Dataset Information

Mental health and its correlates among children and adolescents during COVID-19 school closure: The importance of parent-child discussion.

ABSTRACT: Background: School closures due to the COVID-19 outbreak have affected 87% of the world's students physically, socially, and psychologically, yet rigorous investigation into their mental health during this period is still lacking.

Methods: A cross-sectional online survey of 4-342 primary and secondary school students from Shanghai, China was conducted during March 13-23, 2020. Besides demographic information, psychological distress (including depression, anxiety, and stress), life satisfaction, perceived impact of home quarantine, and parent-child discussions on COVID-19 were assessed.

Results: The three most prevalent symptoms were: anxiety (24.9%), depression (19.7%), and stress (15.2%). Participants were generally satisfied with life and 21.4% became more satisfied with life during school closures. Senior grades were positively correlated with psychopathological symptoms and negatively associated with life satisfaction, whereas the perceived benefit from home quarantine and parent-child discussions on COVID-19 were negatively correlated with psychopathological symptoms and positively correlated with life satisfaction. Among participants who perceived no benefit from home quarantine, those who had discussions with their parents about COVID-19 experienced less depression, anxiety, and stress.

Limitations: Limitations included the inability to infer the casual relationship, no parental report for mental health of children aged 6 to 9, and the inadequate measurement of parent-child discussion.

Conclusions: Mental health problems and resilience co-existed in children and adolescents during the COVID-19 outbreak. Given the important role of parent-child discussions, open communication between parents and children about the pandemic should be encouraged to help children and adolescents cope with mental health problems in public health crisis.

SUBMITTER: Tang S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7550131 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Mental health and its correlates among children and adolescents during COVID-19 school closure: The importance of parent-child discussion.

Tang Suqin S Xiang Mi M Cheung Teris T Xiang Yu-Tao YT

Journal of affective disorders 20201012

<h4>Background</h4>School closures due to the COVID-19 outbreak have affected 87% of the world's students physically, socially, and psychologically, yet rigorous investigation into their mental health during this period is still lacking.<h4>Methods</h4>A cross-sectional online survey of 4-342 primary and secondary school students from Shanghai, China was conducted during March 13-23, 2020. Besides demographic information, psychological distress (including depression, anxiety, and stress), life s ...[more]

PMID: 33099049

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Project description:ImportanceThere are suggestions that school pressure may be stressful and a factor in child and adolescent mental health disturbances, but data about this association are scarce and inconclusive.ObjectiveTo assess whether varying degrees of school interruption were associated with changes in emergency department (ED) psychiatric visits of children and adolescents before and after the COVID-19 outbreak.Design, setting, and participantsA cross-sectional observational study was conducted at 9 urban university hospitals in Italy. All ED visits from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2021, for psychiatric reasons of patients younger than 18 years were examined for demographic characteristics and type of psychopathologic factors. Data analysis was conducted from July 1 to August 31, 2023.ExposureThe disruption in the usual succession of school and holiday periods brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic at different times and with various degrees of intensity.Main outcomes and measuresTotal number of pediatric ED visits, psychiatric ED visits, and psychiatric ED visits categorized by specific reasons (eg, psychomotor agitation, suicide ideation [SI] or suicide attempt [SA], and eating disorders) on a weekly basis.ResultsA total of 13 014 psychiatric ED visits (1.3% of all pediatric ED visits) were recorded (63.2% females; mean [SD] age, 13.8 [3.8] years). The number of ED psychiatric visits increased over time (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 1.19; 95% CI, 1.16-1.22 for each year). Significant increases in ED visits were observed for eating disorders (294.8%), SI (297.8%), and SA (249.1%). School opening, but not social lockdown restriction, was associated with an increase in the number of ED psychiatric visits (IRR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.23-1.34), which was evident for females and for SI with SA. Socioeconomic status was associated with an increase in psychiatric visits for males (IRR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.04-1.20) but not females (IRR, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.98-1.10).Conclusions and relevanceIn this study, school opening was associated with an increased incidence of acute psychiatric emergencies among children and adolescents, suggesting that school can be a substantial source of stress with acute mental health implications.

Dataset Information

Mental health and its correlates among children and adolescents during COVID-19 school closure: The importance of parent-child discussion.

Publications

Mental health and its correlates among children and adolescents during COVID-19 school closure: The importance of parent-child discussion.

Similar Datasets

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