COVID-19 School Closures Research Articles

The mental health and well-being of senior school leaders in Wales and Northern Ireland

Abstract Background Research has demonstrated the impact of COVID-19 school closures on pupils’ health, well-being, learning and development and the challenges faced by teaching and support staff. There was, however, no evidence on the effects on school leaders. The COVID-19 Leadership Survey explored this by surveying senior school leaders (headteachers and other teachers with senior leadership duties e.g. deputy head teachers) in Wales and Northern Ireland to understand the impact of COVID-19 school closures and restrictions on their mental and emotional well-being. It also was undertaken against a backdrop of a potential crisis in recruiting and retaining senior school leaders in the UK. Methods The COVID-19 School Leadership Survey (translated into English) was emailed to all primary and secondary schools in Wales (June-November 2021) and all primary, post-primary and alternative education provision for 5-16 year olds in Northern Ireland (March-May 2022). The response rate was Wales N = 172 and Northern Ireland N = 151. It should be noted the survey in Northern Ireland was undertaken after the last COVID-19 related legal restrictions were removed. Results Nearly three-quarters (74%) of senior school leaders in Northern Ireland and over half (54%) of senior school leaders in Wales were categorised as having possible depression based on their results on the WHO-5 scale. Leaders reported that challenges faced managing their workloads as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic impacted on their mental health and wellbeing. Despite these challenges, the majority of senior school leaders still perceived their role and work situation as meaningful. Conclusions A more strategic approach to supporting the well-being of senior school leaders is essential in both Wales and Northern Ireland. Further research into what mental health supports are needed, as well as a greater focus on the extent and quality of leadership development provision that will specifically support leaders well-being.

Emergency remote assessment practices in higher education in sub-Saharan Africa during COVID-19

Following the disruptions to in-person schooling during COVID-19 and the need for emergency remote teaching, this study explored the assessment experiences of teacher educators in Ghana. Through a qualitative transcendental phenomenological approach, purposive criterion sampling was used to select 25 teacher educators from 15 teacher training institutions in Ghana who participated in online teaching during COVID-19 school closure. The findings show that teacher-centered approaches to assessment dominate emergency remote assessment practices of teacher educators. Hodgepodge grading and general feedback were more prevalent during remote assessment. Teachers were also found to randomly select a few students to provide individualized feedback due to the large class size. Challenges including limited knowledge of the use of the online teaching platform for assessment, inadequate professional training and access to technological resources, and concerns about academic dishonesty were reported. However, teachers reported that their involvement in abrupt remote teaching and assessment has been a learning opportunity for them to develop new skills, which is imperative for their professional development.

Exploring Parents’ Access, Beliefs, and Use of Educational Technology across a Community-Wide Broadband Initiative

In the aftermath of COVID-19 school closures, parents, educational technology, and other home factors have played an increasing role in student support and success. As part of a larger evaluation study on the equity and impacts of the nation’s largest community broadband initiative, this paper investigates the relationship between access, beliefs, and parents’ use of educational technology over two years. Surveying a random sample of 400+ households in addition to in-depth longitudinal interviews with eleven families, results show most parents actively engaged and positively valued several aspects of technology applied to support their child’s learning. Moreover, initial results indicate provision of broadband access also had a statistically significant relationship with parent uses of technology.

Describing Teachers’ Well-Being Prior to and 18 Months After COVID-19 School Closures, with a Focus on Early-Career Teachers and Teachers of Color

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced several unprecedented challenges to the U.S. public education system that have negatively impacted the nation’s teaching workforce. This study describes fourth grade teachers’ depressive and anxious symptoms and burnout prior to and 18 months after prolonged COVID-19 school closures in the 2020/2021 academic year. Within this, we provide further insight into the well-being of early-career teachers and teachers of color in order to highlight groups of teachers that may have been differentially impacted by pandemic-related stressors. Independent samples t-tests and analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that teachers who reported on their well-being after schools resumed markedly higher depressive symptoms, anxious symptoms, and burnout than teachers who reported prior to school closures, and that symptoms were highest among early-career teachers and teachers of color in the latter group, with teachers of color in the latter group reporting the highest symptomatology levels across all outcomes. Results can inform efforts to support teachers as we continue to navigate the long-term effects of the pandemic on teachers and students, and provide evidence that early-career teachers and teachers of color should be especially prioritized for targeted support.

Parents and teachers’ compensatory strategies during COVID-19 school closures: A scoping review

After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, most countries decided to close schools in 2020 to slow down the spread of the virus. The abrupt closure of schools required teachers and families to adapt quickly to an online setting for school activities. The literature review presented here focuses on this adaptive process, summarising research on how parents and teachers tried to curtail the potentially detrimental effects of school closure and remote schooling on students’ learning, identifying the compensatory strategies adopted and analysing their impact on students’ learning experience and performance. The review highlights that the shift from in-person to remote learning led to significant learning losses, as well as to the emergence of new inequalities and the exacerbation of old ones. Teachers and parents played a pivotal role in minimising learning loss due to emergency remote teaching (ERT). Concerning parents, the three main types of strategies were related to: (1) parental socioeconomic and/or demographic factors; (2) parental involvement and support in learning activities; and (3) the family environment. Concerning teachers, two strategies emerged: (1) the implementation of activities favouring interaction between teachers and students and/or among students; and (2) ad-hoc teaching activities. In almost all cases, the compensatory strategies identified were positively associated with students’ learning experience, with a few exceptions.

Teacher-student interactions in emergency remote teaching contexts: Navigating uncharted waters?

Although employed in various emergency contexts globally (e.g., wildfires, earthquakes, hurricanes, snow days, epidemics, military conflict), emergency remote teaching (ERT) continues to be an under-researched mode, or type, of instruction. Through a mixed-methods design, involving a teacher questionnaire and follow-up interviews, this study sought to develop a more in-depth understanding of ERT by examining how it manifested itself during the COVID-19 school closures. The investigation focused specifically on the aspect of the pedagogical process that was probably most saliently affected by the sudden shift from in-person to remote teaching, namely, teacher-student communication. It identified some of the emergency communication practices observed during ERT and, using Grice's Cooperative Principle, explored their effectiveness and possible implications for student learning. More importantly, it illuminated the distinctive nature of communication in ERT settings, exposing the “communication norm vacuum” in which teachers and students had to operate when teaching moved online. As argued in the paper, the novelty of the communication context and teachers' and students' inability to draw upon well-established communication routines to navigate it, compromised communication and may be responsible for some of the learning loss observed during school closures.

Adolescent sources of stress, stress levels, and associations between stress and changes in weight outcomes at the time of COVID-19 related school closure in March 2020

ObjectiveStress is associated with weight changes, yet how level and sources of stress relate to this association is poorly understood. This mixed methods study examined associations between adolescent stress at the COVID-19 pandemic onset and standardized BMI (BMIz) over a three-month period. Methods: Participants (N = 197, mean age 13.66 ± 1.43 years, 85% Hispanic, 56% female) were recruited from a charter school in Texas to participate in a healthy lifestyle intervention during physical education class. We calculated BMIz using height and weight measurements taken December 2019 and the week of COVID-19 school closures in March 2020. We measured stress in March 2020 with the 4-item Perceived Stress Scale. We ran a multiple linear regression model controlling for baseline BMIz (December 2019), age, sex, intervention condition, and assessed the interaction between baseline BMIz and PSS-4 score on BMIz change. ResultsOverall, our sample had an average PSS-4 score of seven and mean BMIz decrease of 0.04 over the three-month period. We observed a significant interaction between PSS-4 score and baseline BMIz. At lower baseline BMIz scores, higher PSS-4 scores were associated with decreases in BMIz over time. There was no significant association at higher baseline BMIz scores. COVID-19 pandemic-related concerns and school performance were the two primary stressors reported. ConclusionsThe relation between stress and weight changes differed based on starting weight status. Future interventions should consider the influence of external stressors on intervention adherence and outcomes.

Exploring the Influence of COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown and School Closure on ‎Children's Dietary Patterns: A Multinational Study Across Middle Eastern Arab Nations

This study aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Middle Eastern Arab ‎children’s eating habits, body weight, lifestyle, physical activity, sleeping hours, use of smart ‎electronic devices, and mental health. This exploratory study was conducted using a self-‎administered questionnaire and distributed to parents of children aged 4–12 years. Multinomial ‎logistic regression was performed to model the relationship between the predictors ‎and children’s ‎body weight changes during the pandemic. ‎A total of 891 responses were included from Bahrain, ‎Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, and Oman. The mean of the ‎children’s weight gained during the pandemic was 4.19 ± 3.08 Kg. A sedentary lifestyle has ‎significantly increased from 4% of children (pre-pandemic) to 17.9% during the pandemic (p < ‎‎0.001). Children’s sleeping hours have also significantly increased (> 9 hours/day) from 26.2% to ‎‎38.2%, respectively (p < 0.01). Emotional eating has increased from 72% to 91.5%, respectively. ‎Around 84% of parents reported increased use of smart electronic devices by children (‎5.48 ± ‎‎2.87 hours). A significant proportion of the children became more nagging (251, 44.2%), stressed ‎‎(192, 33.8%), lonely (153, 26.9%), and anxious (125, 22.5%). Increased body weight was more ‎associated with girls, children residing in Jordan and Bahrain, children with working mothers, ‎children of high-income or overweight parents, and children who were already overweight. The ‎findings demonstrate that the COVID-19 lockdown resulted in reduced physical activity, ‎increased food consumption, heightened use of smart electronic devices, and subsequently, ‎increased body weight among children. It is imperative for health authorities to implement ‎interventions, such as proper children's health education, to address these issues in the event of ‎future lockdowns.‎

Inequalities in the home learning environment during the pandemic: a closer look at Syrian refugee children’s home learning environment in Türkiye prior to COVID-19

ABSTRACT The home learning environment of children became critical during the COVID-19 school closures, and already-existing deprivations of children increased inequalities in access to education during the COVID crisis. This study documents the home learning environment for the Turkish host community and Syrian refugee children in the pre-pandemic year. In order to ac hieve this end, a composite home learning environment (HLEQI) is calculated using the Demographic Health Survey (DHS) in Türkiye, which includes a sample of Syrian children. This study reveals that Syrian children were already burdened with disadvantages regarding their home learning environment quality, with the average HLEQI calculated for Turkish children as 61.7% and Syrian children at 36.5%. Moreover, when examining the individual components of this composite index, our study reveals substantial gaps in the supportive home learning environment for both Turkish and Syrian children, with the latter facing even greater challenges. These gaps span across various dimensions of the composite index, encompassing aspects such as access to remote learning infrastructure, adequate study space at home, and quality interaction with adults. The study underscores the need for targeted interventions to address these disparities and ensure an equitable learning environment for all children, regardless of their background or circumstances.

Maternal involvement and adolescents' psychological and academic adjustment after COVID-19 return-to-school: A one-year longitudinal study.

The current study examined the idea that maternal involvement during the COVID-19 school closure period could contribute to the development of adolescents' daily routines, which could ultimately associate with their psychological and academic adjustment after return-to-school. Data were collected from 520 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 12.75 years, SDage = 1.48 years) and their mothers during the COVID-19 school closure and one year after return-to-school. Results indicated that maternal involvement in both education and leisure activities predicted more consistent adolescents' daily routines during the school closure period and then contributed to their more consistent daily routines after return-to-school, resulting in less psychological maladjustment and better academic outcomes. Findings highlight the importance of maternal involvement and daily routines in the context of COVID-19.

Changes in early career teachers’ technology use for teaching: The roles of teacher self-efficacy, ICT literacy, and experience during COVID-19 school closure

This study examines how early-career teachers' experience and perceived support during the pandemic affected their technology integration self-efficacy and their use of information and communication technology (ICT) after school closure. The results reveal that teachers' positive teaching experiences were associated with their technology integration self-efficacy and their self-reported changes in technology use after the school closure. The results show effects of ICT literacy and general teacher self-efficacy on technology integration self-efficacy. ICT literacy, teacher self-efficacy, and positive experience had indirect effects, whereas support and technology integration self-efficacy had direct effects on changes in teachers’ ICT use for teaching.

The importance of teacher awareness of student mental health in the EFL classroom

The primary goal of this paper is to present, examine and exemplify the versatility and inclusiveness of the term ‘mental health’, i.e. the role of mental health as an integral component and affective factor in learning English as a foreign language. The most common mental health disorders and their early signs and symptoms are listed and described. Furthermore, the importance of teacher awareness of student mental health in the EFL classroom is elaborated as well as what and how much teachers should know about mental health and bullying so as to recognize and address them if need arises. It can even be said that the COVID-19 pandemic and school closures exacerbated this issue, and a suggestion to move forward could be building student resilience. Not only do teachers but also parents and guardians play a crucial role in their children's education, so how they can help protect their children's mental health has been additionally discussed. This paper will enrich the existing pool of theory on student mental health with the results and discussion from research conducted via interviews among 50 EFL teachers from various high schools in Skopje (North Macedonia), concerning their views on teacher awareness in respect to student mental health in the EFL classroom. The interview responses show an optimistic trend of increase of teacher interest in student mental health and empathy for students, albeit lack of institutional support. It is hoped that this paper will open avenues of thought for EFL teachers to probe even more into mental health in the EFL classroom. It is also important to acknowledge that while the overarching objective is to foster and promote mental health awareness among all educators across the board, this paper distinctly accentuates the significance within the domain of teaching EFL. This emphasis stems from the authors’ perspective: one being an aspiring EFL teacher, and the other currently holding the position of an Assistant Professor (tertiary education). The aspiration is to highlight EFL teachers as influential figures capable of catalyzing transformative change for the future. / Keywords: mental health, bullying, resilience, students, awareness, EFL classroom

Naïve, uninformed and sexually abused: circumstances surrounding adolescent pregnancies in Malawi

BackgroundPregnancy and childbearing in adolescence could negatively affect girls’ health and socio-economic wellbeing across the life course. Previous studies on drivers of adolescent pregnancy in Africa have not fully considered the perspectives of parents/guardians vis-à-vis pregnant and parenting adolescents. Our study addresses this gap by examining pregnant and parenting adolescents’ and parents/guardians’ narratives about factors associated with early and unintended pregnancy.MethodologyThe descriptive study draws on qualitative data collected as part of a larger mixed-methods cross-sectional survey on the lived experiences of pregnant and parenting adolescents. Data were collected between March and May 2021 in Blantyre, Malawi, using semi-structured interview guides. We interviewed 18 pregnant and parenting adolescent girls, 10 parenting adolescent boys, and 16 parents/guardians of pregnant and parenting adolescents. Recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim into the English language by bilingual transcribers. We used the inductive-thematic analytical approach to summarize the data.FindingsThe data revealed several interconnected and structural reasons for adolescents’ vulnerability to early and unintended pregnancy. These include adolescents’ limited knowledge and access to contraceptives, poverty, sexual violence, school dropout, COVID-19 school closures, and being young and naively engaging in unprotected sex. While some parents agreed that poverty and school dropout or COVID-19 related school closure could lead to early pregnancies, most considered stubbornness, failure to adhere to abstinence advice and peer influence as responsible for adolescent pregnancies.ConclusionOur findings contribute to the evidence on the continued vulnerability of girls to unintended pregnancy. It highlights how parents and adolescents hold different views on reasons for early and unintended pregnancy, and documents how divergent views between girls and their parents may contribute to the lack of progress in reducing adolescent childbearing. Based on these findings, preventing unintended pregnancies will require altering community attitudes about young people’s use of contraceptives and engaging parents, education sector, civil society organizations and community and religious leaders to develop comprehensive sexuality education programs to empower in- and out-of school adolescents.

“I miss the normalness”: Mother and child perspectives of well-being and effective remote support from primary schools during Covid-19 school closures

BackgroundCovid-19 related school closures radically disrupted children’s access to social and educational opportunities and changed daily life for millions of families across the world. Emerging evidence indicates that, overall, closures were associated with a decline in children’s mental health and well-being, although individual experiences varied widely. The extent to which primary schools adapted remote well-being support is likely to have contributed to child and family adjustment, although this has not yet been fully explored in Covid related research.MethodsThis longitudinal qualitative study examines variability in remote well-being provision in primary schools during the pandemic, and following school reopening, from the perspective of mothers and children using a whole school approaches framework. Twenty-one primary school aged children and their mothers took part in a semi-structured interview at two time points: time one during the first UK national lockdown and time two approximately seven months later after most children had returned to school. A hybrid inductive-deductive thematic analysis approach identified key themes relating to trajectories of well-being and remote school approaches over this period.ResultsSchool closures were associated with a decline in well-being for most children. Disrupted contact with friends and teachers, and limited opportunities for enriched, meaningful activity were identified as key risk factors. Protective factors included family and child characteristics that mitigated against the loss of wider systems of support, including family socioeconomic status, parental availability, child temperament, and structured daily routines. Four key dimensions of effective remote well-being provision were identified (the 4Cs). The 4Cs - contact, content, creativity and community – provide an accessible framework for schools to foster children’s social relationships and sense of belonging during periods of closure. Analysis of pupil reintegration outcomes suggest that post-Covid support priorities should include extending social and play-based universal interventions in schools.ConclusionRemote well-being support for children during Covid-related school closures varied in quality with implications for children’s mental health and well-being. Findings from this study highlight the importance of ongoing social contact and enriched daily activities to protect children’s well-being and development and present a framework of effective remote wellbeing support for primary schools in the event of future closures or prolonged pupil absence.

School closures significantly reduced arrests of black and latinx urban youth.

Youth of color are surveilled and arrested by police at higher rates than their White peers, contributing to racial inequities across the life course and in population health. Previous research points to schools as an increasingly relevant site for youth criminalization, but existing studies emphasize within-school mechanisms, with limited analysis of policing in surrounding school areas. To fill this gap, we study changes in police arrests of youth after initial COVID-19 school closures in 2020 across four US cities overall and in relation to public school locations. We analyze geocoded arrest records and use interrupted time series negative binomial regression models with city and month fixed effects to estimate change in weekly arrest rates among White, Black, and Latinx youth. We estimate arrest densities within school areas before and after school closures using spatial buffers of 300 feet. In the immediate weeks and months following COVID-19 pandemic school closures, youth arrest rates fell dramatically and with lasting impacts compared to other age groups. During the period of remote learning, weekly youth arrest rates declined by 54.0% compared to youth arrests rates in 2019, adjusting for city and seasonality (Incident Rate Ratio 0.46, 95% CI: 0.41, 0.52). We estimate Black youth weekly arrests fell from 43.6 to 16.8 per 100,000, vs. 4.6 to 2.2 per 100,000 among White youth. However, Black youth arrest rates during the remote learning period were still nearly 5 times that of White youth pre-pandemic. We also find that youth arrest rates declined during two school closure periods: at the start of the pandemic in 2020 and during Summer 2019. A spatial analysis shows Black and Latinx youth arrest densities in the surrounding 300 feet of K-12 schools were at least 15 and 8.5 times that of White youth, respectively, in both pre- and remote-learning periods. Black and Latinx youth face a higher likelihood of being arrested near a school than do White youth and older age groups, and racial inequities in arrests remains after school closures. Our findings show school closures significantly reduced arrests of urban youth of color, and policies addressing youth criminalization and structural racism should consider the joint spatial context of schools and policing. Although school closures may have resulted in learning loss and harms to youth wellbeing, closures interrupted comparatively high levels of arrest for Black and Latinx youth.

Network analysis of suicidality and internet addiction symptoms among Chinese primary and secondary school students

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has increased the risk of both Internet addiction and suicide across various populations, especially among children and adolescents. This study aimed to assess the inter-relationships between Internet addiction symptoms and suicidality among primary and secondary school students from the perspective of network analysis. MethodsThis was a cross-sectional, multicenter study. The Internet Addiction Test (IAT) was used to assess internet addiction symptoms. Participants were also asked about having any suicidal ideation and suicide plan. Univariate analyses and network analysis were subsequently conducted. ResultsAltogether, 5380 primary and secondary school students participated in the study. Among them, 3161 (58.8 %, 95 % CI = 57.4 %–60.1 %) students reported having Internet addiction symptoms and 798 (14.8 %, 95 % CI = 13.9 %–15.8 %) reported having suicidal ideation or suicide plan in the past two weeks. Network analysis revealed that IAT16 (‘Request an extension for longer time spent online’; node strength = 1.223) was the most central symptom in the Suicidality-Internet addiction network model, while the edge suicidality-IAT4 (‘Form new relationship with online users’; edge weight = 0.055) was the strongest edge linking both communities. ConclusionsInternet addiction symptoms were common among primary and secondary school students during the COVID-19 school closure period in China and were significantly associated with suicidality. Targeted strategies such as strengthening self-control, sense of belonging and connectedness may be important in reducing the risk of both suicidality and Internet addiction among primary and secondary school students.

Social connectedness at the playground before and after COVID-19 school closure

Social connectedness at school is crucial to children's development, yet very little is known about the way it has been affected by school closures during COVID-19 pandemic. We compared pre-post lockdown levels of social connectedness at a school playground in forty-three primary school-aged children, using wearable sensors, observations, peer nominations and self-reports. Upon school reopening, findings from sensors and peer nominations indicated increases in children's interaction time, network diversity and network centrality. Group observations indicated a decrease in no-play social interactions and an increase in children's involvement in social play. Explorative analyses did not reveal relations between changes in peer connectedness and pre-lockdown levels of peer connectedness or social contact during the lockdown period. Findings pointed at the role of recess in contributing to children's social well-being and the importance of attending to their social needs upon reopening.

No Loss, No Gain? COVID-19 school closures and Swiss fifth-graders' competencies and self-concept in mathematics

Abstract: COVID-19-related school closures in spring 2020 interrupted learning routines and posed a great challenge for students' competencies acquisition and self-concepts. Concerns about possible learning losses due to school closures, especially for disadvantaged students, are justified, but the currently available empirical evidence is still scarce, varies greatly with regard to context, and neglects reciprocal effects of competencies and self-concept. To address these shortcomings, this paper first provides insights on the effect that the 8 weeks of school closures had on Swiss primary school students' math competencies. IRT-based math tests were used to cross-sectionally compare data from 1,299 students in Grade 5 in late spring 2020 shortly after the reopening of schools with data from a previous year's cohort ( n = 11,314) using propensity score matching. The results revealed no significant differences in math competencies and no evidence of an increase in inequality when children with not German (vs German) as their first language were studied. Second, changes in math self-concepts in the school year 2019/20, when the pandemic first hit, as well as reciprocal effects of math competencies and math self-concept were assessed longitudinally ( n = 1,299) using random intercept cross-lagged panel models based on three measurement points. Results showed that higher math self-concept and positive change in math self-concept over the time of school closures were related to higher learning gains. Different development trajectories for children with German (vs not German) first language emerged. The study therefore fosters a better understanding of the effect that pandemic-induced school closures had on learning and relativizes the feared negative effects on math competencies caused by short school closures.

Education in times of restriction: an examination of refugee girls’ and young women’s access to learning during COVID-19 school closures in Pakistan

This paper examines the extent to which refugee girls and young women were able to access learning during COVID-19 education closures in Pakistan, and the role that EdTech played in their learning access. It is based on findings from a survey with 403 Afghan refugee students, along with in-depth interviews with six young female refugees. The research shows that, while the majority of female refugee students were able to continue accessing education in some form during school closures, learning access was nevertheless limited, and a sizable minority were not engaged in any learning during this time. Teacher and institutional support was either absent or inadequate for many students, and infrastructure and devices that serve to support remote learning were not always reliable or accessible. Although male respondents were less likely than females to engage in independent study during the closures, refugee girls and young women were significantly less likely than their male counterparts to own the devices they needed for learning. The findings demonstrate how targeted investment in specific types of EdTech and teacher professional development, as well as supporting educational institutions in the establishment of remote learning opportunities, could help sustain learning during future periods of educational restriction.

Learning and happiness during Covid-19 school closure in urban Malaysia

COVID-19 school closure has disrupted education systems globally raising concerns over learning time loss. At the same time, social isolation at home has seen a decline in happiness level among young learners. Understanding the link between cognitive effort and emotional wellbeing is important for post-pandemic learning recovery interventions particularly if there is a feedback loop from happiness to learning. In this context, we use primary survey data collected during the first school closure in urban Malaysia to study the complex association between learning loss and student happiness. Machine learning methods are used to accommodate the multi-dimensional and interaction effects between the covariates that influence this association. Empirically, we find that the most important covariates are student gender, social economic status (SES) proxied by the number of books ownership, time spent on play and religious activity. Based on the results, we develop a conceptual framework of learning continuity by formalizing the importance of investment in emotional wellbeing.