Stress and Mental Health among Children/Adolescents, Their Parents, and Young Adults during the First COVID-19 Lockdown in Switzerland.

Meichun Mohler-Kuo,Laura Werlen,Simon Foster,Shota Dzemaili,Susanne Walitza

doi:10.3390/ijerph18094668

Abstract

The present study aimed to assess various stressful situations and the psychological impact of the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown among youths in Switzerland. We included samples of 1627 young adults aged 19–24 from the Swiss Youth Epidemiological Study on Mental Health and 1146 children and adolescents aged 12–17 years and their parents. We assessed symptoms of various mental health problems, internet use, and perceived stress during the first COVID-19 lockdown. In the analyses, data were weighted to be representative of the Swiss population. During the first lockdown in Switzerland, the most common sources of perceived stress were the disruption of social life and important activities, uncertainty about how long the state of affairs would last, and the pandemic itself. In addition, around one-fifth of the young adults met the criteria for at least one of the mental health problems (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, generalized anxiety disorder), while one-third of children/adolescents screened positive for at least one of the mental health problems (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, depression, anxiety). Moreover, 30.1% of children and 21.3% of young adults met the criteria for problematic internet use. The study showed considerable stress perceived by young adults and symptoms of mental health problems, especially among females, during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Switzerland.

Highlights

Since the first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was reported in earlyDecember 2019, the world has been struggling with its ever-increasing spread, which was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on 11 March 2020
From a large representative sample of young adults, as well as children, adolescents, and their parents, our study found that the most perceived stresses during the first lockdown due to COVID-19 resulted from the disruption of social life and important activities, uncertainty about how long the state of affairs would last, and the pandemic itself, along with distressing news about the pandemic
Our preliminary analyses show that problematic internet use is significantly associated with all mental health problems (symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and depression)

Summary

Introduction

Since the first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was reported in earlyDecember 2019, the world has been struggling with its ever-increasing spread, which was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on 11 March 2020. The outbreak of infectious diseases like COVID-19 can be expected to have a psychological impact on the well-being of the general population due to fear of the disease itself and social isolation due to containment measures [1]. Many countries have been forced to implement extreme measures, such as quarantines, social distancing, or in some cases, total lockdown to prevent the collapse of the health system due to the rapid spread of the disease. Such social isolation and distancing have a significant impact socially, economically, and psychologically.

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