[The COVID-19 pandemic-How did it affect the mental health of children?]

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial impact on the daily life of children and adolescents due to lockdowns, contact restrictions, closings of childcare, schools and leisure facilities.

This article examines the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of children and adolescents in Germany.

In the population-based longitudinal COPSY study (COVID-19 and Psychological Health) 1600 parents of children aged 7-17 years old and 1000 children and adolescents aged 11-17 years old completed established questionnaires at 5 online survey points (t1: May and June 2020 to t5: September and October 2022). For comparison, pre-pandemic data were obtained from the representative BELLA study.

During the pandemic the portion of children and adolescents, who reported a low health-related quality of life, increased from pre-pandemic 15% to 48% in the first year of the pandemic and improved in year 3 to 27%. This is still substantially above pre-pandemic levels. Similar trajectories were found for mental health problems which rose from 18% (pre-pandemic) to 31% and improved in year 3 to 23%. For anxiety and depression, the changes were similar except that depressive symptoms returned to pre-pandemic levels in year 3. The physical activity of almost one third of the youth was still very low in year 3.

The mental health of children and adolescents was ignored during the pandemic for a long time. Now support and allocation of funding is urgently needed to mitigate the negative mental health effects and prevent further impairment by new crises.