Title:COVID-19 and Children’s Mental Health: Identifying Challenges and the New Normal
Volume: 17
Issue: 3
Author(s): Aniruddh Behere*Brittany N. Barber Garcia
Affiliation:
- Spectrum Health Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, Pediatric Behavioral Medicine, 35 Michigan Street NE, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 49503, MI,United States
Keywords:
Children, pediatric, mental health, COVID-19, psychology, psychiatry.
Abstract: The novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 has had a clear and direct impact on the physical
health of human beings. However, the mental health toll associated with this global pandemic is
only beginning to be understood. Although children and adolescents have been largely spared from
the more severe symptoms associated with the disease, global health organizations such as the United
Nations have suggested that COVID-19 may have the longest and most severe impact on children
and adolescents due to the socioeconomic, physical, psychological impacts associated with
the disease itself and the measures taken to stop transmission, such as physical distancing. This paper
provides an overview of the evolutionary basis for community and the ways that social and
physical distancing measures to contain COVID-19 threaten the important social learning and support
that community provides. It then discusses how this pandemic is likely to impact the mental
health of children and adolescents, based on research from prior pandemics, recommendations
from global health authorities, and emerging data on the impacts of COVID-19. Finally, we offer
evidence-based suggestions on how to mitigate the effects of physical and social distancing.
