A recent study found that teens fared fairly well during the pandemic slow down while schools shut down. Their parents struggled, with adult symptoms of depression and distress ascending (three-fold increase as compared to 2018 and 2019). Meanwhile, teen mental health improved according to the study. That’s right, a major US study found that teen mental health actually improved during the Covid-19 quarantine of 2020, despite spending much of the year physically isolated in their homes away from school and peers. How can that be? What factors may account for the improvement?
Here’s what seemed to help:
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More sleep
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More family time
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Family financial stability
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Reassurance
More Sleep
Teens likely are not getting enough sleep, and have not been getting enough sleep for years. Most sleep experts recommend that teens sleep 8-10 hours per night, but with late nights and early school start times, most teens fall 1-3 hours short of this requirement per night. Teens are therefore chronically tired, and as we all know, exhaustion has a negative impact on mood, attention, emotional regulation, and other mental health factors. With many schools physically shut down and kids attending class virtually, they’ve been able to get more sleep. Significantly more sleep. Instead of rolling out of bed 2 hours before school starts, many teens are waking 20 minutes before hopping onto virtual class meetings. And with so many activities and social engagements cancelled, teens are also getting more rest during the day and getting to bed earlier. For perhaps the first time in years, teens are actually recouping lost hours of sleep, and recovering from chronic exhaustion. As an aside, schools should consider moving back start times for teen student populations.
More Family Time
Teens in the study reported spending more minutes per day with the family, including many parents who were working from home. As the pandemic forced people to stay home, many families spent more time together than in previous years, occupying the same space and interacting throughout the day. A majority of teens reported an increase in regular family dinners during the quarantine periods, all of which seems to have had a medicinal effect on their mental health. And this makes sense – quality, enjoyable time spent together helps us to feel more connected and secure, and happy.
Family Financial Stability
Not all families fared well financially during the shutdown necessitated by the pandemic, and financial instability certainly has a deleterious effect on mental health, just as other forms of chronic stress do. Teens seemed to need to know that their family was alright financially. And for teens in which their parents showed financial leadership, teen mental health took a big deep sigh of relief. Teens don’t need their parents to be rich, but they do seem to know that someone is in charge and thinking about the family finances.
Reassurance for Crises
2020 offered lots of turmoil, beyond the global pandemic. After Mardi Gras, in many ways it seemed like the world fell apart or the universe tore. There were intense natural disasters. Remember the hurricanes and wildfires? There was civil unrest after the murder of George Floyd and shooting of Breonna Taylor. Protests for days. Looting and shootings at times. And then there was a national election. And schools and towns shut down. Teen that fared well didn’t avoid all of this turmoil; they simply had parents to guide them through these experiences and reassure them along the way. Parental reassurance is regularly needed in the best of times; it’s essential in the worst of times.
Overall, 2020 was a mess. And yet the data shows the teens are alright. Families, let’s take the lessons of 2020 and apply them for years to come. Our own mental health, and that of our teens, will thank us.
