Mental health impact of COVID-19 among children and college students (search up to July 2021)
Citation: Elharake JA, Akbar F, Malik AA, et al. Mental health impact of COVID-19 among children and college students: a systematic review. Child Psychiatry & Human Development. 2022;Jan 11:1-13.
Language: Abstract and full text available in EN.
Free to view: Yes.
Funding sources: Yale Institute for Global Health (USA).
What is this? Lockdowns and school closures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic placed a substantial mental health burden on children and college students. Research into these impacts may help policy makers develop interventions to cater to the mental health needs of children and young adults during and after COVID-19 and future pandemics.
In this systematic review, the authors searched for studies of the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of children and college students. They restricted their searches to studies published between January 2020 and July 2021. They included 5 cross-sectional studies of children, which were all from China; and 15 cross-sectional studies and 1 cohort study of college students from China (8 studies), France (1), India (1), Jordan (1), Nigeria (1), Switzerland (1) and USA (3).
What was found: Both children and college students reported feeling more anxious, depressed, fatigued and distressed than before the pandemic.
All studies consistently showed a strong relationship between mental health status and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Worse mental health outcomes were strongly associated with living in rural areas, low family socioeconomic status, being a family member or friend to a healthcare worker and knowing someone who was infected with COVID-19.
Implications: The authors of the review stated that interventions need to be identified to address mental health among children and young adults during pandemics and that it is important to consider social contacts for mental well-being and offer starting points to identify and support those at most risk. They stated that policy-makers must prepare for future pandemics by developing interventions to improve the mental well-being of children and college students.
Other considerations: The authors of the review discuss their findings in the context of place of residence, socioeconomic status and features of relationships (such as having a friend or family member who is a healthcare worker or who has COVID-19).
This summary was prepared by Catherine Haynes, checked by Sydney Johnson, and finalized by Mike Clarke.