According to a recent study, teenagers aged 13 and 14 have witnessed a drop in their anxiety levels since the pandemic has began compared to the level of anxiety that they were suffering during October, last year.
The study comes as a surprise as many recent studies have suggested that the level of anxiety and depression in young adults, has been increasing since the pandemic has started, as their future plans suffered and got damaged due to the situation that emerged after the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2.
The new research has been conducted by the University of Bristol. In the research, the mental health of about 1,000 secondary school children in South West England was analyzed.
Researchers found that teenagers had significantly lower rates of anxiety than what to be expected to be in the global pandemic. The study result suggests that since schools are currently shut due to the pandemic, mental health of school teenagers has been considerably better.
The result is shocking and hugely concerning since that means the school environment is more harmful and damaging for the mental health and well being of teenagers than the global pandemic.
The Study co-author, Emily Widnall commented, “With the whole world in the grip of a devastating pandemic, which has thrown everyone’s lives into turmoil, the natural expectation would be to see an increase in anxiety. While we saw anxiety levels rise for a few of our participants, it was a big surprise to discover quite the opposite was the case for many of them.”
The new research comes after Professor Chris Whitty, the UK’s chief medical adviser has advocated for reopening schools, while commenting that global pandemic is a smaller concern compared to the schools being closed and that it would damage children in the long run.