COVID-19: the psychological impact and coping strategies among youth during lockdown in India: the role of education

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 is a biological disaster and its impact on the psychological wellbeing among individuals in the society. It affected all age group in the society and the youth are more vulnerable in the pandemic. The aim of the study was to understand the stress, anxiety, depression level and coping strategies among youth during the early stage of lockdown period in India.Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study and 302 youth across India were respond ended through snowball sampling method. An online survey through google form and the tools were socio-demographic details, DASS-21 and coping strategies questionnaire. The self-reported English version online questionnaire were analysed through SPSS.Results: The study found that 36.8% of youth had stress, 32% of them had anxiety whereas 48.7% had depressive symptoms and 30.4% send their time in social networking sites during the early stage of lockdown in India. There were significant comparison between depression and recreational activities (x2=6.92; p=0.03) and highly significant comparison between depression and spending times in hobbies (x2=8.32; p=0.01).Conclusions: The youth need psychosocial care and support during this pandemic and the youth need to take up physical-mental-spiritual self-care activities.