Graduate School of Education, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2022 Nov;63(11):1332-1343. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.13579. Epub 2022 Feb 22.
The impact of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic school lockdowns on the mental health problems and feelings of loneliness of adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) is hypothesized to be greater than that of their non-NDD peers. This two and a half year longitudinal study compared changes in the mental health and loneliness of Western Australian adolescents pre-COVID-19 (November 2018 and April 2019), immediately prior to COVID-19 school lockdowns (March 2020), and post schools reopening (July/August 2020).
An age-and-gender matched sample of 476 adolescents with-or-without NDDs completed online assessments for mental health and loneliness.
Adolescents with NDDs reported elevated levels of adverse mental health across all four waves of data collection. These young people experienced little change in mental health problems and feelings of loneliness over time, and any increase during school lockdowns returned to, or fell below pre-COVID-19 levels once schools reopened. In comparison, adolescents without NDDs experienced significant increases from a low baseline in depression symptoms, externalizing symptoms, feelings of isolation, and having a positive attitude to being alone, and evidenced a significant decline in positive mental wellbeing. Quality of friendships were unaffected by COVID-19 school lockdowns for all adolescents regardless of NDD status. Of the adolescents with NDDs, those with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder reported a significant increase in positive mental wellbeing following school lockdowns.
Adolescents with NDDs emerged relatively unscathed from COVID-19 school lockdowns and the short term impacts associated with these were not maintained over time. These findings should be considered in the context of this study's geographical location and the unpredictability of school lockdowns. Learning to live with school lockdowns into the future may be a critical element for further investigation in the context of interventions.
COVID-19（SARS-CoV-2）大流行期间学校关闭对患有神经发育障碍（NDD）的青少年的心理健康问题和孤独感的影响预计大于非 NDD 同龄人。这项为期两年半的纵向研究比较了 COVID-19 之前（2018 年 11 月和 2019 年 4 月）、COVID-19 学校关闭之前（2020 年 3 月）和学校重新开放之后（2020 年 7/8 月）西澳大利亚青少年的心理健康和孤独感的变化。
对 476 名有或没有 NDD 的青少年进行了年龄和性别匹配的样本，完成了心理健康和孤独感的在线评估。
患有 NDD 的青少年在所有四次数据收集浪潮中都报告了不良心理健康的高发水平。这些年轻人的心理健康问题和孤独感随时间变化不大，而在学校关闭期间的任何增加都恢复到 COVID-19 之前的水平，或者在学校重新开放后低于 COVID-19 之前的水平。相比之下，没有 NDD 的青少年从抑郁症状、外化症状、孤立感和对独处的积极态度的低基线水平显著增加，并且积极的心理健康水平显著下降。无论 NDD 状况如何，所有青少年的友谊质量都不受 COVID-19 学校关闭的影响。在患有 NDD 的青少年中，注意力缺陷多动障碍患者在学校关闭后报告积极的心理健康有显著增加。
患有 NDD 的青少年相对未受 COVID-19 学校关闭的影响，并且与这些相关的短期影响并没有随着时间的推移而持续。这些发现应该结合该研究的地理位置和学校关闭的不可预测性来考虑。在未来学会与学校关闭共存可能是干预措施背景下进一步调查的一个关键要素。
