Study Says Negative Impact of COVID Stress on Adolescents

A new study has revealed that coronavirus pandemic has had a significant detrimental impact on adolescents' mental health, especially in girls.

The study, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, found that negative mental health outcomes //were disproportionately reported by girls and older adolescents (13-18-year-olds), compared to same-age peers before the pandemic.

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‘Studies of adolescents during Covid-19 found evidence of increased mental health problems and certain types of substance use that had been rising before the pandemic. ’

At the same time, it revealed a decline in cigarette smoking, e-cigarette usage and alcohol intoxication among 15-18-year-old adolescents during the pandemic.

"The decrease observed in substance use during the pandemic may be an unintended benefit of the isolation that so many adolescents have endured during quarantine," said researcher John Allegrante from the Columbia University in the US.

This study, however, compares current data with several pre-pandemic time points, which enabled the researchers to separate the effect of Covid-19 from other recent, downward trends in adolescent mental health.

Quiz on Stress

Introduction

Stress has become one of the major health concerns in the modern world, but it is still difficult to define. Stress is a normal physical response when faced with a challenge, and in small doses, stress can motivate us and drive us to better performance. But stress overload is typically described as a negative concept that can have an impact on a person’s mental and physical well-being ().

There are 10 questions on ‘Stress’ in this quiz that will explore the depth of your knowledge and provide answers to the following:

Symptoms of stress ()
Stress hormone ()
Complication of chronic stress ()
Phobia ()
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder ()

According to the researchers, prior studies have not been designed to determine whether clinically relevant levels of depression -- as opposed to self-reported depressive symptoms -- and substance use have increased during the pandemic.

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The study "differs in methodology from previous studies in that it tracked the population-based prevalence of mental health outcomes and substance use over several years to better understand the potential effects of Covid-19 from recent upward trends in adolescent mental health problems, the team said.

Source-IANS

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