MLA Citation:
Barry, Ellen.”Many Teens Report Emotional and Physical Abuse by Parents During Lockdown”.The New York Times, The New York Times, March 31,2022,https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/31/health/covid-mental-health-teens.html?searchResultPosition=5
Main Idea: How did the pandemic affected the mental health of students?
Supporting detail 1: “A nationwide survey of 7,705 high students conducted in the first half of 2021 built on earlier findings of high levels of emotional distress”
Supporting detail 2:”Research conducted before the pandemic, in 2013, showed that self-reports of parental abuse were substantially lower, with 13.9 percent of respondents ages 14 to 17 reporting emotional abuse during the preceding year, and 5.5 percent reporting physical abuse.”
Supporting detail 3: ““These data really confirm that we are in a severe crisis in terms of mental health among young people, particularly among female students and students who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual,” she said.”
Summary
During the shutdown we saw an astronomical decrease in the mental health and stability of students. Majority of the youth in our society benefit from the feeling of “connectedness” that they receive from their schools. The feeling of security and belonging.Knowing they won’t be too harshly judged especially for being part of the LGBTQA+ community by potentially non-supportive parents. Attending school acts as a getaway or relief from pressures placed on them by family. Dr. Andrea E. Spencer, a child psychiatrist, states that “school is good for kids on multiple levels.” They provide an atmosphere with peers that can’t be replaced by family. A teenager won’t say everything that’s going on with them to a parent as they would a friend or teacher.
“The rise in suicidal behavior during lockdown is especially pronounced among young women and students who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual. Researchers worry “about those youth being separated from school and being home with families who may not be supportive of their sexual identify or sex orientation or gender identity,” Dr. Ethier said.”
Reflection
As we all know the shut down really affected the lives of millions, especially during its peak. Forcing everyone to be shut in from the outside world and their daily routines and picking up new habits that I’m sure some of we didn’t want. Like extensive binge watching, laying around all day, consuming twice the amount of food that we used to. But did we really have a choice? School was a struggle to figure out and get through. I was in trade school when the pandemic hit and with no real laptop of my own I couldn’t really go to class and complete it. I could’ve used my phone but I didn’t see the point. I liked being in the actual classroom and interacting with my friends so to be limited to the screen in my hand felt so underwhelming. I was lucky enough to be quarantined with my boyfriend and his family at the time so it wasn’t all that bad. We played board games, baked and whipped up so many snacks I could write a book. Eventually we started to get bored and tired of not being able to do much of anything besides sit with our own thoughts not knowing we were both becoming codependent and depressed. We needed that freedom to go out and just do something different but it was hard cause you can’t breathe with the mask on and you can’t breathe without it. It’s easy to understand why so many students were so depressed and often thought about committing suicide. Isolation plays such a huge factor on the mind, with added stressors of the body, and school it’s easy to get lost or lose hope that things will eventually get better.
The author of this article wanted to inform everyone about how much the pandemic has done to the youth.The way they kind of suffered just to succeed in classes and try to be ok. Ellen Barry clearly did her research on the topic to pull together a short but meaningful piece. It’s a trust worthy article coming from the New York Times which has won 133 Pulitzer Prizes.
Notable Quotables
“More than one in three high schoolers experienced poor mental health, with 44.2 percent reporting persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. Nearly 20 percent said they considered suicide, and 9 percent said they had attempted suicide during the previous year.”
“Families are extremely important, but often that peer group is not replaceable within the confines of the family home,” Dr. Spencer said. “Then you add parent stress on top of that, and it adds up to increased conflict in a house where no one can escape from each other. That recipe is not going anywhere good.”
