The Effects of the Pandemic On Children

As we ease away from the virtual world we have all had to call home, we can only hope to move forward with the lives we knew before. For those whose lives are barely starting though, this can throw a wrench in the paths to adulthood that they are trying to traverse.

Childhood and adolescence are the most formative years, with children learning socialization, communication and healthy relationship skills; the pause from all the lessons taught during socialization leaves many disadvantaged, and some can even fall in the cracks.

At a forum for Harvard School of Public Health, child psychiatric epidemiologist Tamsin Ford discussed studies revolving around the pandemics isolation and its effects on children's mental health. Many of such studies organized their data by age range.

One of these studies began pre-pandemic, then acquired data monthly through 2020. In this study, adolescents aged 16-24 were experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety "particularly badly through this time, and the symptoms were only exacerbated for those going through socioeconomic deprivation.

Ford gave other studies such as one that showed that kids' mental health ages 4-10 had been greatly affected by the isolation of the pandemic, with the symptoms from hyperactivity to depression being worsened by lockdowns.

One study Ford highlighted was following teens' mental health during the pandemic. In this study, anxiety spiked for teens during lockdowns, but once school came back, fighting and bullying saw a spike itself. She inferred that this is due to friendships and group dynamics that would have had a subtle and natural shift, but due to the pandemic, reached an abrupt turn of dynamic causing clashes.

Fresno has recently had its own fight against bullying as mom Holly Hayes and other parents affected by bullying staged a protest on February 10 at Kastner Intermediate School. This protest was held after she noticed her son being bullied for months after making the return to in-person learning.