According to the World Health Organization, it is estimated that the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has had global ramifications, with more than 33 million infections and more than one million deaths reported as of September 2020. Most countries employed social distancing measures to prevent the virus from spreading farther and further. Home quarantines and school closures across the country were the most extensively implemented methods during the outbreak.
In January 2020, the COVID-19 struck Shanghai and triggered the city’s highest-level emergency response, which was in operation until March 2020. The level 1 emergency response phase in Shanghai required people from contaminated regions to remain at home or segregated in groups for 14 days throughout the response time. During the level 1 emergency response period, all public venues and large-scale public activities were also closed. According to the Shanghai Education Bureau, online learning has been implemented for all of Shanghai’s 1.435 million primary and secondary pupils since the city’s schools were closed in December.
As reported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on March 26, 2020, school closures have harmed 87 percent of the world’s schoolchildren (i.e., more than 1.5 million children and young people in 165 countries) by restricting access to education. Furthermore, according to the American Psychological Association, school closures may harm children and adolescents’ physical activity, social interaction, and mental health, in addition to the potential inequalities created by the digital divide and distance learning practices.
Movement constraints can have a severe psychological impact on the person who is subjected to them. As a result, a comprehensive examination of 24 studies has examined the psychological implications of pandemic-related quarantine on hospital employees, parents, children, and the general public. The findings were published in the journal Psychological Science. According to their results, people who had been quarantined were more likely than those who had not been quarantined to experience acute or posttraumatic stress symptoms and disorders, as well as a higher prevalence of general psychological symptoms and emotional disturbances, such as depressive symptoms and emotional disturbances as well as depression, stress, low mood, irritability, and anxiety-induced insomnia.
Throughout the pandemic-related quarantine and school closures, there have been severe concerns expressed about the mental health of children and adolescents, and the debate over whether the advantages of the necessary measures outweigh the psychological costs is still ongoing today. An earlier study discovered that 30 percent of American children separated or quarantined in areas severely affected by H1N1 met the criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder, according to parental accounts (PTSD). In response to COVID-19, researchers from China provided all of the most up-to-date evidence that was available. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the prevalence of depressive symptoms was 22.6 percent among elementary school students and 26.3 percent among secondary school students. In addition, children from Hubei Province, primary and secondary students from Shaanxi Province, and secondary school students from Sichuan Province were found to have anxiety symptoms at rates of 18.9 percent, 22.0 percent, and 29.8 percent in China, respectively.
When it comes to elementary pupils in the United States, the prevalence of anxiety symptoms ranged from 18.9 percent to 22.0 percent, and 29.8 percent in secondary students.
Additionally, to better understand who is at risk for mental health problems and what can be done to protect them from mental health problems and maintain their mental health status during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to identify key risk and protective factors in children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mental health beliefs and the probable effects of the epidemic are vital factors to consider when predicting future mental health status. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the fear of becoming infected with the virus was one of the risk factors for depressive symptoms in primary school students and anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents. As previously stated, it is anticipated that children and adolescents who are confined to their homes due to school closures during the COVID-19 outbreak will have a substantial impact on their mental health as a result of their perception of the effects of home confinement.
During home confinement, parental participation with children and adolescents is common, with the majority of interactions taking place between the parents and their children, according to research. As recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), rather than avoiding the matter altogether, parents should discuss COVID-19 with their children in an honest and age-appropriate approach that addresses children’s anxieties and alleviates their worry. This may act as a protective factor in the mental health of children if parents and children have frequent and open communication.