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AUTHOR(S) Tomoko Sumiyoshi; Yukiko Satoh; Mio Tanaka
The COVID-19 pandemic and the government’s emergency declarations in Japan may have influenced people’s mental health. In particular, among women, there are concerns about the occurrence of neuroses, such as depression and anxiety. This study aimed to identify the factors related to mental distress among women in Japan who were raising children amid the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey was conducted in 2020 among 730 Japanese women raising preschoolers. The survey included questions about child-rearing, anxiety, and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). The average age of the respondents was 34.4 years (21–52 years), and 31.5% of the respondents were living in “Prefectures under Specific Cautions” areas.
AUTHOR(S) Yusuke Matsuyama; Aya Isumi; Satomi Doi (et al.)
AUTHOR(S) Yoshika Saito; Kana Yamamoto; Morihito Takita (et al.)
AUTHOR(S) Ryunosuke Goto; Aurelie Piedvache; Mayumi Hangai (et al.)
Given their unique COVID-19 pandemic experience, it is necessary to evaluate the mental health of youth beyond the initial stages of the pandemic, in relation to the stringency of the social distancing measures. This study aimed to describe long-term trends in emotional well-being and self-esteem among youth in Japan during the pandemic. Using serial cross-sectional data from April 2020 to December 2021, it evaluated the trends in emotional well-being and self-esteem of youth aged 6–17 years using the self-report KINDL questionnaire, weighted to represent the age and gender distributions in the Japanese population. It then tested the associations between emotional well-being and self-esteem and stringency of social distancing policies, measured using the Oxford COVID-19 Stringency Index. Analyses were also stratified by gender and age group.
AUTHOR(S) Akitoshi Uchida; Kazuo Mori
AUTHOR(S) Tadanari Taniguchi; Ryozo Kitajima; Shinji Sakamoto (et al.)
AUTHOR(S) Tetsuhiro Kidokoro; Grant R. Tomkinson; Justin J. Lang (et al.)
The primary aim was to examine the temporal trends in physical fitness (PF) for Japanese children and adolescents before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. The secondary aim was to estimate the concurrent trends in body size (measured as body mass and height) and movement behaviors (exercise, screen, and sleep time). Census PF data for children in Grade 5 (aged 10–11 years) and adolescents in Grade 8 (aged 13–14 years) were obtained for the years 2013–2021 from the National Survey of Physical Fitness, Athletic Performance, and Exercise Habits in Japan (n = 16,647,699). PF and body size were objectively measured, and movement behaviors were self-reported. Using sample-weighted linear regression, temporal trends in mean PF were calculated before the pandemic (2013–2019) and during the pandemic (2019–2021) with adjustments for age, sex, body size, and exercise time.
AUTHOR(S) Naohisa Shobako
AUTHOR(S) Tomoka Yamamoto; Sanae Tanaka; Arika Yoshizaki (et al.)
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic people had to implement various infection prevention measures. Researchers have reported the difficulties experienced by children with neurodevelopmental disorders in implementing these measures and their caregivers’ resultant anxiety and stress. This study examined the relationship between these difficulties and the deterioration of the children’s relationships with their caregivers and friends during school closure and after school reopened. A total of 150 caregivers of children with neurodevelopmental disorders answered a questionnaire asking about parent‒child relationships, their child’s friendships, and the presence or absence of difficulty in implementing infection prevention measures at three time points: before the pandemic, while schools were closed, and after school reopened. The frequency and percentages of the child’s behavioral problems, deterioration in their relationships, and difficulty implementing infection control measures were calculated. Using the relationship deterioration scores, independent and multiple regression analyses were performed for the presence or absence of difficulty implementing infection control measures, presence or absence of caregivers’ mental health concerns, and the presence or absence of deterioration of one or more problematic behaviors.
AUTHOR(S) Junko Okuyama; Shin-Ichi Izumi; Shunichi Funakoshi (et al.)
AUTHOR(S) Naoki Yamamoto; Yoshiro Morimoto; Hirohisa Kinoshita (et al.)
Increased exposure to digital gaming content among youth in recent years has raised serious health concerns. Social restrictions such as school closures, imposed worldwide because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, may increase exposure to gaming and lead to addictive gaming behavior in young people. This study investigated gaming behaviors among Japanese students during COVID-19 school closures. Students completed questionnaires regarding their living conditions, game-related behaviors, diagnosis of Internet addiction, psychological difficulties, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
AUTHOR(S) Yuki Tada; Yukari Ueda; Kemal Sasaki (et al.)
AUTHOR(S) Yuka Nagashima; Mikako Inokuchi; Yosuke Yasui (et al.)
During the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, the governments of many countries responded to high levels of infection with lockdowns. As a result, some children were reported to experience weight gain. The aim of the present study was to examine the impact of school closures on body mass index (BMI) in Japanese children. This was a retrospective study of students enrolled in the participating schools (6- to 11-year-old elementary school students and 12- to 14-year-old junior high school students) between 2015 and 2020. Using school health check-up data, annual changes in the BMI standard deviation score (ΔBMI-SDS) were calculated. We compared ΔBMI-SDS in 2019–2020 with the corresponding control years.
AUTHOR(S) Toshihide Sakuragi; Rie Tanaka; Mayumi Tsuji (et al.)
Although gender stereotypes regarding paid work and unpaid work are changing, most wives are responsible for taking care of the family and home in Japan. It is unclear how time spent on housework and childcare has changed between working men and women during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. The purpose of this study is to investigate how working men and women’s responsibilities for housework and childcare changed during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan depending on work hours, job type, the number of employees in the workplace, and frequency of telecommuting. A cross-sectional analysis (N = 14,454) was conducted using data from an Internet monitoring study (CORoNa Work Project), which was conducted in December 2020. A multilevel logistic model with nested prefectures of residence was conducted to estimate the odds ratio (OR) for change in time devoted to housework and childcare among men and women adjusting for age, household income, presence of spouse who work, work hours, job type, the number of employees in the workplace, frequency of telecommuting, and the incidence rate of COVID-19 by prefecture.
AUTHOR(S) Ryo Morishima; Haruna Koike; Akiko Kanehara (et al.)
Online classes were implemented in numerous schools during the school closure due to COVID-19. The present study examined the relationship between online classes during national school closure and mental health symptoms after the reopening of schools. It conducted a cross-sectional survey from October 1 to November 7, 2020 using an anonymous self-reported questionnaire to evaluate 21 junior and senior high schools in the Saitama prefecture of Japan. Out of the 5538 students who were recruited, 5000 agreed to participate. The relationship between the implementation of online classes and mental health symptoms (emotional symptoms, psychotic experience [PE], and smartphone addiction) was evaluated using mixed-effect logistic regression models, while controlling for individual and class-level covariates (e.g., gender, grades).
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