Overview:
The COVID-19 pandemic transformed the lives of many, shifting priorities drastically. With financial concerns coupled with physical health issues, many do not understand or simply lack the time to care for their mental wellbeing. Nevertheless, it is critical to remember that maintaining mental health is just as valuable as maintaining the body’s physical health, and without balancing the emotional, social, and psychological needs of an individual, the body can not be fully cared for. This consideration is increasingly important among youth as well, especially with the unprecedented circumstances related to education that have been brought by the pandemic.
Background Information:
Mental health conditions are extremely prevalent in our society, with almost 1 out of every 5 adults in American having a mental health condition, according to Mental Health America. Moreover, almost half of all Americans will present the symptoms and criteria of certain mental health conditions at a point in their life, with half of them developing these conditions before turning 14. Based on the National Institute of Mental Health, around 49.5% of adolescents had a mental disorder. Evidently, the prominence of mental health conditions suggests the critical nature of determining solutions and practices to promote individuals’ mental well being.
However, this is much easier said than done. While the stigma against mental health has been starting to minimize, Generation Z, or current youth and adolescents, have seen much greater presence of anxiety and depression, with only 45% of these individuals believing their mental health is “good”, as stated by Western Governors University. The analysis continues to highlight how the previous generation had 56% of individuals consider it good, and around 91% have experienced symptoms related to mental health conditions in one year. That is incredibly worrying, and these stressors, from personal to global issues, have only exacerbated with the onset of the pandemic. Many students do not have proper access to resources that can benefit and supplement their schoolwork during distanced learning, and others may require accommodations that are not supported by the school. Students with learning disabilities are especially negatively impacted. Additionally, social distancing measures coupled with Generation Z already facing feelings of loneliness (analyzed in a Cigna study) can detrimentally affect the social and emotional well being of these students.
With the onset of the pandemic, many individuals dismissed maintaining their mental wellbeing as insignificant. In fact, according to Cigna, the week that COVID-19 was declared as a pandemic, prescriptions for mental health conditions such as depression and insomnia increased 21%. Although over the past few years, prescriptions for anxiety medications have been steadily declining, they increased 34% between February and March. Antidepressant usage among teenagers has risen drastically, and the uncertainty caused by the pandemic likely exacerbates this. Additionally, the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry explains that the closure of schools can lead to worsening mental health issues that can have an impact observable in the future. Social distancing measures increase feelings of loneliness and isolation, as well as contribute to a rise in domestic violence. Mental health support through schools is also minimized due to distance learning. Additionally, the influx of COVID-19 related content on popular social media sites can contribute to misinformation and anxiety. Moreover, the pandemic has negatively affected sleep habits, which in turn harms behavior and perpetuates such mental health issues.
Study:
While the impacts of the pandemic can be experienced emotionally, tangible evidence has led us to research how drastically the current conditions that have arisen from COVID-19 have potentially harmed student behavior and attitudes. According to Cigna, the declaration of the pandemic was coupled with a 21% increase in prescriptions for depression and insomnia, both of which are directly linked to poor mental health. Changes in culture, such as the reliance on social media to remain connected, has also led to misinformation and anxiety for many students and the underlying effects of COVID-19, such as isolation and disruption of patterns, have brought the importance of supporting mental health, especially in students, to light.
In order to better understand distance learning’s impact on the mental wellbeing of students, we conducted a study across a large student population on our campus.The data collected came from the personal scale values that students in grades 7 to 12 responded with to the google form. The values used for this assessment was 0-21 scale for the American Depression Screening and the Anxiety Screening. A 1-5 scale was used for an analysis of overall impacts on mental health. The responses permitted us to comprehend how both the shifts in our academics as well as our social lives have impacted students’ mental health.
Results, Data Analysis, & Conclusion:
After the values were collected across the grade levels, the information was categorized into two categories: depression screening and anxiety screening. The histogram of the Mental Health America Depression Screening Results indicates that the data was skewed to the right and of the individuals who answered the questionnaire, ratings resided on the low side, while ⅓ of those who answered scored above a 20 according to the MHA, where higher numbers are strong indicators of depression. The histogram for Mental Health America Anxiety displayed a better distribution of the results with an average rating of 7-8. Although the data was more spread out as opposed to the Mental health America Depression Screening Results, it was still slightly skewed to the left.
Data gathered for this study was conducted near the beginning stages of COVID-19 and while they were skewed to the left, the mean values reflect the early onset of depression and anxiety symptoms that were bound to worsen over the course of the pandemic.
Limitations to the study were that the questionnaires were completed on a volunteer basis, so individuals who answered were likely to have a stronger opinion on mental health and cannot fully represent those who did not feel compelled to complete the form or did not have access to its distribution on social media. Since the form was mainly published on internet platforms, the responses collected were more likely to have been impacted by the consequences of social media usage. However, the questionnaires were effective in gathering quick responses based on the value scales and reached a wide range of individuals.
Addressing mental health is now more important than ever. The abrupt changes that have taken place in every individual’s life has changed them in some way. For students, especially, the inability to connect with their peers while continuing to face the pressure of an online academic setting is negatively impacting their mental health and it is essential that society is more mindful. Steps that can be taken are reaching out to those in your life to let them know that they are not alone, establishing a schedule that can reduce stress, and taking the time to practice meditation and reflection.
Students in the neurodiverse community may be experiencing the impacts the pandemic has on mental health to an even higher degree. In most cases, students once enrolled in specialized education relied on structured learning and guidance from many instructors and classmates. However, the nature of quarantine changes many aspects of this educational structure and as a society, we must realize the prevalence of mental health and take strides towards providing for those who need our support.
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