Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, 2-1 Naka, Kunitachi, Tokyo, 186-8601, Japan.
Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Uji, Kyoto, 606-8581, Japan.
Sci Rep. 2024 Jul 19;14(1):16707. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-67138-y.
During the 3 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, Japanese children had to live with strict mitigation measures at school, such as eating school lunches silently and wearing masks during physical exercise classes, even after those mitigation measures have been relaxed worldwide. Excursions and other school events were frequently cancelled, especially in 2020 and 2021. This study conducts a retrospective survey on school experiences to understand how the strict mitigation measures were related to children's mental health and well-being. Results revealed school excursion cancellation to be associated with a higher risk of developing depressive symptoms {odds ratio [OR] 1.543 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.109-2.148]}, and high cancellation rate of other school events to be associated with dissatisfaction in school experience [OR 1.650 (95% CI 1.222-2.228)]. In the subsample analysis, we found that girls and children with no extracurricular activities tended to exhibit depressive symptoms due to the cancellation of school excursions. Overall, the study demonstrated that persistent strict mitigation measures at schools might be a key factor in understanding children's mental health and psychological well-being during a long-lasting pandemic.
在 COVID-19 大流行的 3 年中，即使在全球范围内放宽了缓解措施，日本的儿童仍不得不在学校中严格遵守缓解措施，例如在吃午餐时保持安静以及在体育课上戴口罩。远足和其他学校活动经常被取消，尤其是在 2020 年和 2021 年。本研究对学校经历进行了回顾性调查，以了解严格的缓解措施与儿童的心理健康和幸福感之间的关系。结果表明，取消学校远足与出现抑郁症状的风险较高相关（优势比 [OR] 1.543 [95%置信区间 (CI) 1.109-2.148]），而其他学校活动的高取消率与对学校经历的不满相关（OR 1.650 [95% CI 1.222-2.228]）。在亚组分析中，我们发现由于取消了学校远足，女孩和没有课外活动的儿童更容易出现抑郁症状。总体而言，该研究表明，学校持续实施严格的缓解措施可能是了解儿童在长期大流行期间心理健康和心理幸福感的关键因素。
