New evidence shows that lockdowns have been detrimental to children’s mental health
On Nov. 13, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published a report about Mental health wellness trends in children during the Coronavirus pandemic. The report uses data on Emergency Department (ED) visits to analyze how well children fare. Evidence from the study suggests that the lockdown hurt children’s mental health.
ED visits sharply declined in the period between Mid-March and early April. This is potentially due to restrictions and closures to non-emergent care. ED visits increased afterward and throught the entire reporting peorpd ending October 2020. At the same time, the proportion of children’s visits that were about mental health concerns rose.
The data
According to the CDC,
The proportion of mental health–related ED visits among children increased 66%, from 1,094 per 100,000 during April 14–21, 2019 to 1,820 per 100,000 during April 12–18, 2020.
Source: CDC
Adolescents were the most impacted.
Adolescents aged 12–17 years accounted for the largest proportion of children’s mental health–related ED visits during 2019 and 2020. During weeks 12–42, 2020, the proportion of mental health–related visits for children aged 5–11 years and adolescents aged 12–17 years increased approximately 24% and 31%, respectively compared with those in 2019; the proportion of mental health–related visits for children aged 0–4 years remained similar in 2020. The highest weekly proportion of mental health–related ED visits occurred during October for children aged 5–11 years (week 42; 1,177 per 100,000) and during April (week 16) for adolescents aged 12–17 years (4,758 per 100,000).
Other studies
The CDC is not the first to report on the detrimental impact that lockdowns have had on children. Many other studies have also found evidence suggesting the Covid-19 period has been damaging to mental health.
This has been true not just for children. For instance, a Harvard study has found that more and more young adults are showing symptoms of severe depression and having suicidal thoughts.
As illustrated by Fee,
In the US adult population as a whole, the incidence of suicidal ideation typically hovers around 3.4 percent. But this new study reveals that in October, 36.9 percent of young adults had suicidal thoughts, compared to 32.2 percent in May in the wake of the first round of government lockdowns.
In a new study on life satisfaction, authors Terrence C.Kim, Seonghoon Kim, and Kanghyock Koh found that Singapore experienced large declines in overall life satisfaction that coincided with the introduction of a national lockdown. Life satisfaction also remained below pre-pandemic levels even after the lockdown was lifted. Individuals who reported losing income experienced a double the decline in life satisfaction as individuals that did not lose income.
Avoidable and predictable
These results should be no surprise
Human beings are social animals. For children particularly, ockdowns have disrupted significant social and emotional development milestones, endangering well-being. This means that in additional to current hardships, children also have a higher risk of developing mental health issues in the future. They, therefore, stand to be the most severely impacted, now and in the long term.