Children who did not participate in social and organizational activities during the pandemic had particularly higher anxiety levels than those who did not. High levels of anxiety have also been found among children from families whose incomes have declined, according to a University study. of Gothenburg.
The study, published in The Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, is based on survey responses from 744 Swedish children aged 6 to 14 and their guardians, mostly mothers. Data collection took place in the period from July to November 2020.
To measure degrees of anxiety, two well-established tools were used: the Child Anxiety Questionnaire (CAQ) and the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS). The effects show low degrees of anxiety, which the researchers associate with the fact that number one schools were open. as usual.
The children’s ability to explain their benefits in their own words is also reflected in the parts of the exam where they had the opportunity to comment: “playing more outdoors at school is good” (nine-year-old girl) and “it’s fun to be at home with mom and dad, we did a lot of construction with Lego” (six-year-old boy).
However, young people who stayed totally or partially away from normal social activities or organization, over a part of the young people, had particularly more anxiety. Intense anxiety was seen in 4. 5% of the organization that abstained from activities, compared with 0. 5% in the organization that did not.
It was also conceivable to link young people’s anxiety to adjustments in the family source of income, if any. Children with guardians whose source of income decreased due to the pandemic were affected by anxiety to a relatively large degree. Intense anxiety was observed in 6. 6% of the young people. whose source of household income declined, compared with 1. 9 per cent for families whose source of income remained unchanged. Effects were classified according to CAQ scores.
In addition, children expressed concern about how COVID-19 could affect them and their loved ones. The severity of the disease, the possibility that the pandemic will last a long time, and the failure to see their elderly and frail parents has caused anxiety and pain in children. many young people.
This shows that we want child-friendly data with photographs for the little ones, so that they perceive and panic unnecessarily. “
Most of the co-authors are active in higher education establishments and healthcare providers in Sweden, but there is also a link to the Botucatu Medical School in the state of São Paolo, Brazil.
University of Gothenburg
Jenholt Nolbris, M. , et al. (2022) Youth voices in Sweden unlocked the COVID-19 pandemic. Scandinavian Health Journal publique. doi. org/10. 1177/1403494822110825.
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