The Impact of COVID-19 on Adolescent Wellness

Background: There is extensive research highlighting the occurrence in the adolescent period of biologicaldevelopment and psychosocial maturation In support of this overall growth, it is necessary to maintainwellness In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, identifying which factors in adolescent wellness are mostimpacted, will allow Pediatricians to develop relevant tools to continue effective adolescent care Objective: Tocompare levels of wellness in adolescent students enrolled in a program aimed to improve health education inChicago, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic Methods: The 20-item survey was developed byphysicians and researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Ann & Robert H LurieChildren's Hospital of Chicago Appropriate Institutional Review Board Approval was obtained for this study The survey was disseminated to the 95 students enrolled in the program prior to the COVID-19 outbreak in the U S , and once during the pandemic They were asked to rate the items pertaining to their wellness in thepast week on a scale of 1-10 Questions explored overall wellness, including student academic, social, physicaland creative ability, and also assessed feelings in the past week about factors such as balance, health, imagination, nances, growth mindset, family, friends and goals Descriptive statistics and changes from time1 to time 2 taking the survey were assessed Results: Of the 95 students enrolled in the program, 55 studentscompleted the survey at both time points Of those who completed the survey, 18 18% identied as White,20% Black, 43 64% Hispanic, 18 18% Asian, 1 81% American Indian/Alaskan Native and 1 81% Other Thecohort of respondents were between ages 14 to 17, were mostly Sophomores 22% and Juniors 25%, and themajority of respondents identied as Female 81 82% After taking the wellness survey before and after theCOVID-19 pandemic, students had statistically signicant decreases in scores on the following items: Balance(Felt like you devoted appropriate amounts of time to all the important areas of your life) (Pre: 7 31, During:6 36, p = 0 022), Education (Learned something valuable or interesting) (Pre: 8 44, During 7 65, p = 0 029) andFriends (Spent quality time with friends) (Pre: 7 96, During: 6 27, p = 0 00018) Conclusion: These resultssuggest decreases in the students' levels of wellness from before the COVID-19 outbreak to during thepandemic, particularly with regard to maintaining balance in their daily lives, education within and outsideschool and friendships as they develop social maturity More research is needed to understand further howthis outbreak has impacted adolescent wellness, and to identify how Pediatricians may ameliorate thisnegative impact while providing well-child care