Headline Roundup • December 8th, 2021
Perspective: The COVID-19 Pandemic's Negative Impacts on Youth Mental Health
Summary from the AllSides News Team
A 53-page government report published Thursday details new hardships and mental health struggles for kids during the COVID-19 pandemic.
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy's report explains how a budding mental health crisis was worsened by COVID-19. The report says that "depressive and anxiety symptoms doubled during the pandemic, with 25% of youth experiencing depressive symptoms and 20% experiencing anxiety symptoms." It also details how in early 2021, U.S. emergency room visits "for suspected suicide attempts were 51% higher for adolescent girls and 4% higher for adolescent boys compared to the same time period in early 2019." Murthy highlights how limiting kids' social interactions "made it harder to recognize signs of child abuse, mental health concerns, and other challenges."
Voices across the spectrum agree that the pandemic was bad for youth mental health and that lockdowns prevented children from having normal experiences. Right-rated outlets focused more on those factors; some left-rated outlets highlighted gun violence, racial tension and other social issues, along with the pandemic, as reasons for kids' recent mental health struggles. Some voices also focused on evidence that remote learning damaged youth academic advancement, particularly in areas with large populations of low-income and minority students. Writers on all sides advocated solutions; left- and center-rated voices called for more funding for mental health resources in schools, and right-rated voices often called for pandemic restrictions to be relaxed for kids.
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While there is much to celebrate about the return of students and teachers to classrooms, the transition back is highlighting the extraordinary impact the pandemic has had — and continues to have — on students’ mental health.
Only a few months into what was meant to be the “back to normal” school year, many educators I’ve spoken with are saying this year is more challenging than the last two. Their students are anxious about making friends. Some need help grieving the loss of loved ones who passed. And some are...
(Marco Bello/Reuters)
The U.S. surgeon general Dr. Vivek H. Murthy has issued a 53-page report on a burgeoning mental-health crisis among American youth, exacerbated by the pandemic. Emergency-room visits for depression, anxiety, and other conditions have been rising for a long time. But emergency-room visits caused by suicide attempts by adolescent girls jumped 51 percent in 2021, according to the report.
While the report touched on increased mental-health issues before the pandemic, it does not shy away from looking at the effect of the pandemic and the public-health strictures on the lives of children in the...
(Damian Dovarganes/AP)
The situation painted across the U.S. surgeon general’s 53-page advisory is dire.
Compared with 2019, emergency room visits for suicide attempts rose 51 percent for adolescent girls in early 2021. Among boys, there was a four percentage point increase. Depression and anxiety doubled during the coronavirus pandemic, with 25 percent of youths experiencing depressive symptoms and 20 percent suffering anxiety symptoms, according to the report published Tuesday.
“It would be a tragedy if we beat back one public health crisis only to allow another to grow in its place,” U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H....
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