Full lockdown hurts teens’ mental health

A recent Dutch study has found that mental wellbeing in adolescents deteriorate during the full lockdowns to curb the COVID-19 outbreak, though such strict restrictions also seem to confer some degree of psychological benefit.

“The COVID-19 lockdown measures had a negative impact on adolescent life satisfaction, but a positive impact on psychosomatic health. Mental wellbeing was lowest during the second full lockdown,” the researchers said. “Life satisfaction was at its lowest, more internalizing symptoms were reported, and psychosomatic health increased the least during this period.”

Researchers conducted a five-wave prospective study, enrolling 224 adolescents aged 12–17 years. Data on mental wellbeing were collected across five time points: before the pandemic (T0), in May 2020 (T1), July 2020 (T2), October 2020 (T3), and in February 2021 (T4).

Results showed that adolescents had lower life satisfaction during the first full lockdown in T1 (adjusted β, –0.36, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], –0.58 to –0.13) and during the partial lockdown in T3 (adjusted β, –0.37, 95 percent CI, –0.63 to –0.12). Of note, this effect was strongest during the second full lockdown at T2 (adjusted β, –0.79, 95 percent CI, –1.07 to 0.52).

Similarly, internalizing symptoms were significantly elevated but only during the second full lockdown (adjusted β, 2.58, 95 percent CI, 0.41–4.75).

Interestingly, researchers also reported significant improvements in psychosomatic health throughout the four time points. However, the magnitude of increase was lowest during T4 (adjusted β, 0.20, 95 percent CI, 0.07–0.34), pointing to the strong detrimental effect of the second lockdown on teens’ mental wellbeing.