Introduction
The paper aims to examine the question of COVID-19’s effects on social and cognitive development among adolescents. Scholars posit that the pandemic brought abrupt changes, including negative impacts on mental health and positive effects on family relationship attributes (Prime et al., 2020). The pandemic led to the investigation of adolescents using varying research methodologies, establishing outcomes, validity, and summary concerning COVID-19 impacts. In their critical phase of life that undergoes fragile changes, adolescents experience the pandemic and its effects, which weigh on their mental and social development (Hawes et al., 2021). Research outcomes form the basis for evaluating the pandemic’s positive and negative impacts on adolescents’ social-cognitive development.
Negative Effects
First, the pandemic negatively affected adolescents’ mental health, hindering their cognitive development. Jones et al. demonstrate mental health challenges using a quantitative study method to investigate approximately 40,000 participants aged between 13 and 17 during the 2019/2021 pandemic dilemma (2021). The study results illustrate that out of the sample size, 62.5% were adolescents, with approximately 75% of the data collected.
The analysis focused on issues regarding mental health, including anxiety and depression at 95% confidence intervals, cognitive disorders, and special populations affected at 16.3 % and 44.6% increments, respectively (Jones et al., 2021). According to the authors, stress, isolation, anxiety, internet use, and social media are key factors impacting adolescents’ mental health in the US and other regions, recommending the need for physical and cognitive care and evidence-based research.
Second, Klein et al. (2021) quantitatively postulate that puberty allows children to begin self-awareness, interpersonal awareness, and identity shaping. The authors conducted a longitudinal study involving surveys targeting approximately 532 participants aged between 12 and 22 in New York City within four months in 2020. About 69% of the participants were females, 63.7% were in high school, and 82% were White/Non-Hispanic.
Illustration of outcomes involved the quadratic model illustrating isolation, life adjustment, school, infection, and basic needs concerning anxiety and depression, producing higher correlations of about 87% among participants aged 16 and 19 (Klein et al., 2021). The article acknowledges that the mental health issues trajectory declined in the late phases of the pandemic, requiring further research to establish the correlation between diverse factors affecting mental growth.
The third article by Hawes et al. (2021) investigates levels of adjustment of anxiety and depression among adolescents, demonstrating pandemic effects on mental health. The research involved 451 participants aged 7 to 17 residing in Long Island, New York, in 2020 spring. The longitudinal studies applied include Impact of Puberty on Effect and Neural Development across Adolescence (iPANDA) with about 83% exemplar sample and Stony Brook Temperament Study (SBTS) with about 73.9% exemplar sample. Attrition evaluation from the selection produced a probability value (p-value) of about 0.63 on the null hypothesis (Hawes et al., 2021). According to the findings, the pandemic aided in elevating anxiety and depression among adolescents in the target region, negatively affecting cognitive growth.
Fourth, the study Perkins et al. (2021) conducted an online survey to measure school connectedness and its mental health impacts through anxiety and depression. Participants involved 320 middle (37%) and high school (63%) learners from a school district in Massachusetts for 13 weeks in 2020. The authors applied the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GADS) to measure how virtual learning limits other school activities such as sporting, counseling, and participation in community-based programs. The findings were as follows; the standard deviation of 1.78 (22.8%) and 1.45 (19.4%) for anxiety and depression, respectively, with females eliciting elevated rates than males (Perkins et al., 2021). The research concluded that there are negative correlations between school connectedness and mental health concerns exacerbated by the pandemic.
Finally, limited proof on the meta-analysis of research databases claiming to demonstrate the negative mental health effects of the pandemic on adolescents forms the final argument. However, this fifth article by Theberath et al. (2022) presents a systematic review of electronic searches for articles published between 2019 and 2020 addressing the subject matter. The survey involved 35 databases and about 65,500 participants aged 4 and 19.
The mundane mental health issues delineated include confusion, tension, worry, anger, and fatigue at about 3%, stress, loneliness, and fear at about 5%, depression at 23%, and anxiety at 28% (Theberath et al., 2022). The article substantiates the rampant nature of mental health effects from the pandemic on adolescents while recommending positive coping techniques involving family support for social development.
Positive Effects
Society elicits an informed decision on the adverse impacts of the pandemic, limiting the acknowledgment of its significant positive effects on family relationships. Prime et al. apply a conceptual framework driven by systematic techniques concerning human growth and family function (2020). The framework applies five crucial principles, including child adjustment, socio-economic reach, family systems theory, family resilience model, and resilience variations in different families. The article acknowledges literature concerning the negative implications, including fear, anxiety, uncertainty, and upheaval regarding relationships between parents and children. However, the authors apply the principles to identify opportunities for families to protect adolescents from the dangers of social adjustments and family subsystem threats resulting from the pandemic.
Silk et al. (2021) provide real-time daily-diary analysis to ascertain that spending more time with family members enhances relaxation among teenagers. The research involved 93 adolescent girls aged 12 to 17, with about 68% presenting as White/Non-Hispanic from the USA for ten days (Silk et al., 2021). The consideration of girls for this study was because they are experiencing chronic stress-related concerns.
The participants recorded risks and preventive traits for emotional health challenges that could impact their social well-being within family dynamics. Mixed method analysis indicated that positive effects for each day had some inclination with time spent with family from low academic pressure—subsequently, the adverse effects aligned with internet access, limited privacy, irregular schedules, and family conflicts. The authors demote the significance of delivering quality internet school services and space, establishing daily routines, and engaging with adolescents to lower family conflicts.
The third article examines teenagers’ perspectives on how mood and family relationships altered during the pandemic as the primary objective. Rogers et al. (2021) applied stratified random sampling to obtain about 609 teenagers aged 14 to 17 and approximately 1000 parents from diverse regions in the US to conduct online surveys. The study involved a mixed method technique while depending on open-ended explanations about the experiences (Rogers et al., 2021). Most participants reported positive feedback upon spending more time with family members, detailing the fun and social support, elevating interpersonal relationships. The authors recommend developing a structure to support families in limiting conflicts and promoting resilience.
Fourth, Hussong et al. (2021) conducted longitudinal research by analyzing traits and gratitude towards enhanced families to learn about the impact of privilege during the pandemic on social development. The participants were about 105 families with adolescents aged 6 to 16 and their parents from North Carolina, US (Hussong et al., 2021). The study applied the descriptive analysis model to produce the following results (b=0.13; t-2.77, p-value<0.01), indicating that after the pandemic, the teenagers developed coping mechanisms despite their socio-economic status, providing positive feedback on family support. However, besides family emotional support, the study recommends the integration of self-efficacy in adolescents, which further enhances family relationships.
The final article in this section investigates how parents interact with their children to limit internet consumption to improve their adolescents’ social growth. Charmaraman et al. (2022) longitudinal survey involved approximately 1,415 gender and racially-diverse students with average ages between 12.25 and 13.02 for the samples. Charmaraman et al. (2022) used the Open Science Framework to postulate that parental guidance on internet access and consumption effectively contributed to limiting pandemic adverse effects through these results (b=0.72, p-value=0.01). The study concluded that positive family relationships enhanced effective guidance on internet consumption, which further aids adolescents in establishing meaningful social connections.
Conclusion
The aim of this paper was to examine the pandemic’s cognitive and social impacts on adolescents. Researchers provided adequate information concerning the negative mental health and positive family relationship influences of COVID-19. The consequences adversely affected adolescents’ mental well-being in their vulnerable growth phases (Jones et al., 2021; Klein et al., 2021). The ambivalence created by the disruption of education from the pandemic’s influence continues to contribute to the generation of adverse mental health effects, including isolation, limited school activities, increased screen time, and depression and anxiety.
However, other findings proved that coping mechanisms from family influence assist in reducing the pandemic’s negativity among adolescents (Hussong et al., 2021; Silk et al., 2021). Society needs to acknowledge social and cognitive development to ensure that adolescents do not experience disproportionate disadvantages from the positive and negative impacts of the pandemic.
References
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