being infected by the virus. In reference to a 2020 study conducted by Duan and his team in an area where the first outbreak of COVID-19 was formed, Fernandes et al. (2020) state “…adolescent depressive symptoms were directly linked with anxiety which stems from the fear of outbreak and fear of infection” (p. 63). Knowing depressive and anxious symptoms often pair, it is important to recognize the comorbid effects of the pandemic on personal and academic states in adolescents.
Conclusion
Limitations to Existing Research
Presented with such a task to reflect on all prominent psychological effects from a pandemic leaves room for excluding factors. Previous studies have highlighted the main limitation in the accuracy of self-reflection in participants. Although procedures are in place, Shoshani & Kor (2021) dictate that the act of self-reporting is susceptible to response bias, which could have been due to numbers of studies being done via survey or through telecommunication. This possibly resulted in skewed answers in accordance with the researcher’s survey or study method. Another aspect of this is the illiteracy of personal problems or cognitions reported by those participating. Mental aspects of the participants cannot be physically examined therefore there is trust placed upon those to be competent when reporting their symptoms. Finally, there is also room for speculation when considering the demographics in gathering research data. In a study measuring adolescents’ optimism during the pandemic, over 50% of the participants were female which is not gender diverse when analyzing external validity (Wieczorek et al., 2022). While these studies are still wholly valid given existing limitations, it is undeniable that confounding variables may have an impact on studies conducted.
References
Bryant, E. (2021, March 16). Most COVID-19 hospitalizations due to four conditions. National Institutes of Health. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/most-covid-19-hospitalizations-due-four-conditions
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). COVID Data Tracker: United States at a glance. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved December 5th, 2022, from https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions
Drake, P., & Rudowitz, R. (2022, April 21). Tracking social determinants of health during the COVID-19 pandemic. KFF. https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/tracking-social-determinants-of-health-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/#:~:text=Over%20the%20course%20of%20the,people’s%20health%20and%20well%2Dbeing.
Fernandes, B., Biswas, U. N., TanMansukhani, R., Vallejo, A., & Essau, C. A. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on internet use and escapism in adolescents. Revista de Psicología Clínica Con Niños y Adolescentes, 7(3), 59–65. https://doi.org/10.21134/rpcna.2020.mon.2056
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Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2022, October 29). Coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19). Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/symptoms-causes/syc-20479963
Nilsson, A., Rosendahl, I., & JayaramLindström, N. (2022). Gaming and social media use among adolescents in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 39(4), 347–361. https://doiorg.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/10.1177/14550725 221074997
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