The Predictors of Psychological Well-Being in Lithuanian Adolescents after the Second Prolonged Lockdown Due to COVID-19 Pandemic.

Roma Jusienė,Rima Breidokienė,Brigita Mieziene,Stanislav Sabaliauskas,Arunas Emeljanovas

doi:10.3390/ijerph19063360

Abstract

Recent research highlights the impact of prolonged pandemics and lockdown on the mental health of youngsters. The second wave of COVID-19 brought an increase in mental health problems among young people. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the main factors arising from intra-individual, inter-individual, and environmental contexts that predict good psychological well-being in a group of adolescents after a second prolonged period of social restrictions and distance education. The study included 1483 school students from 11 to 19 years old. The survey assessed self-reported students’ psychological well-being (WHO-5 index), physical activity, sedentary behavior, school social capital, communication with peers and relationships with parents, existing emotional and behavioral problems. The results indicated that 58% of adolescents were of good psychological well-being in spring 2021, after half a year in lockdown. Almost 19% of adolescents had depression risk. The study revealed that during a period of prolonged isolation, male gender, better relationships between young people and their parents, the absence of serious emotional and behavioral problems, less sedentary behavior, and higher school social capital were found to be significant factors predicting adolescents’ psychological well-being. Lower physical activity is an important contributor to students’ poor well-being. Finally, the lack of face-to-face communication with peers was revealed as a specific factor in predicting adolescents with depression risk.

Highlights

Accepted: 8 March 2022The pandemic due to the unpredictable and high spread of the coronavirus SARSCoV-2 resulted in an infectious disease called COVID-19 that affected the lives of billions of people over the world, both directly and indirectly—through restrictions and major changes in everyday lives
The results indicated that about one-fourth of the sample evaluated their psychological well-being as poor and
The pandemic has fundamentally altered the way of everyday living in various age groups, adolescents’ lifestyle and psychological well-being might be affected

Summary

Introduction

The pandemic due to the unpredictable and high spread of the coronavirus SARSCoV-2 resulted in an infectious disease called COVID-19 that affected the lives of billions of people over the world, both directly and indirectly—through restrictions and major changes in everyday lives. The negative impact of the lifestyle changes, stay-at-home orders, lockdowns, and social restrictions, was documented for various groups of the population, the adolescents might be especially vulnerable because of the developmental tasks and challenges [1–4]. In adolescence, the additional pandemic challenges might have complicated every aspect of developmental strains and challenges posed by rapid physical and emotional growth itself, including increasing academic demands and expectations, changing social relationships with family and peers, and increasing exposure to online interactions [10,11]

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