Listen To Us! A Mixed-Methods Approach to Understanding Young People's COVID-19 Experience, 2021-2022

The continued impact of COVID-19 on adolescent mental health, educational attainment and future prospects is of great concern. The aim of this study was to capture the experiences of adolescents as the pandemic unfolds and longer-term societal and economic consequences emerge. Adolescents may be of particular risk for adverse effects due to COVID-19 as this was a period of increased risk for developing psychopathology (Fairchild 2011, Paus et al 2008), as well as a crucial time for establishing personal identity/independence. During this period, peer relationships are especially important (Albarello et al 2018, Hay and Ashman 2003, Steinberg & Morris 2001). Hence, the normal developmental processes of adolescence are likely to be disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, there are individual differences in responses to adversity so that not all individuals exposed to the same stressors will experience adverse effects or impaired mental health (Cicchetti 2010) and some exhibit better-than-expected responses to adversity, a phenomenon known as 'resilience' (Galatzer-Levy et al 2018, Masten 2011, Yule et al 2019).

This study has been designed to explore which factors (e.g., gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, family function, decision-making abilities) determine the impact of the pandemic on young adolescents. The basis for this work was established just over a year ago when an online survey was conducted to examine the impact of Covid-19 on young people aged 13-24 (n = 2002, stratified by age, ethnicity and deprivation index) as part of the COVID-19 Research Consortium Study (C19PRC, https://osf.io/v2zur/wiki/home/).

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