COVID-19 and the lockdowns that have come with the pandemic have been a source of stress for many around the world. But a recent study suggests that for some young people, the pandemic health measures may have helped improve mental health.
Researchers from Cambridge University surveyed children and adolescents about whether they experienced any change in mental well-being, and published their findings last month in the journal . They found that one third of the respondents reported that they felt happier during lockdown.
"As all the news was coming out about how the pandemic was so horrible for young people’s mental health, our research team was actually hearing a lot from parents and young people that for some of them, there were positive effects," Cambridge PhD student and lead author Emma Soneson told CTV’s Your Morning on Friday.
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Nearly 17,000 British students betweexjmtzywn the ages of eight and 18 were surveyed in June and July 2020, towards the end of the U.K.’s first national lockdown, which saw schools shift to online learning. Participants were asked, "During lockdown, how happy have you been feeling in general (your mental well-being)?"
Of the respondents who reported an improvement in mental health, 92 per cent said that they experienced less bullying. These respondents also reported that they had better relationships with their friends and family, as well as feeling less loneliness.
"They were having a better time being at home because they were spending more time with their family, or they were connecting with their friends in a very different way than they usually were. Or equally, they were able to avoid some of the more negative relationships that they typically faced at school," Soneson explained.
These students also reported that they were better managing their schoolwork and getting more sleep and exercise during lockdown.
Soneson believes that schools should investigate how to make the positive changes for these students permanent given that "they might not have had the best school experience before the pandemic."
"For example, could we start offering more flexibility in schools that they saw during the pandemic of online learning? Or could we have more of a focus on interpersonal relationships in schools?" she said. "There are several ways that we can potentially take some of these positive changes forward even after the pandemic for these young people."
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A child attends an online class in this stock photo. (Pexels)
