The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Youth Mental Health

Abstract

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth mental health worldwide is yet understudied. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted or accelerated existing trends in the prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms among youth worldwide. And if so, what could be advised to policymakers to mitigate this impact and prevent such impact for future pandemics. This systematic literature review and descriptive quantitative analysis included articles and a database, based on selection criteria, after which the quality of all articles was assessed. Relevant information of the articles was extracted in an overview table. Matching results were clustered and reported in the systematic literature review, whereas in the descriptive quantitative analysis, the mental health trend of Dutch youth was visualized and linked to periods with differing stringency levels. The onset of internalizing symptoms and psychological well-being are of multifaceted nature, showing that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted pre-existing trends in anxiety and depressive symptoms among youth worldwide in different ways. Most countries showed no notable deviations from pre-pandemic trends in anxiety and depressive symptoms, whereas countries from the Norden showed a significant increase. These varying outcomes appear to result from the different measurement periods across studies and the varying degrees of restrictions implemented by each country to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Future research is needed to: identify the lasting effects of the post-pandemic period on the mental health of youth worldwide; to investigate ways to enhance mental health resilience of developed countries against future pandemics and to contribute to a growing field that has not yet been extensively studied.