How COVID-19 Pandemic Worsened Mental Health and Accelerated Brain Development in Teens

Abstract

COVID-19 Pandemic Associated With Worse Mental Health and Accelerated Brain Development in Adolescents The article portrays a clear image on the unprecedented disruptions that came along with Covid-19 pandemic urging its target audience on the need understand the pandemics impact on health and development especially among adolescent. It offers insights on the severe mental-related problem effects associated with Covid-19 pandemic amongst adolescents. Based on the article, Covid-19 pandemic fostered significant stress and uncertainties on young people ranging from severe social channels, school shutdown and increased levels of stress at home and within the society that triggered mental-related problems among this population. Due to brain development during adolescence stage, the shutdowns increased the levels of anxiety, depression and greater internalising problems attributed to the thinning of the cortex which helps execute mental process like self-control and planning as well as reduced volume of amygdala and hippocampus involved in accessing memories and regulating responses to fear and stress consecutively. Although the research findings provides great information about the effects of Covid-19 pandemic during a very sensitive life stage, one can argue such findings as biased since it did not involve a more diverse sample limiting generalization of such sample to a larger population of adolescents. What does this mean? The current sample consisted participants with high socioeconomic status thus marginalised groups especially those with low socioeconomic status could have been exposed to greater health, psychological and economic stresses from the same pandemic thus could offer different results. In such a case, there is the need to compare such effects from a diverse group and from different parts of the United States to inform relevant public health policies directed at reducing effects of covid-19 pandemic on health and development. The article has educative information about the adverse effects of...