Exploring the longer-term impacts of Covid-19 on young people’s mental health and additional support required post-lockdown
Research Team: Emily Widnall
Who's involved: University of Bristol
September 2020 - December 2021
COVID-19 lockdowns and social restrictions have disrupted the lives and daily routines of everyone; however, the lockdown is likely to have a particular impact on young people with the closure of schools and disruption to social relationships. It remains unclear what impacts this will have on the mental health and wellbeing of young people, and what can be done to provide support to them on their return to school.
This project aimed to understand the longer-term impacts (beyond the first UK lockdown) of COVID-19 on adolescent mental health and wellbeing and social connectedness and whether there are particular groups of young people who have poorer mental health and wellbeing after lockdown. The study also aims to explore young people’s and school staff’s experiences of lockdown as well as their experiences returning to school after lockdown and what additional support is required to support students settle back into school and return to full time education.
The project aimed to share findings with schools, academy trusts and relevant mental health charities to help them to target help and support to those young people who need this. The study also hoped to identify what forms of social connection may be helpful to young people when isolated from others.
These study findings point towards the need for schools to monitor how connected students feel to their school and their peers. A focus on peer relationships and school connectedness could also be embedded into future school-based interventions and whole school approaches with the aim to improve mental health and wellbeing outcomes.
This study highlights the importance of students feeling well connected to their school and peers and establishing mentally friendly school environments. These findings point towards the potential for school-based interventions focussing more specifically on the importance of students feeling well connected to their school and peers.
From March to June 2020, and in November 2020, the UK went in to lockdown in an effort to help slow the spread of Coronavirus. The lockdown has disrupted the lives and daily routines of everyone; however, the lockdown is likely to have a particular impact on young people with the closure of schools and disruption to social relationships. It is currently unknown what impacts this will have on the mental health and wellbeing of young people, and what can be done to provide support to them on their return to school.
This project aims to understand the longer-term impacts of Covid-19 on young people’s mental health and wellbeing, self-harm, social connectivity, social media activity and whether there are particular groups of young people who have poorer mental health and wellbeing after lockdown. The study also aims to explore young people’s and school staff’s experiences of lockdown as well as their experiences returning to school after lockdown, and what additional support is required to support students settle back into school and return to full time education.
The project aims to share findings with schools, local authorities and relevant mental health charities to help them to target help and support to those young people who need this. The study also hopes to identify what forms of social connection or types of social media activity may be helpful to young people when isolated from others.
Image below shows a poster co-designed with young people portraying their experiences of COVID-19.
Find out more about Emily in our Behind the researcher series.
Widnall, E., Winstone, L., Plackett, R., Adams, E. A., Haworth, C., Mars, B., & Kidger, J. (2022). Impact of School and Peer Connectedness on Adolescent Mental Health and Well-Being Outcomes during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Panel Survey. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(11), 6768.
Widnall, E., Adams, E. A., Plackett, R., Winstone, L., Haworth, C., Mars, B., & Kidger, J. (2022). Adolescent Experiences of the COVID-19 Pandemic and School Closures and Implications for Mental Health, Peer Relationships and Learning: A Qualitative Study in South-West England. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(12), 7163.
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