Children and COVID-19 Research Library

The mental health of adolescent girls in countries of South Asia is related to several social and cultural factors including gender disadvantage, especially in low resource settings such as tribal areas. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has increased this vulnerability even further. This study assesses the association of gender disadvantage with psychological distress among adolescent girls residing in a tribal area of India and examines the role of resilience. The study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic first wave in 2020 using telephonic interviews with 102 girls aged 15–20 from one block (65.46% tribal population) of a predominantly tribal area in Central India. Trained interviewers administered translated versions of the Kessler Psychological Distress 10-item scale (K-10), the Checklist for Assessment of Gender Disadvantage (CAGED), and the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS). Pair-wise correlation was conducted between gender disadvantage, resilience and psychological distress using CAGED, BRS and K-10 scores. A one-way ANOVA was used to compare mean difference in CAGED domain scores and K-10 severity score groups.

To understand how COVID-19′s stay-at-home orders impacted youths’ sexual and social development, we conducted five virtual focus groups (n = 34) with adolescent girls’, trans’, and non-binary youths’ aged 16–19 between April-June 2021 in the GTA. We queried experiences of home, privacy, and sexual wellbeing during Canada's third wave. Auto-generated zoom transcripts were coded using an inductive framework with NVivo. Field notes and team discussions on the coded data informed the analysis. This paper explores how sexual wellbeing during the pandemic is practiced in relation to, dependent upon, and negotiated at home.

Testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) decreased during the early months of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Less is known about the extent to which screening of asymptomatic adolescents for STIs was specifically affected. Our aim was to describe the impacts of early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic on asymptomatic STI screening and overall STI testing among adolescent females aged 13 to 19. We hypothesized that screening would decrease more than overall testing. This study evaluated claims data from a pediatric accountable care organization responsible for approximately 40,000 adolescent females. It assessed rates of asymptomatic screening and overall testing for chlamydia and gonorrhea in this population, comparing the early pandemic to pre-pandemic levels.

The purpose of this study was to explore the differences between the prevalence and impact factors of adolescent dissociative symptoms (ADSs) by using sex-stratification during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. A school-based, two-center cross-sectional study was conducted in Hangzhou City, China, between January 1, 2021 and April 30, 2022. The sample included 1,916 adolescents aged 13–18 years that were randomly selected using a multiphase, stratified, cluster sampling technique. A two-stage assessment procedure was used to find out the ADSs. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to assess the impact factors of ADSs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today, the increasing process with the using internet is a kind of disease among adolescents, especially in the COVID-19 pandemic. The activities such as learning–educational process and online games will become one of the problems for families. This study aimed to determine the relationship between internet addiction and parent–child relationships in high school girls in Isfahan. This descriptive-correlational study was conducted in girls' high school in Isfahan, Iran. One hundred and sixty students and one of their parents had participated through cluster sampling method. They filled out the Young Internet Addiction Questionnaire and the Fine et al.'s Child-Parent Questionnaire (PCRS). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistical tests and Pearson correlation test. The significance level of the data was considered 0.05.

This report, focusing on evidence from Brazil, Dominican Republic, and El Salvador, forms part of Plan International’s ongoing research, Real Choices, Real Lives – a qualitative, longitudinal study following the lives of girls living in nine countries* around the world from their birth (in 2006), until they turn 18 (in 2024). Through annual data collection, Real Choices, Real Lives captures unique insights into what it means to grow up as a girl across different contexts, including how families and communities shape expectations of what girls can do, and be, right from the moment they are born.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel, the number of patients with eating disorders (EDs) seeking treatment increased significantly. The present study sought to evaluate whether, during the pandemic (2020–21), patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) would show more ED-related, comorbid, and COVID-19-related symptoms in comparison to a naturalistic control group, and whether differences would be found between adult and adolescent patients with AN. We also examined attitudes to telemedicine use during the pandemic in patients receiving long-distance interventions. Using online self-report questionnaires, this study assessed general and COVID-19-specific symptoms with a secure digital platform (REDCap®) in 36 female adolescents with AN, 35 female adults with AN, and 25 female controls.

Vulnerable Lebanese and Palestinian refugee adolescents in crisis-stricken Lebanon, amid a global pandemic, face the most enormous challenges to their education. With increasing socioeconomic vulnerabilities and shrinking opportunities, and the ever more fragile education sector, adolescents’ education is increasingly at risk. In 2021, an estimated 260,000 Lebanese children and 440,000 refugee children dropped out of school. This report focuses on Palestinian and Lebanese adolescents’ access to education and learning, and their opportunities to exercise voice and agency, highlighting the impact of the Lebanese crisis on their lives. It draws on findings from the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) longitudinal study, involving adolescents from Syrian and Palestinian refugee communities and vulnerable Lebanese host communities. Using interactive participatory tools, including participatory photography, GAGE aims to gain a better understanding of ‘what works’ to empower different groups of adolescents (especially girls) in conflict-affected contexts.

More than 15.5 percent of Bangladeshi girls had been forced into wedlock below the age of 15 whereas the marriage age in Bangladesh during a pandemic. With the recent reopening of Bangladeshi schools, authorities have been alarmed by the number of girls not attending classes. In Khulna district, North of Bangladesh recorded more than 3,000 child marriages in this district. The paper will assess and estimate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the education of young girls. Some case studies will be conducted in the child marriage-prone district of Khulna. Technology is not the only solution to all problems, it needs infrastructure, access to the internet or mobile, and economic solvency to provide necessary things. Since the majority of schools have moved instruction online because of the pandemic, it is now important to give girls the tools to participate in distance learning techniques. Because thousands of girl brides in southern Bangladesh whose classroom seats have remained empty after reopening of school.

Home quarantine due to the global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a significant impact on children. Lifestyle changes have led to an increase in precocious puberty (PP) among girls, and the underlying risk factors for this remain unclear. Thus, this study aimed to assess the influence of environmental, genetic, nutritional, and other lifestyle factors on the risk of PP in girls. It evaluated the incidence of new-onset PP in girls during home quarantine for COVID-19 and analyzed the potential risk factors. This was a retrospective questionnaire and medical record-based study involving 22 representative medical units from 13 cities in Henan Province, China. Girls with new-onset PP (central precocious puberty, 58; premature thelarche, 58; age, 5–9 years) between February 2020 and May 2020 were included, along with 124 healthy, age-matched controls.

Adolescents (aged between 10 and 19 years) go through significant physical, physiological, and psychosocial changes from childhood to adulthood during this period. There are indications that during the COVID-19 pandemic, adolescents experienced a myriad of challenges as reported by various forms of media. These challenges included teenage pregnancies/ motherhood and early marriages amongst girls, drug and substance abuse, and other social deviancies that came with devastating consequences, notably a surge in school dropout, which shuttered their dreams for a better future. During the outreach activities by the African Women in Science and Engineering (AWSE), MMUST chapter, a gap for research in the realm of Sexual and Reproductive Health of adolescents was established, necessitating this study. The objective guided the study: To establish how prior Knowledge on Sexual and Reproductive Health (ASRH) shaped their behavior in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The study adopted a Mixed Methods Research (MMR) approach, drawing on the strengths of both quantitative and qualitative paradigms, with a sample of 340 adolescents.

There is a critical need for interventions that can be feasibly implemented and are effective in successfully engaging adolescent females in physical activity (PA). A theory-based, peer-led, after-school PA intervention, the Girls Active Project (GAP), was codesigned with adolescent females. This study aimed to assess the feasibility of implementing and evaluating the GAP programme. One single-sex, female-only, designated disadvantaged postprimary school (students aged 12–18) in Dublin, Ireland. Mixed methods were applied with multiple stakeholders over a 12-week trial (March to May 2021). A single-arm study design was used to examine intervention: reach, dose, fidelity, acceptability, compatibility and context. Feasibility of using proposed self-reported outcome measures (moderate-to-vigorous PA levels, self-rated health, life satisfaction, PA self-efficacy and PA enjoyment) was also explored.

The COVID-19 pandemic could worsen adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH). This study sought evidence on the indirect impacts of previous infectious disease epidemics and the current COVID-19 pandemic on the uptake of ASRH in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to design relevant digital solutions. This literature scoping review aimed to synthesize evidence on the indirect impacts of COVID-19 on ASRH in SSA per the Arksey and O’Malley framework and PRISMA reporting guidelines. It conducted the search on PubMed, Embase, Google Scholar, and ResearchGate in June and November 2020. It included all peer-reviewed, English-language primary studies on the indirect impacts of infectious disease epidemics on the uptake of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) in SSA.

During the lockdown, there was a disruption in the provision of and access to family planning (FP) services in developing countries due to the covid 19 pandemic mostly because of restrictions on transportation, border closures, and closure of some healthcare institutions.This study examined the impact of covid-19 on the need for and access to family planning among Nigerian women and access to family planning among Nigerian women.