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Please add researchers who are working the impact of COVID-19 and containment measures on mental health, physical activity, diet, or media consumption in children (<12 years), adolescents (13-17 years), and young adults (18-25 years).

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julia.dratva@zhaw.ch
Institut für Public Health
Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften

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frank.wieber@zhaw.ch
Institut für Public Health
Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften

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Please add projects on "Impact of COVID-19 containment measures on mental health, physical activity, diet, or media consumption in children (<12 years), adolescents (13-17 years), and young adults (18-25 years)?"
Please provide the name of the project and if possible the contact person/research group (preferably e-mail address).

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Please add any Swiss publication you know of (Title/Author, URL to the publication or DOI).

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dominique.dequervain@unibas.ch
Universität Basel

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flavia.wehrle@kispi.uzh.ch
Child Development Center, University Children's Hospital Zurich

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Physical activity and Swiss School Children during COVID

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Physical activity and Swiss School Children during COVID

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https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/4/2231

COVID-19: Physical Activity and Quality of Life in a Sample of Swiss School Children during and after the First Stay-at-Home

Claudio R. Nigg
claudio.nigg@unibe.ch

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Institute of Sport Science, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland

Swiss Federal Institute of Sport Magglingen (SFISM), 2532 Magglingen, Switzerland

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Academic Editors: Jennifer L. Scheid and Paul B. Tchounwou

Received: 12 January 2022 / Revised: 27 January 2022 / Accepted: 10 February 2022 / Published: 16 February 2022

COVID-19 restrictions and the instructions to stay at home (SaH) may have had an impact on child behavior including physical activity (PA) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in Switzerland. Therefore, we investigated PA and HRQoL during and after the SaH in 57 Swiss school children aged 7 to 12 years (M = 10.44; SD = 1.34). PA was measured using accelerometry (Actigraph GT3X) and HRQoL using the Kid-KINDL R questionnaire. During and post data was compared using paired sample t-tests. Independent t-tests were used to compare the HRQoL of physically active children with non-physically active children. PA in light (d = −0.56), moderate (d = −0.44), moderate-to-vigorous (d = −0.28) as well as overall HRQoL (d = −0.66), psychological well-being (d = −0.48), self-esteem (d = −0.39), friends (d = −0.70) and everyday functioning (d = −0.44), were significantly lower during SaH than afterwards. Children who adhered to PA recommendations (+60 min of moderate-to-vigorous PA) during SaH had a better overall HRQoL (d = 0.61) and psychological well-being (d = 0.56) than those who did not. Since PA levels and HRQoL were lower during SaH compared to afterwards, it seems that the restrictions negatively impacted children's PA and HRQoL. During future SaHs, promoting children's PA and HRQoL seems important. View Full-Text

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Figure 1

Benzing, V.; Gaillard, P.; Scheidegger, D.; Dössegger, A.; Nigg, C.R.; Schmidt, M. COVID-19: Physical Activity and Quality of Life in a Sample of Swiss School Children during and after the First Stay-at-Home. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 2231. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19042231

AMA Style

Benzing V, Gaillard P, Scheidegger D, Dössegger A, Nigg CR, Schmidt M. COVID-19: Physical Activity and Quality of Life in a Sample of Swiss School Children during and after the First Stay-at-Home. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(4):2231. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19042231

Chicago/Turabian Style

Benzing, Valentin, Patrice Gaillard, David Scheidegger, Alain Dössegger, Claudio R. Nigg, and Mirko Schmidt. 2022. "COVID-19: Physical Activity and Quality of Life in a Sample of Swiss School Children during and after the First Stay-at-Home" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 4: 2231. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19042231

Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

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# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
COVID-19: Physical Activity and Quality of Life in a Sample of Swiss School Children during and after the First Stay-at-Home

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
COVID-19 restrictions and the instructions to stay at home (SaH) may have had an impact on child behavior including physical activity (PA) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in Switzerland. Therefore, we investigated PA and HRQoL during and after the SaH in 57 Swiss school children aged 7 to 12 years (M = 10.44; SD = 1.34).

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Anthropometrics & Historical Epidemiology Research Group, Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich

https://www.iem.uzh.ch/en/people/anthroposcan/kasparstaub.html

Background: I have ca. 15 years of experience in analysing health monitoring data from Swiss conscripts (>90% coverage of young Swiss men aged 18-22 years with Swiss citizenship), focus on nutritional status (excess weight, sports test results, etc.). I am also member of the scientific board of the MKM:
https://www.vtg.admin.ch/de/organisation/astab/san/mkm/forschung.html

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Body mass index in young men in Switzerland after the national shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic – Results from a cross-sectional monitoring study at population level since 2010

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Body mass index in young men in Switzerland after the national shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic – Results from a cross-sectional monitoring study at population level since 2010

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https://osf.io/qd9vw/

(currently resubmitted after minor revisions in the European Journal of Public Health)

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Meili, S., Brabec, M., Rühli, F., Bührer, T., Gültekin, N., Stanga, Z., ... Reber, E. (2022, March 3). Body mass index in young men in Switzerland after the national shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic - Results from a cross-sectional monitoring study at population level since 2010. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/qd9vw

Meili, Samuel, et al. "Body Mass Index in Young Men in Switzerland After the National Shutdowns During the COVID-19 Pandemic - Results from a Cross-sectional Monitoring Study at Population Level Since 2010." OSF Preprints, 3 Mar. 2022. Web.

Meili, Samuel, Marek Brabec, Frank Rühli, Thomas Bührer, Nejla Gültekin, Zeno Stanga, Nicole Bender, et al. 2022. "Body Mass Index in Young Men in Switzerland After the National Shutdowns During the COVID-19 Pandemic - Results from a Cross-sectional Monitoring Study at Population Level Since 2010." OSF Preprints. March 3. doi:10.31219/osf.io/qd9vw.
Get more citations

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Body mass index in young men in Switzerland after the national shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic - Results from a cross-sectional monitoring study at population level since 2010

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Background: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Swiss Federal Council imposed a shutdown twice, which may have changed dietary and physical activity habits. On the question of weight change during the pandemic, there is little information based on measured weight data.

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COVID-19: le bien-être des étudiants de l’Université de Fribourgfortement impacté durant la première vague épidémique

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COVID-19: le bien-être des étudiants de l’Université de Fribourgfortement impacté durant la première vague épidémique

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El May E, Tancredi S, Chiolero A, Cullati
S. COVID-19: Le bien-être des étudiants.es de l’Université de Fribourg fortement impacté durant la première vague
épidémique, News n°1, Mai 2021, Laboratoire de santé des
populations (#PopHealthLab), Université de Fribourg

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Prospective Cohort Study of adults (including young adults 18+) covering amongst others mental health and physical activity.
See https://covid19.ctu.unibe.ch/ for details and interactive analyses.
There are some proxy-questions for parents about child health taken from the Swiss Health Survey - not yet analyzed.
For questions: marc.hoeglinger@zhaw.ch

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HEalth in Students during the Corona pandemic (HES-C)

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HEalth in Students during the Corona pandemic (HES-C)

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https://www.zhaw.ch/en/health/health-research-and-development/public-health-research/projects-public-health/students-health-in-times-of-the-corona-pandemic/

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1. School of Health Sciences

2. Research and Development

3. Public Health

4. Projects

5. Students’ health in times of the Corona pandemic

The period of education and training is not only important for the career development, it also has a long-lasting impact on health and risk behaviors closely linked to mental health and major noncommunicable diseases (e.g., cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or depression) in life. This period in life is also characterized by challenging transition processes and developmental steps. Therefore, it is important to explore health and health risks during this phase of life, the specific context of students, and also larger external influences. One such major external influence currently is the coronavirus pandemic. Our study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and containment measures on student health.

Goal

To strengthen and support student health in the medium to long term, the study investigates:

potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on student health, health and risk behaviors.

perceived consequences related to students' education, coping, and behavior in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic

dynamics and change of effect on outcomes and perception over time

Procedure

The study is an open cohort, including and cross-sectionally investigating repetitive samples of students at the ZHAW. The Zurich Ethics Committee and ZHAW Data Protection Officer have found the study to be ethically and legally correct. Due to the unique epidemiological and the online teaching situation the study ran for three pandemic semesters. Nine surveys were sent out, three in each semester (see Figure 1). Students of the ZHAW were contacted via their student e-mail address and received online access to a questionnaire by e-mail. Overall, the study managed to reach about 70% of the students body at some time point throughout the study.

Main results of the study so far

Students showed a high compliance with containment recommendations and measures. Lowest compliance was seen for “limiting social contacts to five people”. While men yielded a significant lower compliance for social distancing, non-utilization of public transport, 5-person limit for social gatherings and the stay at home rule, the effect on the prevalence of non-compliance by gender was marginal. In addition to gender, factors associated with adherence were information source and perceived susceptibility to the virus.

Mental health deteriorated over the observed time period
The study showed that both generalized anxiety and depressive symptoms increased in severity and prevalence and severity. The initial prevalence in April 2020 of moderate to severe depressive symptoms was three times as high as in a comparable representative sample in 2017 and increased further over time.

A latent class analysis (LCA) yielded three classes varying in perceived COVID-19 impact: 1 (low, n = 675), 2 (moderate, n = 1098), and 3 (strong, n = 656), and a significant increase in the adjusted proportion of moderate to severe anxiety by class with a 10-fold increase in class 3 compared to class 1.

Generalized anxiety symptom prevalence was significantly higher in non-health professional students as compared to health profession students. The absolute differences in anxiety between the two student groups over all eight measurement points ranged from 6.2% to 14.9% (all p<0.05). Non-HP students have identified as a specifically vulnerable group.

Out of 80% who reported having drunk alcohol during the last 30 day, a third engaged at least one in binge drinking (>5 beverages) and a fifth consumed more than usual. Similarly, in a minority of marijuana users (11%) about a fourth consumed more during the lock-down than before.

A third of the students intended to get vaccinated against Cov-2 SARS virus, once the vaccine became available to them. The majority was either unsure or opposed about getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Next to demographic characteristics, vaccination history, trust in vaccination strategy, and 5C dimensions were associated with vaccination intention, such as collective responsibility or calculation.

Further results will be published in peer reviewed journals and main results provided on this website. Analyses of the study data are ongoing.

Short reports

Results from the survey April 2020(PDF 337,9 KB) (in German)

Results from the survey October 2020(PDF 279,3 KB) (in German)

Results from the survey December 2020(PDF 403,1 KB) (in German)

Short report (PDF 191,8 KB)(in German)

Peer-reviewed Publications

Project organisation

Project management
Prof. Dr. med. Julia Dratva

Contact
studierenden.gesundheit@zhaw.ch

Project duration
3.4.2020 - end not yet determined

Project team
- Prof. Dr. Thomas Volken
- Dr. Annina Zysset
- Nadine Schlatter
- Prof. Dr. Agnes von Wyl / Department of Applied Psychology

Project partner
Alias - Students ZHAW, Society Students ZHAW

Financing
equity

Project status
completed

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Students’ health in times of the Corona pandemic | ZHAW Health Sciences

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The period of education and training is not only important for the career development, it also has a long-lasting impact on health and risk behaviors closely linked to mental health and major noncommunicable diseases (e.g., cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or de…

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Association Between Homeschooling and Adolescent Sleep Duration and Health During COVID-19 Pandemic High School Closures

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Association Between Homeschooling and Adolescent Sleep Duration and Health During COVID-19 Pandemic High School Closures

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https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2787630

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Key Points

Question  Were sleep gains among adolescents during COVID-19 pandemic high school closures associated with better health-related characteristics?

Findings  In this survey study of 8972 adolescents from Swiss high schools, during the COVID-19 lockdown, participants slept significantly longer and had better health-related quality of life and less caffeine and alcohol use than before the pandemic. Longer sleep duration was significantly associated with better health-related characteristics, although this was offset by an association of depressive symptoms with worse health-related characteristics and increased caffeine consumption.

Meaning  In this study, sleep gains were associated with better health-related characteristics among youths, but depressive symptoms were associated with a worsening of the same health-related characteristics.

Importance  Although negative associations of COVID-19 pandemic high school closures with adolescents’ health have been demonstrated repeatedly, some research has reported a beneficial association of these closures with adolescents’ sleep. The present study was, to our knowledge, the first to combine both perspectives.

Objective  To investigate associations between adolescents’ sleep and health-related characteristics during COVID-19 pandemic school closures in Switzerland.

Design, Setting, and Participants  This survey study used cross-sectional online surveys circulated among the students of 21 public high schools in Zurich, Switzerland. The control sample completed the survey under regular, prepandemic conditions (May to July 2017) and the lockdown sample during school closures (May to June 2020). Survey respondents were included in the study if they provided their sex, age, and school.

Exposures  High school closures during the first COVID-19 pandemic wave in Switzerland (March 13 to June 6, 2020).

Main Outcomes and Measures  Sleep-wake patterns, health-related quality of life (HRQoL, assessed by the KIDSCREEN-10 questionnaire), substance use (caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine), and depressive symptoms (lockdown sample only; assessed using the withdrawn/depressed scale from the Youth Self Report). Multilevel regression models were used to assess sample differences and associations of health-related characteristics with sleep duration and depressive symptoms.

Results  The total sample consisted of 8972 students, including 5308 (59.2%) in the control sample (3454 [65.1%] female) and 3664 (40.8%) in the lockdown sample (2429 [66.3%] female); the median age in both samples was 16 years (IQR, 15-17 years). During school closures, the sleep period on scheduled days was 75 minutes longer (semipartial R ² statistic [R ² β*], 0.238; 95% CI, 0.222-0.254; P < .001) and the students had better HRQoL (R ² β*, 0.007; 95% CI, 0.004-0.012; P < .001) and less consumption of caffeine (R ² β*, 0.010; 95% CI, 0.006-0.015; P < .001) and alcohol (R ² β*, 0.014; 95% CI, 0.008-0.022; P < .001). Longer sleep duration was associated with better HRQoL (R ² β*, 0.027; 95% CI, 0.020-0.034; P < .001) and less caffeine consumption (R ² β*, 0.013; 95% CI, 0.009-0.019; P < .001). In the lockdown sample, an inverse association was found between depressive symptoms and HRQoL (R ² β*, 0.285; 95% CI, 0.260-.0311; P < .001) and a positive association was found with caffeine consumption (R ² β*, 0.003; 95% CI, 0.000-0.008; P = .01).

Conclusions and Relevance  In this survey study, 2 opposing associations between school closures and adolescents’ health were identified: a negative association with psychological distress and a beneficial association with increased sleep duration. These findings should be considered when evaluating and implementing school closures. Furthermore, the findings provide support for delaying school start times for adolescents.

In spring 2020, the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic was declared. To limit the spread of infection, social contacts were markedly reduced. Many countries were forced to shut down most of public life, including schools. Thus, children and adolescents experienced extreme changes in daily life. Critical concerns about the negative effects of closures were raised and have since been supported by empirical evidence. The prevalence of mental health problems in adolescents increased substantially during lockdown.1,2 For example, increases in depressive symptoms and anxiety and decreases in life satisfaction and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) were observed in longitudinal studies.3,4 Furthermore, adolescents were less physically active and spent more time being sedentary in front of screens.5-9 Findings regarding substance use have been mixed; in general, fewer adolescents consumed substances such as alcohol during the lockdown, but the frequency of consumption seemed to increase.10

Although, to our knowledge, there has been no controversy about the negative association of lockdown with adolescents’ well-being,11 a potentially conflicting finding has also appeared consistently; adolescents slept significantly longer during school closures than before them.5-8,12-14 Sleep plays a crucial role in mental and physical health,15-17 and thus, a positive association of increased sleep with adolescent well-being and health could be expected. Studies investigating later school start times (SSTs) in the morning have shown this association; early SSTs conflict with adolescents’ late biologic sleep phase and therefore contribute to the well-known chronic sleep deficit of many adolescents by preventing later wake times that compensate for biologically related delayed sleep times.15,16,18,19 Studies investigating the consequences of later SSTs have consistently found longer sleep duration together with positive associations with adolescents’ health.16,19-21 The sleep gains observed during school closures can be interpreted similarly: because students in homeschooling do not need to commute to school, school closures create a naturalistic delay in SSTs. Thus, adolescents appear to have benefitted from school closures that aligned their sleep schedule better with their biologic sleep phase, allowing more sleep.5-8,12-14 However, to our knowledge, whether the longer sleep duration during school closures was associated with health benefits, as in SST delay studies,16,19-21 has not been investigated.

In this survey study, we aimed to fill this research gap and investigate the association of sleep with adolescents’ health during school closure. By comparing a sample of adolescents examined during the lockdown in Switzerland in spring 2020 with a control sample examined under regular conditions,22 we aimed to further characterize adolescents’ sleep behavior and the health characteristics of HRQoL and substance use during school closures. We also investigated the differential associations of sleep and depressive symptoms with adolescents’ health. We aimed to render a more comprehensive picture about the outcomes of pandemic high school closures by considering the closures’ associations with both psychological distress and later SSTs.

In this survey study, 2 samples of respondents from nearly identical online surveys were compared. As confirmed by the ethics committee of the canton of Zurich, the study did not fall within the scope of the Swiss Human Research Act because both surveys were anonymous; therefore, ethical approval and informed consent were not required. In both surveys, all public high schools in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland, were asked to electronically circulate a link to the survey (completion time approximately 10 minutes) among their students. The control sample (details published elsewhere)22 included students who completed surveys from May to July 2017, and the lockdown sample included students who completed surveys from May to June 2020 during high school closure owing to the first COVID-19 wave in Switzerland. Of importance, because season affects sleep,23 both surveys were administered in the spring. Exclusion criteria were no information about sex, age, or school; attending a private high school; and currently experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. School start time was between 7:30 and 8:05 am in the control sample but was unknown for the lockdown sample because of substantial heterogeneity of homeschooling implementation across schools. This study followed the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) reporting guideline; however, because it was unknown how many students received the survey invitation from their school, it was not possible to report disposition codes and outcome rates as suggested by the AAPOR reporting guideline. Instead, participation rates (ie, the percentage of participants among all high school students) were calculated; median participation rates were estimated as 38% (IQR, 35%-43%) in 2017 and 23% (IQR, 5%-42%) in 2020. Participants were compensated with participation in a raffle.

School Closure in Switzerland

High schools in Switzerland were closed from March 13 to June 6, 2020, although starting from May 11, 2020, in-person lessons with a maximum of 5 people were allowed. The government strongly recommended staying at home and minimizing social contact, but a curfew was never in place.24

The surveys were created in LimeSurvey.25 All questions were presented in German, and participation was voluntary and anonymous. Details about questions and answer formats are provided in eTable 1 in the Supplement.

Students indicated their sex, age, and primary language (Swiss German vs other). In addition, they reported whether they had a chronic physical or mental disease (yes or no) and which school they attended.

The Munich Chronotype Questionnaire26 was used to assess sleep-wake patterns separately for scheduled days such as school days, free days such as weekend days, and alarm clock use (yes or no) on scheduled days. The bedtimes and wake times indicated by participants were used to quantify the sleep period. As in Werner et al,22 the sleep deficit was calculated as the sleep period on free days minus the sleep period on scheduled days.

To assess sleep difficulties, 2 questions from the School Sleep Habits Survey27 were used. The students indicated how many nights they had had difficulty falling asleep and sleeping through the night in the previous 2 weeks.

Health-Related and Behavioral Characteristics

The KIDSCREEN-10 questionnaire28 was chosen to assess HRQoL. Depressive symptoms were assessed only in the lockdown sample with the withdrawn/depressed scale from the Youth Self Report for ages of 11 to 18 years.29 Raw sum scores were transformed into T values, with greater KIDSCREEN-10 values indicating better HRQoL and greater Youth Self Report values indicating more depressive symptoms. Youth Self Report withdrawn/depressed scores with T values of 70 or greater indicate clinically relevant symptom levels.29

Furthermore, the adolescents indicated their weekly caffeine consumption. Students older than 16 years were also asked about their weekly alcohol consumption and whether they smoked, and if so, how many cigarettes per day. In addition, students indicated how many hours per day they used digital media.

COVID-19–Related Measures

The lockdown sample indicated whether they were in temporary homeschooling owing to pandemic school closures (yes or no) and rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1, “not at all”; 5, “very strongly”) regarding changes since the pandemic in the following areas of life: social contacts, use of digital media, and sports. Also, the participants indicated on a similar Likert scale how much they worried that the pandemic would affect their future academic achievement. To assess self-exposure and proxy exposure to COVID-19, the participants were asked whether they, someone in the same household, or someone close such as a grandparent had COVID-19 symptoms.

Data were analyzed using R, version 4.0.2 (R Project for Statistical Computing). Two-tailed tests were used for all analyses, and P < .05 was considered statistically significant. All variables had nonnormal distributions (Kolmogorov-Smirnov test), and thus, descriptive statistics are presented as medians and IQRs. Sleep-wake patterns on scheduled and free days were compared using mixed models (lmerTest package in R).30

Next, we performed 3 analysis blocks, again using mixed models (lmerTest and lme4 packages in R),30,31 each of which was successively complemented by a further variable. To account for potential confounders, several control variables were included in all models, with sample characteristics in which the samples differed as fixed effects and school as a random effect (null model). For all models, we checked for each variable whether a random slope should be included by comparing the Akaike information criteria of the models with and without the random slope of the given variable and included the random slope if the respective Akaike information criterion was lower (variables included in each model are provided in eTable 2 in the Supplement).

First, participation in the lockdown vs the control sample was added to the null models (lockdown, 1; control, 0) to investigate differences in sleep (sleep-wake patterns, alarm clock use, and sleep problems), health-related characteristics (HRQoL and use of caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine), and digital media use. Second, to analyze associations between health and sleep, participants’ sleep period on scheduled days was added to the models with health-related characteristics as dependent variables with a significant sample main effect. Third, to investigate associations with depressive symptoms, a subanalysis was performed with the lockdown sample: the models from the analysis of associations between health and sleep were calculated with only the lockdown sample, and depressive symptoms were then added to the model.

Assumptions of regression models were visually inspected, and if needed, data were square-root transformed. Semipartial R ² statistics (R ² β*) (determined using the r2glmm package in R)32,33 were reported as the effect sizes of the variables. Within analysis blocks, the significance level was Bonferroni corrected for multiple comparisons.

The control survey was completed by 6252 students and the lockdown survey by 4227; of these students, 944 and 563, respectively, did not meet the inclusion criteria. Thus, 8972 students (5308 [59.2%] from 17 of 20 schools in the control sample and 3664 [40.8%] from all 21 schools in the lockdown sample) were included in the analysis. Students in both samples had a median age of 16 years (IQR, 15-17 years); 3454 students [65.1%] in the lockdown sample and 2429 [66.3%] in the control sample were female (Table 1). Most (3593 [67.7%] in the control sample and 2384 [65.1%] in the lockdown sample) indicated that Swiss German was their primary language. Sex distribution and prevalence of a mental illness were comparable between the samples; however, the lockdown sample was younger compared with the control sample (mean [SD] age, 15.95 [1.87] years vs 16.09 [1.76] years) and included fewer adolescents with chronic physical diseases (196 [5.3%] vs 403 [7.6%]) and more with a primary language other than Swiss German (1280 [34.9%] vs 1681 [31.7%]. Therefore, these variables were included as control variables in the data analyses. A total of 6048 participants could be matched for characteristics in which the samples differed (ie, age, primary language, and physical disease).

In the lockdown sample, most adolescents were in homeschooling (3412 [93.1%] yes and 64 [1.7%] no; 188 [5.1%] had data missing). A total of 2569 students (70.1%) indicated no personal or proxy COVID-19 exposure, whereas 449 (12.3%) indicated knowing at least 1 person who had been infected with COVID-19 (646 [17.6%] had data missing). Only 33 students (0.9%) indicated that they had recovered from COVID-19. Strong or very strong changes in different areas of life compared with the situation before the pandemic were reported by approximately half of the participants (strong or very strong changes in social contacts were reported by 2009 students [54.8%]; changes in digital media use by 1935 [52.8%]; and changes in sports by 1866 [50.9%]). A total of 1181 participants (32.2%) indicated that they worried strongly or very strongly about negative effects of the pandemic on their academic achievement. The median withdrawn/depressed score was 57 (IQR, 51-64), and 332 participants (9.1%) exceeded the clinical cutoff T value of 70 or greater.29

Comparison of Sleep Behavior

In both samples, the adolescents’ sleep-wake patterns were significantly later and sleep period was significantly longer on free days than on scheduled days (Table 2). Large differences in sleep-wake patterns were observed between the samples (Table 3). On scheduled days, the lockdown sample slept significantly longer than the control sample (median, 9.00 hours [IQR, 8.25-9.75 hours] vs 7.75 hours [IQR, 7.08-8.33 hours]). The lockdown sample woke up 90 minutes later than the control sample (median wake time: 7:45 am [IQR, 7:10-8:27 am] vs 6:15 am [IQR, 6:00-6:30 am]) and had lower rates of alarm clock use (2735 [74.6%] vs 4587 [86.4%]). Bedtimes for the lockdown sample were 15 minutes later than for the control sample (median, 10:45 pm [IQR, 10:00-11:30 pm] vs 10:30 pm [IQR, 10:00-11:00 pm]), leading to an increase in sleep period of 75 minutes during the lockdown (R ² β*, 0.238; 95% CI, 0.222-0.254; P < .001). On free days, sleep behavior of the 2 samples was comparable. The sleep deficit (ie, the difference between sleep duration on free and scheduled days) was significantly smaller in the lockdown sample.

Sleep problems were significantly more frequent in the lockdown sample than in the control sample (Table 3). Both difficulties falling asleep and problems sleeping through the night more than 4 times in the previous 2 weeks were more prevalent in the lockdown group (falling asleep: 1237 [33.8%] vs 1645 [30.9%]; problems sleeping: 437 [11.9%] vs 439 [8.3%]). However, most of the adolescents reported good sleep (ie, problems on fewer than 4 nights in the previous 2 weeks in falling asleep [1184 (51.4%)] and sleeping through the night [2869 (78.3%)]).

Comparison of Health-Related and Behavioral Characteristics

Sample differences in health-related and behavioral characteristics were investigated (Table 3). The HRQoL scores on the KIDSCREEN-10 were significantly higher in the lockdown sample than in the control sample (median, 44.48 [IQR, 40.24-49.76] vs 42.27 [IQR, 37.42-48.29]; R ² β*, 0.007; 95% CI, 0.004-0.012; P < .001). Higher values were indicated by the lockdown sample on the items for feeling fit and well, for being full of energy, for having enough time for themselves, and for being able to do the things they wanted in their free time. Conversely, adolescents in the lockdown sample indicated feeling lonelier and sadder and having less fun with friends.

Substance use was significantly lower in the lockdown sample, although only the consumption of alcohol (R ² β*, 0.014; 95% CI, 0.008-0.022; P < .001) and caffeine (R ² β*, 0.010; 95% CI, 0.006-0.015; P < .001) remained significant after correction for multiple comparison. Consequently, cigarette consumption was not investigated further. Digital media use in free time was significantly higher in the lockdown sample than in the control sample. Whereas adolescents in the control sample reported spending a median of 2.0 hours (IQR, 1.5-3.0 hours) per day using digital media, the lockdown sample used digital media for 3.5 hours (IQR, 2.0-5.0 hours) per day.

Associations of Health-Related Characteristics With Sleep Period

On scheduled days, longer sleep period was associated with better HRQoL (R ² β*, 0.027; 95% CI, 0.020-0.034; P < .001) and less caffeine consumption (R ² β*, 0.013; 95% CI, 0.009-0.019; P < .001) (Table 4). No significant association between sleep period and alcohol consumption was found.

The between-sample difference in substance use remained similar to that in the models without sleep period, with significant differences between the samples in alcohol and caffeine consumption (Table 4). However, the between-sample difference for HRQoL was not significant when sleep period was included in the model (Table 4).

Association of Health-Related Characteristics With Depressive Symptoms

Because depressive symptoms were assessed only in the lockdown sample, a subsample analysis was performed. First, to investigate comparability between the samples, the same models from Table 4 were calculated with only the lockdown sample. In the lockdown subsample, sleep period was positively associated with HRQoL in 3014 adolescents (β [SE], 0.48 [0.13]; R ² β*, 0.005; 95% CI, 0.001-0.011; P < .001) and negatively associated with caffeine consumption in 3022 adolescents (β [SE], −0.16 [0.04]; R ² β*, 0.004; 95% CI, 0.001-0.010; P < .001). There was no association between alcohol consumption and sleep period among 1787 adolescents (β [SE], 0.04 [0.04]; R ² β*, 0.001; 95% CI, 0.000-0.005; P = .97).

Next, depressive symptoms were added to the models (Table 5). Significantly negative associations were found between depressive symptoms and HRQoL (R ² β*, 0.285; 95% CI, 0.260-0.311; P < .001) and alcohol consumption (R ² β*, 0.003; 95% CI, 0.000-0.011; P = .04), and a positive association was found with caffeine consumption (R ² β*, 0.003; 95% CI, 0.000-0.008; P = .01). The associations with sleep duration remained unchanged except for HRQoL, for which no association was found when depressive symptoms were added.

During the pandemic lockdown in spring 2020 in Switzerland, adolescents in this survey study slept a median of 75 minutes longer on school days than did adolescents under regular conditions, mainly owing to later wake times.5-8,12-14 As expected, sleep behavior on free days was comparable between samples.5,13 The findings suggest that school closures allowed students to better align their sleep schedules with adolescents’ late sleep phase.16,34-37 Of most importance, to our knowledge, this study provides the first scientific evidence for the beneficial sleep-related associations of school closures with adolescents’ health, as demonstrated by better HRQoL and decreased substance use in the lockdown sample than in the control sample. Furthermore, we found significant associations between sleep period and HRQoL and caffeine consumption. Longer sleep duration was associated with better HRQoL and less caffeine consumption. However, depressive symptoms were associated with worse HRQoL and more caffeine consumption in the lockdown sample. Thus, 2 opposing associations with adolescents’ health during school closure were identified: a beneficial sleep-related association and a detrimental distress-related association.

Beneficial Associations With Sleep

Along with sleep gains, we observed less substance use10 and better HRQoL in the lockdown sample than in the control sample. This contrasts with the findings of a study from Germany,4 in which HRQoL was found to be lower during the lockdown than before the lockdown. The disparity might be explained by the stricter pandemic rules in Germany than in Switzerland.

The finding of an association between sleep duration and the health-related characteristics of better HRQoL and less caffeine consumption is consistent with findings of studies of SST delays.16,19-21 Of interest, when controlling for sleep period, the between-sample difference in HRQoL disappeared (Table 4), indicating that sleep duration was associated with the increase in HRQoL. In contrast, no association was found between sleep duration and alcohol consumption.

Overall, better HRQoL and less caffeine consumption appeared to be associated with increased sleep duration. Caffeine consumption and sleep are bidirectionally associated; the sleep gains owing to later SSTs may disrupt the potentially harmful cycle of consuming more caffeine owing to insufficient sleep, which in turn is associated with even worse sleep.16,20 The adolescents in lockdown not only slept longer and in better alignment with their late sleep phase but also showed more regular sleep-wake patterns across the week, which is known to be beneficial for adolescents’ health.38 A possible mechanism for the association between sleep and HRQoL may be the direct association of sleep with mental, social, and physical functioning.39 Numerous studies40 have shown that sleep deficits and insomnia are associated with substantially impaired coping in everyday life; declines in mood and cognitive functioning such as concentration, memory, and attention; and general fatigue, anxiety, and physical discomfort.

Detrimental Associations With Psychological Distress

This study adds to evidence of psychological distress among adolescents during the COVID-19 lockdown1-4; clinically relevant levels of depressive symptoms were found in 9.1% of adolescents in lockdown, 4.5 times more prevalent than the expected level of 2%.2,29 Although total HRQoL was better during lockdown, comparison of individual items on the KIDSCREEN-10 showed that adolescents in lockdown felt lonelier and sadder and had less fun with friends. Adolescents indicated high perceived changes in different areas of life, and 32.2% of students indicated that they worried strongly or very strongly about negative consequences of the pandemic on their future academic achievement—a finding that should be followed up in future studies. In addition, digital media use was higher in the lockdown sample,5-9 and, potentially associated with this,16 sleep problems were more frequent during lockdown.5,13 Thus, the longer sleep periods may have been a consequence of worse sleep quality, such as fragmented sleep, which necessitated longer sleep duration to compensate. Assessment of sleep quality was not possible with our approach. However, the between-group difference in sleep duration was more pronounced than the difference in sleep problems, and most adolescents reported good sleep.

The positive associations of health-related characteristics with sleep coexisted with negative associations with depressive symptoms. Significant associations of depressive symptoms with worse HRQoL and more caffeine consumption were apparent, likely related to the overall association between depressive symptoms and health-compromising behaviors.41 Whereas caffeine consumption and sleep duration were still significantly associated when depressive symptoms were added to the model, there was no association between HRQoL and sleep duration, suggesting the detrimental association between depressive symptoms and HRQoL was stronger than the beneficial association between increased sleep duration and HRQoL. However, the data did not allow a precise weighting of the 2 associations identified, and further research is needed to investigate the interplay between them; those findings may be helpful for future policy decisions.

This study has limitations. The most important limitation is its pseudolongitudinal approach: the 2 samples consisted of students from mostly the same schools, and it is likely that some students participated in both samples. However, because the surveys were answered anonymously, quantification or even paired analysis was not possible. Therefore, the data only allowed investigation of associations between measures, not the investigation of associations among changes or causality. Also, the samples differed in some characteristics (ie, age, primary language, and physical disease) that are difficult to interpret. However, a subgroup analysis with 6048 participants matched for those characteristics confirmed the results presented in this article. Furthermore, 3 years passed between the surveys; thus, potential cohort effects cannot be excluded. For instance, the greater use of digital media in the lockdown sample may be explained by progressive digitalization, and a regressive trend was observed in alcohol use.42 No details about homeschooling were available for the lockdown sample, such as whether virtual lessons took place at fixed times, whether only flexible self-study occurred, or whether students participated in in-person lessons of a maximum of 5 people starting from May 11, 2020. Moreover, generalizability is limited because Switzerland applied only partial lockdown measures24 and because survey participation rates were low, with a selection bias of female students; however, these rates are likely to be underestimates because the number of students who eventually received the study invitation is unknown.

In this survey study, adolescents in the lockdown sample slept more than 1 hour longer on school days than did adolescents in the control sample, and sleep duration was associated with better health-related characteristics. Concurrently, depressive symptoms were associated with poorer HRQoL and increased caffeine consumption and thus diminished the beneficial associations with sleep. Thus, evaluation of school closures should be supplemented by these observed positive associations, and the beneficial sleep associations that may counteract the negative outcomes should be considered when implementing school closures. Furthermore, this study provides further support for delaying SSTs in countries with early SSTs.

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Article Information

Accepted for Publication: November 10, 2021.

Published: January 5, 2022. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.42100

Open Access: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC-BY License. © 2022 Albrecht JN et al. JAMA Network Open.

Corresponding Author: Oskar G. Jenni, MD, Child Development Center, University Children’s Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Steinwiesstrasse 75, CH-8032 Zurich, Switzerland (oskar.jenni@kispi.uzh.ch).

Author Contributions: Drs Huber and Jenni contributed equally as co–senior authors. Dr Jenni had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Concept and design: Werner, Widmer, Janisch, Huber, Jenni.

Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: Albrecht, Werner, Rieger, Widmer, Huber, Jenni.

Drafting of the manuscript: Albrecht, Janisch, Huber.

Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Albrecht, Werner, Rieger, Widmer, Huber, Jenni.

Statistical analysis: Albrecht, Werner, Rieger, Widmer, Janisch.

Obtained funding: Janisch, Huber, Jenni.

Administrative, technical, or material support: Albrecht, Rieger, Janisch, Huber, Jenni.

Supervision: Albrecht, Werner, Huber, Jenni.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: None reported.

Funding/Support: This work was supported by the Sleep and Health Clinical Research Priority Program of the University of Zurich (UZH) and the Children’s Research Center of the University Children’s Hospital Zurich (Ms Albrecht).

Role of the Funder/Sponsor: The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Additional Contributions: Matthias Karrer, MSc (University Children’s Hospital Zurich), set up the online surveys and received no compensation. Simon Milligan, PhD (Language Centre of the UZH and ETH Zurich), provided language editing and received compensation. Andrea Meyer, PhD (University of Basel), provided statistical advice and received no compensation.

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Döpfner  M﻿, Plück  J﻿, Kinnen  C.﻿﻿  Für Die Arbeitsgruppe Deutsche Child Behavior Checklist. Manual Deutsche Schulalter-Formen Der Child Behavior Checklist von Thomas M. Achenbach. Elternfragebogen Über Das Verhalten von Kindern Und Jugendlichen. Hogrefe; 2014.

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Sleep and Health-Related Characteristics among Adolescentsduring COVID-19: An Update

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Sleep and Health-Related Characteristics among Adolescentsduring COVID-19: An Update

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https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/ijerph/ijerph-19-05078/article_deploy/ijerph-19-05078-v2.pdf?version=1650616089

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Research on learning outcomes using data from a computer-based formative feedback system for students in primary and secondary schools

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Schulbarometer (https://bildungsmanagement.net/team/prof-dr-stephan-gerhard-huber/)

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Stephan Gerhard Huber studierte an den Universitäten Erlangen-Nürnberg, Bamberg und Cambridge, England. Er war Stipendiat der Grund-, Auslands- und Promotionsförderung des Cusanuswerks (Begabtenförderung).

Arbeitsschwerpunkte

Organisationspädagogik, Systemberatung, Bildungsmanagement, Schulqualität, Schulentwicklung, Schulmanagement, Professionalisierung von Lehrkräften und von pädagogischem Führungspersonal, international-vergleichende Bildungsforschung sowie Jugendforschung

Derzeitige und frühere wissenschaftliche Positionen

Pädagogische Hochschule Zug, Zentralschweiz:

seit 2018 Leiter Forschung und Entwicklung

seit 2006 Leiter des Instituts für Bildungsmanagement und Bildungsökonomie, Professur

seit 2006 Mitglied der Hochschulleitungskonferenz

von 2009-2013 Leiter Forschung & Entwicklung

Universität Würzburg:

2006 Vertretung des Lehrstuhls Empirische Bildungsforschung, Professur

Universität Erfurt:

seit 2009 Mitglied der Erfurt School of Education (ESE)

von 2006 bis 2009 Kooptiertes Mitglied des Zentrums für Lehr-/Lern- und Bildungsforschung, Projektleiter

von 2005 bis 2006 Juniorprofessor für Bildungsmanagement

von 2005 bis 2006 Programmbeauftragter des MA-Studiengangs Bildungsmanagement

von 2004 bis 2005 Leiter der Selbstständigen Nachwuchsforschungsgruppe Bedingungen schulischer Lernprozesse und deren Förderung (HWP)

von 2004 bis 2006 Stellvertretender Direktor des Zentrums für Lehr-, Lern- und Bildungsforschung

Universität Bamberg:

von 2003 bis 2004 Stellvertretender Leiter der Forschungsstelle für Schulentwicklung und Schulmanagement

von 1997 bis 2003 Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter der Forschungsstelle für Schulentwicklung und Schulmanagement

Weitere institutionelle Einbindungen

seit 2020 Experte Innosuisse - Schweizerische Agentur für Innovationsförderung der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft

seit 2017 Mitglied im Beirat des Projekts „Standards inklusives Schulsystem zur Sicherung der sonderpädagogischen Qualität" des Fachverbands Sozial- und Sonderpädagogik Integras

seit 2016 Mitglied des Wissenschaftlichen Beirats des Bundesamtes für Auswärtige Angelegenheiten - Zentralstelle für das Auslandsschulwesen

seit 2014 Mitglied im Beirat des UCEA Center for the International Study of School Leadership (University Council for Educational Administration)

seit 2014 Mitglied im Beirat des Projekts „ProfilQ - Professionalisierung durch schulinterne Qualitätsentwicklung" der Dachverbände Lehrerinnen und Lehrer Schweiz (LCH) und Schulleiterinnen und Schulleiter Schweiz (VSLCH), gefördert von der Stiftung Mercator Schweiz

seit 2013 Mitglied im Kuratorium der Landesakademien für Lehrerfortbildung und Personalentwicklung an Schulen Baden-Württemberg

seit 2013 Adjunct Professor of the Griffith Institute for Educational Research, Griffith University Brisbane

2013 Mitglied der Expertenkommission des Schweizer Schulpreis

seit 2011 Mitglied im Akademierat der Deutschen Akademie für Pädagogische Führungskräfte (DAPF), TU Dortmund

seit 2009 Senior Research Fellow of the Education University of Hong Kong

von 2009 bis 2015 Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Education within the Faculty of Humanities, University of Manchester

seit 2009 Mitglied der Erfurt School of Education (ESE) der Universität Erfurt, Projektleiter

seit 2009 Beiratsmitglied des Studienkollegs der Stiftung der deutschen Wirtschaft in Kooperation mit dem Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, der Robert Bosch Stiftung und weiteren Förderern

seit 2006 Leiter des Forschungskonsortiums der Eidgenössische Jugendbefragungen ch-x, Kernindikatoren (Enquêtes fédérales auprès de la jeunesse, Inchieste federali fra i giovani)

Programmleiter

seit 2012 CAS Educational Governance der Hochschule Luzern - Wirtschaft in Kooperation mit der PH Zug

seit 2006 MAS Schulmanagement der PH Luzern in Kooperation mit der PH Zug

Dozierender in den Masterlehrgängen

seit 2018 Mitwirkung am Boxenstopp des Kooperationspartners Pädagogische Hochschule der Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz, Institut für Weiterbildung und Beratung

seit 2015 PH Schwyz

seit 2013 PH Oberösterreich

seit 2013 PH Niederösterreich

seit 2010 Universität Halle

seit 2010 PH Weingarten/PH St. Gallen/PH Graubünden/PH Thurgau/PH Schaffhausen/PH Vorarlberg

seit 2007 PH Zürich

2020/2021, 2019/2020, 2012/2013 und 2008/2009 Gastprofessor an der Universität Linz

2017/2018 Gastprofessor an der Madurai Kamaraj University Indien

2007/2008 Gastprofessor an der Universität Freiburg

2005/2006 Gastprofessor an der University of Cyprus

Projekte

Stephan Gerhard Huber leitet Forschungsprojekte und wissenschaftliche Begleitungen, Evaluationen und Beratungen. In seinen Forschungsprojekten finden verschiedene methodische Ansätze Anwendung, qualitative, quantitative, mixed-method und international-vergleichende.
Siehe Projekte Posterpräsentation von laufenden Projekten
Tagungsleitung

Stephan Gerhard Huber ist Leiter des Bildungs- und Schulleitungssymposiums (World Education Leadership Symposium) und Internationalen Schulleitungssymposiums sowie des International Seminar.
Siehe Tagungen
Mitgliedschaft in wissenschaftlichen Vereinigungen

American Educational Research Association (AERA)

Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration and Management (CCEAM)

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Erziehungswissenschaft (DGfE)

European Educational Research Association (EERA)

International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI)

Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Bildungsforschung (SGBF)

Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Evaluation (SEVAL)

Gesellschaft für Evaluation e.V. (DeGEval)

European Evaluation Society (EES)

Schweizer Gesellschaft für Lehrerbildung (SGL)

Weltkongress Deutscher Auslandsschulen

Aktuelle Vorträge und Präsentationen

Stephan Gerhard Huber war Keynote Speaker bei wissenschaftlichen Fachtagungen und Kongressen, z.B. der der British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society (BELMAS), des European Policy Network on School Leadership (EPNoSL), des International Successful School Principal Project (ISSPP), des Asia Leadership Roundtable (ALR) sowie bei Großveranstaltungen von nationalen Initiativen, Ministerien, Behörden, Verbänden, Akademien staatlichen Einrichtungen und Stiftungen. Er hält Fachvorträge bei den einschlägigen Kongressen, z.B. der American Educational Research Association (AERA), des Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration and Management (CCEAM), der European Educational Research Association (EERA), des International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI), der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Bildungsforschung (SGBF) sowie der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Erziehungswissenschaft (DGfE).

Präsentationen im Rahmen von wissenschaftlichen Tagungen und Kongressen

Präsentationen im Rahmen von Qualifizierungen, Tagungen und Konferenzen der Bildungspolitik und -praxis sowie gemischte Auditorien (Auswahl)

Veröffentlichungen

Stephan Huber ist Verfasser und Herausgeber von Publikationen, u.a. Monographien, Buchreihen und Zeitschriftenartikel, in deutschsprachigen wie internationalen Fachorganen, Mitglied in Fachbeiräten sowie Gutachter in Review-Verfahren.
Vollständiges Verzeichnis der Veröffentlichungen Publikationen (Auswahl) Medienecho
Presseberichte und Interviews (wird derzeit aktualisiert)

Filme (wird derzeit aktualisiert)

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Prof. Dr. Stephan Gerhard Huber - Institut für Bildungsmanagement und Bildungsökonomie

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Stephan Gerhard Huber studierte an den Universitäten Erlangen-Nürnberg, Bamberg und Cambridge, England. Er war Stipendiat der Grund-, Auslands- und Promotionsförderung des Cusanuswerks (Begabtenförderung). Arbeitsschwerpunkte Organisationspädagogik, Systemberatung, Bildungsmanagement, Schulqualität, Schulentwicklung, Schulmanagement, Professionalisierung von Lehrkräften und von pädagogischem Führungspersonal, international-vergleichende Bildungsforschung sowie Jugendforschung Derzeitige und frühere wissenschaftliche Positionen Pädagogische Hochschule Zug, Zentralschweiz: seit 2018 Leiter Forschung und [...]

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Studie zur Situation in der Schweiz und Liechtenstein, durchgeführt von Unisanté im Auftrag von UNICEF Schweiz und Liechtenstein

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Zudem entpuppt sich die Pandemie als möglicher Treiber schlechter physischer und psychischer Gesundheit. Ein Viertel der Befragten gab an, dass sich seit Beginn der Pandemie ihre körperliche Gesundheit verschlechtert habe. 47,1 Prozent bewerteten ihre psychische Gesundheit schlechter als vor der Pandemie.

Empfehlungen

Wie die Studie zeigt, bahnen sich psychische Probleme und Störungen oft schon im Jugendalter an. Viele bleiben jedoch unentdeckt. UNICEF Schweiz und Liechtenstein legt deshalb vier konkrete Empfehlungen vor:

Präventionsprogramme müssen junge Menschen bereits früh erreichen. Solche Programme sollten darauf abzielen, Schutzfaktoren zu stärken und neben Fachkräften des Gesundheitswesens auch Erwachsene im direkten Umfeld der Jugendlichen einzubeziehen.

Das Stigma rund um psychische Gesundheitsdienste muss abgebaut werden. Dies kann nur geschehen, wenn wir als Gesellschaft lernen, über unsere Gefühle zu sprechen. Dazu ist viel Aufklärungsarbeit erforderlich. Diese muss sich an junge Menschen sowie auch an Erwachsene richten.

Angebote müssen für und mit Jugendlichen erstellt werden. Nur im direkten Dialog mit jungen Menschen kann eruiert werden, welche Angebote sie wie nutzen und was ihnen in der Versorgung fehlt. Jede und jeder Jugendliche soll sich berechtigt fühlen, um Hilfe zu bitten. Angebote sollten leicht zugänglich sein und über ausreichende Kapazitäten verfügen.

Stetiges Monitoring ist essenziell. Die Situation von Jugendlichen und ihrer psychischen Gesundheit soll regelmässig und über die Pandemie hinaus erhoben werden. Nur so kann die Entwicklung im Laufe der Zeit beurteilt werden. Das Monitoring sollte zudem die Nutzung der Angebote psychosozialer Dienste einschliessen.

Downloads

Die kompletten Resultate der Studie, sowie eine Zusammenfassung können Sie hier herunterladen:

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Zudem entpuppt sich die Pandemie als möglicher Treiber schlechter physischer und psychischer Gesundheit. Ein Viertel der Befragten gab an, dass sich seit Beginn der Pandemie ihre körperliche Gesundheit verschlechtert habe. 47,1 Prozent bewerteten ihre psychische Gesundheit schlechter als vor der Pandemie. Wie die Studie zeigt, bahnen sich psychische Probleme und Störungen oft schon im Jugendalter an.

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On My Mind: Promoting, protecting and caring for children's mental health

neben dem umfassenden globalen Bericht ist auch ein Europe regional brief verfügbar.

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On My Mind: Promoting, protecting and caring for children’s mental health

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how adolescents experience and perceive mental health around the world. a companion report to The State of the World's Children 2021

In Fokusgruppengesprächen wird das Thema psychische Gesundheit mit den Jugendlichen aufgenommen. In Zusammenarbeit mit der Uni Lausanne, Unisanté, haben auch Schweizer Jugendliche in einer Fokusgruppe mitgewirkt.

Suggested citation Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and United Nations Children’s Fund, On My Mind: How adolescents experience and perceive mental health around the world, JHU and UNICEF, Baltimore and New York, May 2022. ISBN: 978-92-806-5345

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Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children with and without risk for neurodevelopmental impairments

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Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children with and without risk for neurodevelopmental impairments

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Authors: M. Ehrler, I. Werninger, B. Schnider

D. A. Eichelberger, N. Naef, V. Disselhoff,  O. Kretschmar, C. F. Hagmann, B. Latal, F. M. Wehrle

Universitäts- Kinderspital Zürich

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/apa.15775

DOI: 10.1111/apa.15775

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Lifestyle behaviours of children and adolescents during the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland and their relation to well-being: a population-based study

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Lifestyle behaviours of children and adolescents during the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland and their relation to well-being: a population-based study

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https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.11.29.21267019

Authors: Gabriela P. Peralta, Anne-Linda Camerini, Sarah R. Haile, Christian R. Kahlert, Elsa Lorthe, Laura Marciano, Andres Nussbaumer, Thomas Radtke, Agne Ulyte, Milo A. Puhan, Susi Kriemler

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SUMMARY

Background Previous studies assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s and adolescent’s lifestyle focused mainly on the first wave in early 2020. We aimed to describe changes in adherence to recommendations for physical activity (PA), screen time (ST), and sleep duration over the first two waves of the pandemic (March-May 2020 and October 2020-January 2021) in Switzerland, and to assess the associations of these lifestyle behaviours with life satisfaction and overall health, as indicators of well-being.

Methods We included 3168 participants aged 5 to 18 years from four Swiss cantons. Participants or their parents completed repeated questionnaires and reported on their (child’s) PA, ST, sleep, life satisfaction, and overall health. We analysed lifestyle behaviours in terms of adherence to international recommendations. We used linear and logistic regression models to assess the associations of number of recommendations met and adherence patterns with well-being indicators.

Findings Compared to the pre-pandemic period, the percentage of participants meeting the recommendations for PA and ST decreased strikingly during March-May 2020, while there was a slight increase in those meeting recommendations for sleep. During October 2020-January 2021, the percentage of compliant children for PA and ST increased but remained lower than before the pandemic. Participants meeting all three recommendations were more likely to report excellent health (OR: 1·87 [1·15-3·08]) and a higher life satisfaction score (β: 0·59 [0·30-0·88]) than participants not meeting any recommendation. Adherence to recommendations for PA and sleep, PA and ST, and sleep and ST was similarly associated with both well-being indicators.

Interpretation We show a substantial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s and adolescents’ lifestyle behaviours with a partial recovery over time, and an association between lifestyle and well-being. Public health policies to promote children’s and adolescents’ well-being should target PA, ST, and sleep simultaneously.

Funding Corona Immunitas.

Evidence before the study We searched PubMed for studies assessing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s and adolescents’ lifestyle behaviours, published up to September 6, 2021, with no language restrictions. Of the studies found, nearly all compared lifestyle behaviours before and during the strict confinement in the first wave of the pandemic, and very few studies extended their assessment beyond June 2020. The only longitudinal study assessing lifestyle changes up to 2021 included a sample of nineteen boys. Some studies assessed the association between lifestyle behaviours and well-being after the outbreak of the pandemic, but all used a single-behaviour approach (i.e., evaluated only one lifestyle behaviour) and no study considered the combined contribution of physical activity (PA), screen time (ST), and sleep. In addition, most studies were cross-sectional and did not consider pre-pandemic lifestyle behaviours.

Added value of this study This is the first study assessing changes in adherence to international recommendations regarding PA, ST, and sleep duration in children and adolescents during the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic and the joint associations of these lifestyle behaviours with well-being. We used data from 3168 children and adolescents from four different Swiss cantons. We included measurements of PA, ST, and sleep before the pandemic, during the first wave between March and May 2020, and during the second wave between October 2020 and January 2021. We also assessed life satisfaction and overall health as indicators of well-being, between January and April 2021. We showed that, compared to the pre-pandemic period, the proportion of children and adolescents following the recommendations for PA and ST decreased during the first wave (lockdown period), while there was a slight increase in those meeting recommendations for sleep. During the second wave, the prevalence of compliant children and adolescents for PA and ST recovered but remained below pre-pandemic levels. Furthermore, we found an association between the number of recommendations met for lifestyle behaviours during the second wave and well-being assessed between January and April 2021. In contrast, there was no such association for the periods before the pandemic or during the lockdown. Participants following the recommendations for all three lifestyle behaviours or for combinations of two of them in the second wave were more likely to report excellent health and had a higher life satisfaction score, than those not meeting any recommendation.

Implications of all the available evidence Our findings demonstrate that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a strong negative effect on children’s and adolescents’ lifestyle behaviours, but some recovery has taken place within the first year since the outbreak. Policymakers should imperatively consider the balance of disease prevention and promotion of a healthy lifestyle when (re-)activating restrictive measures. Given the already high prevalence of children and adolescents not meeting lifestyle recommendations in the pre-pandemic period, our findings highlight the urgent need for public health policies aiming to avoid permanent negative changes on children’s and adolescents’ lifestyle and to mitigate the health risks associated with adverse changes during the pandemic. In addition, our study indicates that lifestyle is an important predictor of children’s and adolescents’ well-being, and it further suggests that future public health strategies aiming to promote well-being should target sufficient time for PA and sleep as well as reduce ST.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Funding Statement

This study is part of the Corona Immunitas research network, coordinated by the Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), and funded by fundraising of SSPH+ that includes funds of the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health and private funders (ethical guidelines for funding stated by SSPH+ were respected), by funds of the cantons of Switzerland (Vaud, Zurich, and Basel), and by institutional funds of the Universities. The Ciao Corona study (ZH) received additional funding from the University of Zurich Foundation. The funders were not involved in the study design, collection, analysis, interpretation of data, the writing of this article or the decision to submit it for publication.

Author Declarations

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

Yes

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the cantons of Ticino (2020-01514), St. Gallen/Grisons (2020-01247) and Zurich (2020-01336).

I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.

Yes

I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

Yes

I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable.

Yes

Data Availability

Reasonable requests to share data will be considered by the Corona Immunitas steering committee subject to institutional agreements and ethics approvals. Data requests should be sent by email to the corresponding author.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Lifestyle behaviours of children and adolescents during the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland and their relation to well-being: a population-based study

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Background Previous studies assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s and adolescent’s lifestyle focused mainly on the first wave in early 2020. We aimed to describe changes in adherence to recommendations for physical activity (PA), screen time (ST), and sleep duration over the fi…

# data[].attributes.headline
COVID-19-Related School Disruptions and Well-Being of Children and Adolescents in Geneva

# data[].attributes.subject
COVID-19-Related School Disruptions and Well-Being of Children and Adolescents in Geneva

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https://doi.org/10.1111/jpc.15973

Authors: Viviane Richard, Roxane Dumont, Elsa Lorthe, Hélène Baysson, María-Eugenia Zaballa, Rémy P Barbe, Klara M Posfay-Barbe, Idris Guessous, Silvia Stringhini, Specchio-COVID19 Group

# data[].attributes.headline
Health-Related Quality of Life and psychological distress of adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic in Geneva

# data[].attributes.subject
Health-Related Quality of Life and psychological distress of adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic in Geneva

# data[].attributes.body
https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.09.20.21263812

Authors: Roxane Dumont, Viviane Richard, Hélène Baysson, Elsa Lorthe, Giovanni Piumatti, Stephanie Schrempft, Ania Wisniak, Rémy P. Barbe, Klara M. Posfay-Barbe, Idris Guessous, Silvia Stringhini on behalf of the Specchio-COVID19 study group

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Purpose Our objective was to assess adolescent's Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) and psychological distress, from their own and their parents' perspective, and to examine associated risk factors during the COVID-19 pandemic in Geneva, Switzerland.

Methods A random sample of adolescents, aged 14-17 years, and their families was invited to a serosurvey in November and December 2020. Adolescents' HRQoL was evaluated using the validated adolescent-reported KIDSCREEN-10 and parent-reported KINDL ® scales. Psychological distress was assessed with self-reported sadness and loneliness, and using the KINDL ® emotional well-being scale. Risk factors for adolescents' low HRQoL and psychological distress were identified using generalized estimating equations and both adolescents' and their parents' perceptions were compared.

Results Among 240 adolescents, 11% had a low HRQoL, 35% reported sadness and 23% reported loneliness. Based on parents' perception, 12% of the adolescents had a low HRQoL and 16% a low emotional well-being. Being a girl (aOR=3.29; 95%CI: 1.64-6.57), increased time on social media (aOR=2.05; 95%CI: 1.08-3.88), parents' average to poor mood (aOR=2.81; 95%CI: 1.21-6.56) and average to poor household financial situation (aOR=2.30; 95%CI: 1.00-5.29) were associated with an increased risk of sadness. Mismatches between adolescents' and their parents' perception of HRQoL were more likely for girls (aOR=2.88; 95%CI: 1.54-5.41) and in households with lower family well-being (aOR= 0.91; 95%CI: 0.86-0.96).

Conclusion A meaningful proportion of adolescents experienced low well-being during the second wave of COVID-19. Adolescents living in underprivileged or distressed families seemed particularly affected. Monitoring is necessary to evaluate the long-term effects of the pandemic on adolescents.

Implications and Contribution This study describes the psychological well-being of a population-based sample of adolescents in Geneva, Switzerland amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and identifies adolescents at risk of distress. This study provides further insight by comparing adolescents' well-being as reported by themselves and their parents.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Funding Statement

The Specchio-COVID19 study was funded by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health, the General Directorate of Health of the Department of Safety, Employment and Health of the canton of Geneva, the Private Foundation of the Geneva University Hospitals, the Swiss School of Public Health (Corona Immunitas Research Program) and the Fondation des Grangettes.

Author Declarations

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

Yes

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Cantonal Research Ethics Commission of Geneva, Switzerland (project number 2020-00881).

All necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived.

Yes

I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

Yes

I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable.

Yes

Footnotes

Funding The Specchio-COVID19 study was funded by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health, the General Directorate of Health of the Department of Safety, Employment and Health of the canton of Geneva, the Private Foundation of the Geneva University Hospitals, the Swiss School of Public Health (Corona Immunitas Research Program) and the Fondation des Grangettes.

Conflict of interest None of the funding institutions participated in the conduct of the research or in the preparation of the article.

Ethics and dissemination The Specchio-COVID19 study was approved by the Cantonal Research Ethics Commission of Geneva, Switzerland (CCER Project ID 2020-00881).

Data Availability

Our data are accessible to researchers upon reasonable request for data sharing to the corresponding author.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Health-Related Quality of Life and psychological distress of adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic in Geneva

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Purpose Our objective was to assess adolescent's Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) and psychological distress, from their own and their parents' perspective, and to examine associated risk factors during the COVID-19 pandemic in Geneva, Switzerland. Methods A random sample of adolescents, aged 14-17 years, and their families was invited to a serosurvey in November and December 2020.

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Persistent symptoms among children and adolescents with and without anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies: a population-based serological study in Geneva, Switzerland

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Persistent symptoms among children and adolescents with and without anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies: a population-based serological study in Geneva, Switzerland

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https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.12.23.21268298

Authors: Roxane Dumont, Mayssam Nehme, Elsa Lorthe, Carlos de Mestral, Viviane Richard, Hélène Baysson, Francesco Pennacchio, Julien Lamour, Claire Semaani, María-Eugenia Zaballa, Nick Pullen, Anne Perrin, Arnaud G. L’Huillier, Klara M. Posfay-Barbe, Idris Guessous, Silvia Stringhini on behalf of the Specchio-COVID19 study group

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Background It is now established that a significant proportion of adults experience persistent symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, evidence for children and adolescents is still inconclusive. In this population-based study, we examine the proportion of children and adolescents reporting persistent symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection, as assessed by serological status, and compare this to a seronegative control group.

Methods We conducted a serosurvey in June-July 2021, recruiting 660 children and adolescents from 391 households selected randomly from the Geneva population. We tested participants for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies targeting the nucleocapsid (N) protein to determine previous infection. A parent filled a questionnaire including questions on COVID-19-related symptoms lasting at least 2 weeks.

Findings Among children seropositive for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, the sex- and age-adjusted prevalence of symptoms lasting longer than two weeks was 18.3%, compared to 11.1% among seronegative children (prevalence difference (ΔaPrev)=7.2%, 95%CI:1.5-13.0). Main symptoms declared among seropositive children were fatigue (11.5%) and headache (11.1%). For 8.6% (aPrev, 95%CI: 4.7-12.5) of seropositives, these symptoms were declared to be highly limiting of daily activities. Adolescents aged 12-17 years had a higher adjusted prevalence of persistent symptoms (aPrev=29.1%, 95%CI:19.4-38.7) than younger children. Comparing seropositive and seronegative adolescents, the estimated prevalence of symptoms lasting over four weeks is 4.4% (ΔaPrev, 95%CI:-3.8-13.6).

Interpretation A significant proportion of children aged 12 to 17 years had symptoms lasting over two weeks after SARS-CoV-2 infection, with an estimated prevalence of symptoms lasting over 4 weeks of 4.4% in this age group. This represents a large number of adolescents in absolute terms, and should raise concern in the context of unknown long-term evolution of symptoms. Younger children appear to experience long-lasting symptoms less frequently, as no difference was observed between the seropositive and seronegative sample. Further studies with larger samples sizes are needed.

Funding Swiss Federal Office of Public Health, Geneva General Directorate of Health, HUG Private Foundation, SSPH+, Fondation des Grangettes.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Funding Statement

Swiss Federal Office of Public Health, Geneva General Directorate of Health, HUG Private Foundation, Swiss School of Public Health, Fondation des Grangettes.

Author Declarations

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

Yes

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

The Specchio-COVID19 study was approved by the Cantonal Research Ethics Commission of Geneva, Switzerland (CCER Project ID 2020-00881).

I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.

Yes

I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

Yes

I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable.

Yes

Footnotes

Conflict of interest None of the funding institutions participated in the conduct of the research or in the preparation of the article.

Ethics and dissemination The Specchio-COVID19 study was approved by the Cantonal Research Ethics Commission of Geneva, Switzerland (CCER Project ID 2020-00881).

Data Availability

Our data are accessible to researchers upon reasonable request for data sharing to the corresponding author.

List of abbreviations

ΔaPrev

adjusted Prevalence Difference

aPrev

adjusted Prevalence

aPR

adjusted Prevalence Ratio

CI

Confidence interval

COVID-19

Coronavirus disease 2019

SARS-CoV-2

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Persistent symptoms among children and adolescents with and without anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies: a population-based serological study in Geneva, Switzerland

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Background It is now established that a significant proportion of adults experience persistent symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, evidence for children and adolescents is still inconclusive. In this population-based study, we examine the proportion of children and adolescents reporting persistent symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection, as assessed by serological status, and compare this to a seronegative control group.

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https://recherche.hug.ch/etudes/etude-serocov-kids

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Les conséquences de la pandémie de COVID-19 sur les enfants, les adolescentes et les adolescents sont encore peu connues. Or, leur santé peut avoir été directement affectée en raison d’une infection par le SARS-CoV-2 (virus responsable de la maladie COVID-19), avec des complications possibles comme le COVID long (séquelles à long terme pouvant être engendrées par la maladie). Sur la durée, la pandémie peut avoir indirectement altéré d'autres dimensions de leur santé, qu'il y ait eu contact ou non avec le virus.

Après une première phase pilote, l’Unité d’épidémiologie populationnelle lance l’étude SEROCoV-KIDS au 1er décembre 2021.

Cette étude sollicite la participation de 3000 enfants, adolescentes et adolescents du canton de Genève. Leur âge varie entre 6 mois et 17 ans inclus.

But de l'étude

Sur une période de trois ans, l’étude SEROCoV-KIDS va évaluer dans quelle mesure la pandémie a pu avoir une influence sur la santé générale, le bien-être, le développement, l’éducation, l’environnement socioéconomique et familial ainsi que le mode de vie des enfants, des adolescentes et des adolescents.

Les résultats pourront contribuer à guider les décisions de santé publique concernant cette population.

Déroulement de l’étude

La participation comprend :

La signature d’une déclaration de consentement à l’étude

Chaque jeune participant se rend aux HUG accompagné d’un adulte référent.

Une prise de sang par enfant ou adolescent tous les 18 mois

La prise de sang permet d’effectuer des tests afin de mettre en évidence la présence ou l’absence d’anticorps contre le SARS-CoV2. Des questionnaires à remplir en ligne sur divers domaines de santé

Des questionnaires réguliers à remplir en ligne

L’adulte référent et l’adolescent dès 14 ans sont invités à remplir 2 à 4 fois par an de courts questionnaires en ligne. Le suivi sur la durée s’effectue sur la plateforme numérique et sécurisée Specchio-COVID19. Cette dimension longitudinale est la plus-value de l’étude. Elle permet d’optimiser les données et les analyses des équipes de recherche.

Informations supplémentaires

Le projet est mené par l’Unité d’épidémiologie populationnelle et financé par la Fondation Jacobs et par l’Office fédéral de la santé publique (OFSP).
L’étude a été approuvée par la Commission cantonale d’éthique de la recherche (CCER).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Les conséquences de la pandémie de COVID-19 sur les enfants, les adolescentes et les adolescents sont encore peu connues. Or, leur santé peut avoir été directement affectée en raison d'une infection par le SARS-CoV-2 (virus responsable de la maladie COVID-19), avec des complications possibles comme le COVID long (séquelles à long terme pouvant être engendrées par la maladie).

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PI of the SEROCoV-KIDS study

silvia.stringhini@hcuge.ch

Unit of Population Epidemiology, Division of Primary Care Medicine, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland

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https://www.unibas.ch/de/Aktuell/News/Uni-Research/Psychische-Belastung-und-Stressfaktoren-bei-Geimpften-und-Ungeimpften.html

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You are here: Psychische Belastung und Stressfaktoren bei Geimpften und Ungeimpften

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Freie Inhalte

Die Pandemie belastet Geimpfte und Ungeimpfte auf verschiedene Art und Weise. (Foto: Ethan Sykes, unsplash)

Die neueste Umfrage der Swiss Corona Stress Study der Universität Basel zeigt, dass die psychische Belastung in der Pandemie nach wie vor hoch ist. Bei den Stressfaktoren gibt es indes grosse Unterschiede zwischen Geimpften und Ungeimpften, insbesondere bei der Belastung durch die Massnahmen und bei der Angst um gesundheitliche Konsequenzen von Covid-19.

An der vierten Umfrage (16.-28. November 2021) im Rahmen der Swiss Corona Stress Study unter der Leitung von Prof. Dr. Dominique de Quervain haben sich über 11'000 Personen aus der gesamten Schweiz beteiligt (siehe Box). Die wichtigsten Resultate:

Unter geimpften Eltern von Kindern zwischen 4 und 11 Jahren ist die Sorge um eine Ansteckung ihrer Kinder viel ausgeprägter als unter ungeimpften Eltern.

Der Anteil von Befragten mit schweren depressiven Symptomen liegt bei 19 Prozent, wobei der Impfstatus keine relevante Rolle spielt.

Am stärksten betroffen von schweren depressiven Symptomen sind Leute mit finanziellen Verlusten, mit psychiatrischer Vorerkrankung, und Junge.

Bei der jüngsten Altersgruppe (14-24 Jahre) ist der Schuldruck der stärkste Belastungsfaktor.

Unterschiede zwischen Geimpften und Ungeimpften

Bei den Belastungsfaktoren, die mit dem subjektiven Stressempfinden zusammenhängen, gibt es grosse Unterschiede zwischen der Gruppe der Geimpften (58 Prozent der Befragten) und der Gruppe der Ungeimpften. Die grössten Unterschiede finden sich bei der Belastung durch die Massnahmen wie etwa die Zertifikatspflicht, welche die Mehrheit der Ungeimpften als belastend empfindet, die Mehrheit der Geimpften hingegen als entlastend (Abbildung 1).

Die Belastung durch Konflikte in der Familie, unter Freunden und am Arbeitsplatz wegen Coronamassnahmen oder der Impfung ist sowohl bei Geimpften als auch bei Ungeimpften hoch. Bei Letzteren fällt sie allerdings deutlich höher aus.

Ebenfalls grosse Unterschiede – hier allerdings mit höherer Belastung unter Geimpften – gibt es bei der Angst rund um die gesundheitlichen Konsequenzen von Covid-19, wie etwa die Sorge, dass jemand aus dem engsten Umfeld ernsthaft erkranken könnte (Abbildung 2). Auch die Angst, im Fall einer Infektion selbst an Long Covid zu leiden und dass Kinder das Coronavirus nach Hause bringen und Eltern oder Grosseltern anstecken könnten, ist unter Geimpften stärker ausgeprägt als unter Ungeimpften.

Bei Befragten mit eigenen Kindern zwischen 4 und 11 Jahren (insgesamt 2079 Personen) haben unter den geimpften Eltern nur 17 Prozent überhaupt keine Angst, dass sich ihr Kind mit dem Coronavirus infiziert. Bei den ungeimpften Eltern sind es 68 Prozent.

Schwere depressive Symptome

Der Anteil von Befragten mit schweren depressiven Symptomen beträgt 19 Prozent, wobei der Impfstatus keine relevante Rolle spielt. Im April 2020 (Lockdown) betrug dieser Anteil 9 Prozent, in Mai 2020 (teilweise Lockerungen) 12 Prozent, im November 2020 (zweite Welle) 18 Prozent.

Besonders stark betroffen unter den Befragten sind:

- Junge Leute (Abbildung 3): Schwere depressive Symptome sind in der jüngsten Gruppe (14 bis 24 Jahre) mit einem Anteil von 33 Prozent am häufigsten. Bei Teilnehmenden, die eine Schule oder Hochschule besuchen, hängen die depressiven Symptome am stärksten mit Stress durch Leistungsdruck zusammen. (Für weitere Faktoren, siehe Abbildung 4.)

- Personen, bei denen die finanziellen Reserven in der Pandemie abgenommen haben, sind mit 32 Prozent häufiger von schweren depressiven Symptomen betroffen als Personen mit unveränderten oder gewachsenen Reserven (13 Prozent).

- Personen mit psychischen Problemen vor der Pandemie sind mit 34 Prozent häufiger von schweren depressiven Symptomen betroffen als Personen die angaben, keine psychischen Probleme vor der Pandemie gehabt zu haben (14 Prozent).

Zunehmender Substanzgebrauch

Von den Personen, welche Beruhigungs- oder Schlafmittel einnehmen (3544 Personen), berichten 53,6 Prozent von einer Zunahme, 3,5 Prozent von einer Abnahme und 42,9 Prozent von keiner Veränderung des Gebrauchs während der Pandemie (Abbildung 4). Bei Personen, die Nikotin, Alkohol oder Cannabis konsumieren, zeigt sich ein ähnliches Muster. Das Ausmass des Gebrauchs dieser Substanzen hängt mit der Stärke der Stress-, Angst- und Depressionssymptomatik zusammen.

Datenerhebung

Die Resultate beziehen sich auf den Erhebungszeitraum vom 16.–28. November 2021. In diesem Zeitraum haben 11’167 Personen aus der gesamten Schweiz an der anonymen Online-Umfrage teilgenommen. Aufgrund der Art der Datenerhebung handelt es sich per Definition nicht um eine repräsentative Umfrage. Allerdings bildet die Population der Befragten bezüglich soziodemographischer Merkmale ein breites Spektrum der Schweizer Bevölkerung ab. Alle berichteten Zusammenhänge und Vergleiche sind statistisch hoch signifikant.

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# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Psychische Belastung und Stressfaktoren bei Geimpften und Ungeimpften

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Die neueste Umfrage der Swiss Corona Stress Study der Universität Basel zeigt, dass die psychische Belastung in der Pandemie nach wie vor hoch ist. Bei den Stressfaktoren gibt es indes grosse Unterschiede zwischen Geimpften und Ungeimpften, insbesondere bei der Belastung durch die Massnahmen und bei…

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https://osf.io/x6zu7/

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de Quervain, D., Aerni, A., Amini, E., Bentz, D., Coynel, D., Gerhards, C., ... Zuber, P. (2021, December 20). The Swiss Corona Stress Study: November 2021. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/x6zu7

de Quervain, Dominique, et al. "The Swiss Corona Stress Study: November 2021." OSF Preprints, 20 Dec. 2021. Web.

de Quervain, Dominique, Amanda Aerni, Ehssan Amini, Dorothée Bentz, David Coynel, Christiane Gerhards, Virginie Freytag, et al. 2021. "The Swiss Corona Stress Study: November 2021." OSF Preprints. December 20. doi:10.31219/osf.io/x6zu7.
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The Swiss Corona Stress Study: November 2021

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This paper reports the results of the 4th survey of the Swiss Corona Stress Study. During the survey period from November 16-28, 2021, 11167 people from all over Switzerland participated in the anonymous online survey.

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Pro Juventute Corona Report Update November 2021

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Pro Juventute Corona Report Update November 2021

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Wissenschaftliche Studien und die Daten aus dem Beratungsalltag von 147.ch sprechen eine deutliche Sprache: Jugendliche und junge Erwachsene sind über alle Altersgruppen betrachtet von den Folgen der Corona-Krise psychisch am meisten belastet. Der neue Pro Juventute Corona-Report zeigt, wo jetzt Handlungsbedarf besteht.

Die wichtigsten Erkenntnisse des Pro Juventute Corona-Reports

Was es jetzt sofort braucht: bekannte und jugendnahe Erstberatung stärken

Ausbau des Angebots von 147.ch – die Beratungskanäle müssen überall und auch in Spitzenzeiten für alle erreichbar sein. Um dies zu erreichen, braucht es zusätzliche finanzielle Ressourcen der öffentlichen Hand. Sparpakete auf Kosten von Angeboten und Programmen für Kinder und Jugendliche sind in den nächsten Jahren nicht vertretbar.

Breitenwirksame Kampagnen, um die Beratung bekannter zu machen, und mehr Ressourcen für nachgelagerte Angebote. Umfragen zeigen, dass fast die Hälfte der Jugendlichen keine Stelle kennen, an die sie sich in einer akuten Krise wenden können. Dieser Wert ist alarmierend. Es braucht daher zusätzliche Mittel, um die niederschwellige Erstberatung bei der Zielgruppe und ihren Angehörigen bekannter zu machen.

Versorgungsstrukturen in der ambulanten und stationären Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie stärken und ausbauen. Die aktuelle Krise zeigt, dass die Versorgungsstruktur in der Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie bei weitem nicht ausreicht, teilweise bestehen lange Wartezeiten für ambulante und/oder stationäre Behandlungen – mit der Gefahr, dass sich psychische Störungen chronifizieren.

An die Zukunft denken: Kinder und Jugendliche in den Fokus rücken

Die jetzt sichtbaren Probleme sind nicht nur eine direkte Folge der Corona-Pandemie, sondern von jahrelangen Versäumnissen im Bereich der psychischen Gesundheit von Kindern und Jugendlichen – trotz vieler Warnzeichen.

Es wird Zeit, die Probleme der künftigen Generationen ernst zu nehmen und mehr Ressourcen für sie zu investieren.

Es braucht nun einen starken Fokus der Politik von Bund und Kantonen auf die psychische Gesundheit von Kindern und Jugendlichen.

Konkrete Massnahmen dazu und die politischen Forderungen von Pro Juventute finden Sie im Positionspapier.

Das vollständige Update des Corona-Report können Sie als PDF herunterladen.

Als grösste Fachorganisation für Kinder und Jugendliche ist Pro Juventute überzeugt: Unser gesellschaftliches Ziel muss sein, die Resilienz unserer Kinder und Jugendlichen zu verbessern und ihnen Bewältigungsstrategien in die Hand zu geben, damit sie für künftige Krisen besser vorbereitet sind. Es wird Zeit, die Probleme der künftigen Generationen ernst zu nehmen und mehr Ressourcen für sie zu investieren.

Pro Juventute Corona-Report und Positionspapier

Das Pro Juventute Corona-Report Update fasst neue Ergebnisse aus der aktuellen Studienlage zusammen. Es deckt die Themen psychische Gesundheit, familiäres Zusammenleben, Bildungs- und Berufschancen sowie Digitalisierung und Information ab. Das Update dokumentiert damit die wichtigsten Erkenntnisse zur aktuellen «Corona-Situation» der Kinder und Jugendlichen in der Schweiz, mit einem besonderen Fokus auf ihre psychische Verfassung. Das alles soll dazu beitragen, faktenbasiert über die Auswirkungen der Pandemie und ihrer Begleiterscheinungen zu diskutieren. Den vollständigen Pro Juventute Corona-Report, einschliesslich einer Auflistung sämtlicher untersuchter Studien und Quellenangaben, können Sie als PDF herunterladen. Ebenso stehen Ihnen mit dem Positionspapier die politischen Forderungen von Pro Juventute zum Download bereit.

Im ersten Pro Juventute Corona-Report hat die Stiftung Anfang 2021 die ersten Forschungsergebnisse zur Situation der Kinder, Jugendlichen und Familien in der Pandemie aufbereitet.

Jetzt spenden

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Update Corona-Report: Kinder und Jugendliche brauchen jetzt unsere Unterstützung! | Pro Juventute

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Wissenschaftliche Studien und die Daten aus dem Beratungsalltag von 147.ch sprechen eine deutliche Sprache: Jugendliche und junge Erwachsene sind über alle Altersgruppen betrachtet von den Folgen der Corona-Krise psychisch am meisten belastet. Der neue Pro Juventute Corona-Report zeigt, wo jetzt Han…

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Die Lockerungsschritte des Bundesrates vom 19. April 2021 bringen erste Entfaltungs- und Lebensräume zurück. Sie gehen jedoch in einigen zentralen Bereichen an den Anliegen und den Forderungen der Kinder und Jugendlichen vorbei. Was es nun braucht, sind Zukunftsperspektiven für junge Menschen und handfeste Lösungen für ihre drängendsten Probleme.

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Die Jugend braucht Zukunftsperspektiven | Pro Juventute

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Die Lockerungsschritte des Bundesrates vom 19. April 2021 bringen erste Entfaltungs- und Lebensräume zurück. Sie gehen jedoch in einigen zentralen Bereichen an den Anliegen und den Forderungen der Kinder und Jugendlichen vorbei. Was es nun braucht, sind Zukunftsperspektiven für junge Menschen und handfeste Lösungen für ihre drängendsten Probleme.

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Corona-Report Pro Juventute, Februar 2021

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Corona-Report Pro Juventute, Februar 2021

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Die Covid-Pandemie belastet Kinder und Jugendliche stark und akzentuiert bestehende Probleme und Ungleichheiten. Es besteht Handlungsbedarf, sonst beeinträchtigt diese Pandemie das Leben einer ganzen Generation, verschärft soziale Ungleichheiten und verursacht über Jahrzehnte hohe soziale Kosten.

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Corona-Report: Die Pandemie trifft Kinder und Jugendliche hart | Pro Juventute

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Die Covid-Pandemie belastet Kinder und Jugendliche stark und akzentuiert bestehende Probleme und Ungleichheiten. Es besteht Handlungsbedarf, sonst beeinträchtigt diese Pandemie das Leben einer ganzen Generation, verschärft soziale Ungleichheiten und verursacht über Jahrzehnte hohe soziale Kosten.

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Age-related effects of the COVID-19 pandemic onmental health of children and adolescents

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Age-related effects of the COVID-19 pandemic onmental health of children and adolescents

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https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2021.1901407

Authors: Stefanie J. Schmidt, Lara P. Barblan, Irina Lory & Markus A. Landolt

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Please add any Swiss publications/projects that are currently in planning/progress or have not yet been published (title/author, topic, URL to project website etc.)

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The impact of screen time and green time on mental health in 

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The impact of screen time and green time on mental health in 

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• Camerini, A. L., Albanese, E., Marciano, L., & Corona Immunitas Research Group. (2022). The impact of screen time and green time on mental health in children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 100204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2022.100204 • Peralta, G. P., Camerini, A. L., Haile, S. R., Kahlert, C. R., Lorthe, E., Marciano, L., ... & Kriemler, S. (2021). Lifestyle behaviours of children and adolescents during the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland and their relation to well-being: a population-based study. medRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.11.29.21267019

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COSMO: Studio sulla salute mentale di adolescenti e giovani adulti durante la pandemia

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COSMO: Studio sulla salute mentale di adolescenti e giovani adulti durante la pandemia

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Abstract La ricerca si concentra sullo studio della salute mentale di adolescenti e giovani adulti durante la pandemia attraverso una parte quantitativa e una qualitativa. Lo studio quantitativo fa leva sulla vasta mole di informazioni raccolte da USI e SUPSI nell'ambito dello studio nazionale Corona Immunitas con l'obiettivo di investigare le traiettorie di stato mentale dei giovani durante la pandemia e la persistenza di possibili diseguaglianze all'interno del gruppo analizzato. Lo studio qualitativo procederà in parallelo allo studio quantitativo con l'intento di approfondire le criticità vissute dai giovani nel corso della pandemia, partendo questa volta dal punto di vista dei giovani stessi e lasciando loro la parola all'interno di una serie di focus group. Lo scopo sarà quello di esplorare le difficoltà incontrate dai giovani durante la pandemia, le strategie utilizzate per farvi fronte e la loro evoluzione nel tempo, con le ricadute che difficoltà e strategie hanno avuto sull'identità e sulla percezione del futuro. I risultati dei due studi forniranno le basi per la formulazione di raccomandazioni di policy fondate su evidenze scientifiche.

Enti SUPSI coinvolti Unità psicologia applicata
Centro competenze pratiche e politiche sanitarie

Persone coinvolte Maria Caiata Zufferey

Data di inizio progetto 1 giugno 2021

Data di chiusura progetto 31 dicembre 2021

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SUPSI - Dipartimento economia aziendale, sanità e sociale - Dettaglio progetto

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Abstract La ricerca si concentra sullo studio della salute mentale di adolescenti e giovani adulti durante la pandemia attraverso una parte quantitativa e una qualitativa. Lo studio quantitativo fa leva sulla vasta mole di informazioni raccolte da USI e SUPSI nell'ambito dello studio nazionale Corona Immunitas con l'obiettivo di investigare le traiettorie di stato mentale dei giovani durante la pandemia e la persistenza di possibili diseguaglianze all'interno del gruppo analizzato.

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Decrease in sleep quality during COVID-19 confinement in babies and preschool children

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Severe effects of the COVID-19 confinement on young children’s sleep: A longitudinal study identifying risk and protective factors

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Severe effects of the COVID-19 confinement on young children’s sleep: A longitudinal study identifying risk and protective factors

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https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jsr.13314

Andjela Markovic, Christophe Mühlematter, Matthieu Beaugrand, Valérie Camos, Salome Kurth

Baby Sleep Lab
Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg

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Medienmitteilung: Der Anteil der übergewichtigen Schulkinder bleibt vorerst trotz Corona stabil

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Medienmitteilung: Der Anteil der übergewichtigen Schulkinder bleibt vorerst trotz Corona stabil

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Bern, 12. Mai 2022. Übergewicht ist in der Pandemie nicht häufiger geworden. Die Ergebnisse des jüngsten BMI-Monitorings der Stiftung Gesundheitsförderung Schweiz aus dem Schuljahr 2020/21 zeigen, dass der Lockdown und die Schulschliessungen im Frühling 2020 zwar zu einem vorübergehenden mutmasslichen "Corona-Effekt", nicht aber zu einer längerfristigen Zunahme von übergewichtigen Kindern geführt haben. Ob diese Entwicklung anhält, muss jedoch weiterhin beobachtet werden. Eine weitere Analyse zeigt, dass die Schweiz im Vergleich zu den Nachbarländern etwas tiefere Übergewichtsprävalenzen aufweist.

Seit 2005/06 wertet Gesundheitsförderung Schweiz die Angaben der schulärztlichen Dienste zum Body-Mass-Index (BMI) von Schülerinnen und Schülern aus den Städten Basel, Bern und Zürich für das jährliche BMI-Monitoring aus. Die Auswertung der neuesten Daten gibt erstmals Aufschluss über die Auswirkungen der Pandemiemassnahmen auf das Gewicht von Kindern und Jugendlichen. Im Schuljahr 2020/21 waren über alle Schulstufen betrachtet 17,4 Prozent der 12'843 untersuchten Schülerinnen und Schüler übergewichtig, davon 4,8 Prozent adipös. Der Anteil der übergewichtigen Kinder und Jugendlichen liegt somit nur knapp über dem Vorjahreswert von 17,1 Prozent. Der Vergleich mit früheren Jahren zeigt darüber hinaus, dass der Anteil übergewichtiger Schulkinder in den drei Städten auch in der Mehrjahresperspektive stabil bleibt.

Weiterhin nimmt die Häufigkeit von Übergewicht mit steigendem Alter deutlich zu. So waren im Schuljahr 2020/21 ein Viertel der Jugendlichen auf der Oberstufe übergewichtig oder adipös, während im Kindergarten nur jedes achte Kind von Übergewicht betroffen war.

Abbildung 1: Anteil übergewichtiger und adipöser Kinder auf verschiedenen Schulstufen, 2018/19 bis 2020/21 (Basel, Bern, Zürich zusammen)

Die Ergebnisse des jüngsten BMI-Monitorings sind bemerkenswert, denn im Zusammenhang mit der Covid-19-Pandemie wurde befürchtet, dass der Lockdown und die Schulschliessungen im Frühling 2020 sowie die über längere Zeit eingeschränkten Sport- und Bewegungsmöglichkeiten zu einer deutlichen Zunahme von Übergewicht bei den Kindern und Jugendlichen führen könnten. Dies war bislang nicht der Fall. Allerdings gibt es Hinweise auf einen kurzfristigen mutmasslichen "Corona-Effekt": Dort, wo die schulärztlichen Untersuchungen kurz nach den Sommerferien und damit vergleichsweise kurz nach dem Lockdown durchgeführt wurden, zeigt sich ein deutlicher Anstieg des Anteils übergewichtiger und adipöser Schülerinnen und Schüler, während dies in den Schulen mit einem späteren Untersuchungstermin nicht der Fall ist. Der Effekt des Lockdowns scheint sich bis 2021 demnach über weite Strecken wieder ausgewachsen zu haben. Bei Kindern, die bereits zuvor an Adipositas litten, gibt es allerdings Hinweise auf eine Gewichtszunahme. Diese Befunde sind allerdings mit Vorsicht zu behandeln, denn die Entwicklung muss längerfristig weiter verfolgt werden.

Unverändert bleiben auch im Schuljahr 2020/21 die Unterschiede nach Staatsangehörigkeit, sozialer Herkunft und Wohnquartier bestehen. Das heisst: Ausländische Kinder und Kinder von Eltern mit einem tiefen Bildungsstand sind nach wie vor deutlich häufiger von Gewichtsproblemen betroffen als andere Kinder. Tatsächlich stehen 15,4 Prozent übergewichtige Kinder mit Schweizer Nationalität 22,6 Prozent übergewichtigen Kindern mit ausländischer Staatsangehörigkeit gegenüber. Noch deutlicher sind die Unterschiede nach sozialer Herkunft, denn Kinder von Eltern ohne nachobligatorische Ausbildung sind über dreimal häufiger von Übergewicht betroffen (32,5%) als Kinder von Eltern mit einem Hochschulabschluss (9,7%). Der Anteil übergewichtiger Kinder von Eltern mit einem Lehrabschluss liegt mit 22,7 Prozent dazwischen.

In der Schweiz ist rund jedes sechste Schulkind übergewichtig oder adipös. Obwohl dieser Wert hoch ist, steht die Schweiz im internationalen Ranking gut da. In den Nachbarländern Deutschland, Österreich, Italien und Frankreich sind mehr Kinder und Jugendliche von Übergewicht betroffen. Resultate aus den Studien der "NCD Risk Factor Collaboration" zeigen, dass sich die Entwicklung bei den 5-Jährigen zwischen 2005 und 2016 in allen fünf Ländern verlangsamt hat. Der am 02. Mai 2022 veröffentlichte Bericht zu Übergewicht der WHO Europe bezieht sich teilweise auf dieselben Daten.

Abbildung 6: Entwicklung des Anteils übergewichtiger 5-Jähriger in fünf Ländern, 1985-2016

a) weiblich

b) männlich

Quelle: https://ncdrisc.org/overweight-prevalence-map-ado.html

Anteil der Übergewichtigen (inkl. Adipösen): Anteil an Personen, die mehr als eine Standardabweichung über dem Median der internationalen Referenzkurven der WHO liegen.

Das jüngste BMI-Monitoring zeigt, dass die Schweiz in Bezug auf das Gewicht von Kindern und Jugendlichen gut durch die Corona-Krise gekommen ist. Thomas Mattig, Direktor von Gesundheitsförderung Schweiz, ist erfreut: "Es ist eine gute Nachricht, dass sich die Pandemie bisher nicht negativ auf das Körpergewicht der Kinder ausgewirkt hat! Dies zeigt eine gewisse Widerstands- und Anpassungsfähigkeit unserer Gesellschaft." Gesundheitsförderung Schweiz unterstützt zahlreiche Projekte und Kantonale Aktionsprogramme (KAP) zur Förderung einer ausgewogenen Ernährung und regelmässiger Bewegung von Kindern und Jugendlichen. Viele von ihnen haben ihre Angebote und insbesondere ihre Kommunikationsaktivitäten während der Covid-19-Pandemie angepasst und dabei oft auch das Thema zur psychischen Gesundheit aufgenommen, wie der " Corona-Ticker" von Gesundheitsförderung Schweiz zeigt. So wurde beispielsweise die Initiative Miteinander Turnen - zu Hause lanciert. Während die Hallen geschlossen waren, hat das Projekt Miteinander Turnen über Facebook und Instagram Spielideen und Bewegungstipps gepostet, um Familien dabei zu unterstützen, trotz der Einschränkungen miteinander zu turnen. Und Gorilla hat für Jugendliche E-Tutorials und Tipps zu den Themen Bewegung, Nachhaltigkeit und Entspannung sowie interaktive Unterrichtseinheiten erstellt und ermöglichte damit Jugendlichen einen interaktiven Schultag zu Hause sowie sich ausgewogen zu ernähren. "Gemeinsam mit unseren Partnern ist es uns gelungen", so Thomas Mattig, "die Angebote für die Kinder und Jugendlichen auch während der Pandemie erfolgreich weiterzuführen."

Für weitere Auskünfte oder Fragen steht Ihnen die Medienstelle von Gesundheitsförderung Schweiz per E-Mail medien(at)gesundheitsfoerderung.ch zur Verfügung.

Gesundheitsförderung Schweiz ist eine Stiftung, die von Kantonen und Versicherern getragen wird. Mit gesetzlichem Auftrag initiiert, koordiniert und evaluiert sie Massnahmen zur Förderung der Gesundheit (Krankenversicherungsgesetz, Art. 19). Die Stiftung unterliegt der Kontrolle des Bundes. Oberstes Entscheidungsorgan ist der Stiftungsrat. Die Geschäftsstelle besteht aus Büros in Bern und Lausanne. Jede Person in der Schweiz leistet einen monatlichen Beitrag von 40 Rappen zugunsten von Gesundheitsförderung Schweiz, der von den Krankenversicherern eingezogen wird. www.gesundheitsfoerderung.ch

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Der Anteil der übergewichtigen Schulkinder bleibt vorerst trotz Corona stabil

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Übergewicht ist in der Pandemie nicht häufiger geworden. Die Ergebnisse des jüngsten BMI-Monitorings der Stiftung Gesundheitsförderung Schweiz aus dem Schuljahr 2020/21 zeigen, dass der Lockdown und die Schulschliessungen im Frühling 2020 zwar zu einem vorübergehenden mutmasslichen "Corona-Effekt", nicht aber zu einer längerfristigen Zunahme von übergewichtigen Kindern geführt haben.

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Post-COVID syndrome in children and adolescents: prevalence and risk factors from a population-based serological study  

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Post-COVID syndrome in children and adolescents: prevalence and risk factors from a population-based serological study  

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Roxane Dumont, Viviane Richard, Elsa Lorthe, Andrea Loizeau, Francesco Pennacchio, María-Eugenia Zaballa, Hélène Baysson, Mayssam Nehme, Anne Perrin, Arnaud G. L’Huillier, Rémy P. Barbe, Klara M. Posfay-Barbe, Silvia Stringhini, Idris Guessous

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Suicidal ideation in adolescents during the COVID-19

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Suicidal ideation in adolescents during the COVID-19

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Roxane Dumont et al

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Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s and adolescents’ quality of life and mental health

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Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s and adolescents’ quality of life and mental health

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Viviane Richard, Roxane Dumont, Elsa Lorthe, Andrea Loizeau, Maria-Eugenia Zaballa, Francesco Pennacchio, Hélène Baysson, Rémy P. Barbe, Klara M. Posfay-Barbe, Idris Guessous, Silvia Stringhini

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Mental sequelae of the COVID-19 pandemic in children with and without complex medical histories and their parents: well-being prior to the outbreak and at four time-points throughout 2020 and 2021

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Mental sequelae of the COVID-19 pandemic in children with and without complex medical histories and their parents: well-being prior to the outbreak and at four time-points throughout 2020 and 2021

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The article is accepted and soon to be published. This is a pre-print published in medrxiv. The accepted article includes an additional measurement time point in November 2021.

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.05.21267236v1

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Abstract

Objectives To understand the long-term mental sequelae for families over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the well-being of children with and without complex medical histories and their parents was investigated longitudinally.

Methods Well-being of 200 school-aged children (73 typically-developing, 46 born very preterm, 73 with complex congenital heart disease) and 175 of their parents was assessed prior to and during the first (April-May 2020), second (October-November 2020), and third waves (April-May 2021) of the pandemic with standardized questionnaires. Social and COVID-19-specific determinants were investigated as predictors of impaired well-being.

Results Child proxy-reported well-being was lower than before the pandemic during the first ( P<0.001) and third waves ( P=0.01) but not the second ( P=0.13). Child self-reported well-being was not lower during the pandemic (all P>0.10). Parent well-being dropped during the first wave ( P<0.001) and remained low during the first year ( P<0.01). One year into the pandemic, 18/25% of children (self-/proxy-report) and 27% of parents scored below the normal range compared to 11%/10%, and 16%, respectively, before the pandemic. Parents of typically-developing children reported lower well-being than parents of children born very preterm ( P=0.006) or with a complex congenital heart disease ( P=0.03). Child and parent well-being was lower in families with sparse social support ( P<0.001) and poor family functioning ( P<0.01).

Conclusion The pandemic continues to impact family well-being one year after its outbreak. Families with sparse social support and poor family functioning are particularly at risk for compromised well-being and support should be provided to them.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Funding Statement

The study was financially supported by a grant of the Childrens Research Center, University Childrens Hospital Zurich. The EpoKids study was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant number 320030_169733). The ReachOut study was supported by the Maexi Foundation Switzerland and the Mercator Foundation Switzerland.

Author Declarations

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

Yes

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

The study was approved by the ethics committee of the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland.

I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.

Yes

I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

Yes

I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable.

Yes

Data Availability

For re-analyzes of the data set (for different purposes), additional ethical approval (on an individual user and purpose basis) will be required. The authors are happy to support additional ethical approval applications from researchers for access to this data set.

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Mental sequelae of the Covid-19 pandemic: Well-being one year into the crisis in children with and without complex medical histories and their parents

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Objectives To understand the long-term mental sequelae for families over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the well-being of children with and without complex medical histories and their parents was investigated longitudinally.

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Marjory Winkler
www.ciao.ch

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https://stopsuicide.ch/

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https://www.143.ch/fr/

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13.06.2022

Tél 143 - La Main Tendue à la Mad Pride 2022

Après avoir plusieurs fois été reportée à cause de la pandémie, la 2ème édition de la Mad Pride aura lieu le samedi 18 juin à Berne. Plusieurs membres de notre organisation seront présents pour soutenir cette manifestation visant à abolir les préjugés et les discriminations envers les personnes souffrant de maladies psychiques.

► Programme de la journée

01.06.2022

Tél 143 sur Changemakers

Durant tout le mois de juin, La Main Tendue proposera des objets et offres inédites sur la plateforme de vente aux enchères Changemakers. Tous les dons et contributions serviront à la réalisation de projets nationaux, tels que le renouvellement du site internet et le développement d'une ligne d'écoute anglophone. Nous remercions chaleureusement Cornèrcard et Mindnow pour leur soutien.

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Dargebotene Hand - Telefonhilfe 143, Sorgentelefon

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13.06.2022 Après avoir plusieurs fois été reportée à cause de la pandémie, la 2ème édition de la Mad Pride aura lieu le samedi 18 juin à Berne. Plusieurs membres de notre organisation seront présents pour soutenir cette manifestation visant à abolir les préjugés et les discriminations envers les personnes souffrant de maladies psychiques.

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https://www.projuventute.ch/fr
Marco Mettler

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Développement et Santé

Depuis plus de deux ans, nous vivons pratiquement sans interruption dans une situation de crise. Cela a des conséquences. De plus en plus d'enfants et de jeunes développent des peurs. Le stress psychologique qui pèse sur eux et leurs familles a fortement augmenté. Conseils pour mieux gérer la...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Développement et Santé Depuis plus de deux ans, nous vivons pratiquement sans interruption dans une situation de crise. Cela a des conséquences. De plus en plus d'enfants et de jeunes développent des peurs. Le stress psychologique qui pèse sur eux et leurs familles a fortement augmenté. Conseils pour mieux gérer la...

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Damiano Costantini
Il a géré la coordination des besoins/problèmes au niveau des jeunes. Il a récolté de nombreuses données dans diverses organisations afin de pouvoir nous aider au mieux. Il a donc une excellente vue d'ensemble des problèmes rencontrés.

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Nous avons fait un petit sondage auprès de nos membres au sujet de l'impact du certificat covid dans la participation des jeunes aux activités de leurs organisations. Je pourrais mettre les résultats à disposition.
isabelle.quinche@sajv.ch

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COVID-19 pandemic and health related quality of life in primary school children in Switzerland: a repeated cross-sectional study

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COVID-19 pandemic and health related quality of life in primary school children in Switzerland: a repeated cross-sectional study

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Authors: Bettina Bringolf-Isler, Johanna Hänggi, Bengt Kayser, L. Suzanne Suggs, Alain Dössegger, Nicole Probst-Hensch, and the SOPHYA-Study Group

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Bettina Bringolf-Islera b, Johanna Hänggia b, Bengt Kayserc, L. Suzanne Suggsd, Alain Dösseggere, Nicole Probst-Hensch a b, and the SOPHYA-Study Group

a Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland

b University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

c Institute of Sport Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

d Institute for Public Health and Institute of Communication and Public Policy, Università della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland

e Swiss Federal Institute of Sport Macolin (SFISM), Macolin, Switzerland

Summary

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting containment measures had and still have a profound impact on everyday life. Both the fear of infection and the imposed restrictions can have biopsychosocial consequences. The aim of the present study was to analyze whether there is a difference in the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of primary school children in 2014/15 compared to in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS: The present study included 1,712 children aged 5 to 11 years who either participated in the baseline assessment of the SOPHYA cohort study in 2014/15 or were newly recruited during follow-up of the cohort in 2020. In both surveys, the children invited for participation were identified based on registry data. HRQoL was assessed with the validated KINDL-R questionnaire, which scores HRQoL along six different dimensions.

RESULTS: The overall scores (82.4 [81.8; 83.0] vs. 79.6 [79,1; 80.2]), and in particular the emotional well-being scores (85.6 [84.6; 86.6] vs. 83.3 [82.4; 84.2]), were lower during the year of the pandemic (2020) compared to the survey year 2014/15. The highest decrease between 2014/15 and 2020 in the adjusted models was seen for the youngest age group (-3.9 points), followed by children from families with a high income (-3.2 points), girls (-3.1 points), Swiss citizens (-3.1 points) and children from the German-speaking part of Switzerland (-3.1 points). HRQoL was particularly low during periods with restrictions and at the height of the COVID-19 waves in 2020.

CONCLUSION: The SOPHYA-study showed that HRQoL, and especially emotional well-being, was lower in 5 to 11-year-old children in Switzerland during the first year of the pandemic compared to the results from the survey conducted in 2014/15. In the year of the pandemic, the scores were lowest at the height of the COVID-19 waves and their associated restrictions. As it cannot be distinguished whether fear of the disease itself or the restrictions caused this decrease in HRQoL, containment policies should keep COVID-19 infections as low as possible, but still enable children to profit from protective factors such as leisure activities, physical activity and social contact.

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting containment measures had and still have a profound impact on everyday life. Both the fear of infection and the imposed restrictions can have biopsychosocial consequences. Children and adolescents, who are generally less susceptible than adults to the health impacts of COVID-19 infection itself [1], are a vulnerable risk group for adverse psychological and social effects of the pandemic [2]. Childhood and adolescence are characterized by a heightened sensitivity to social stimuli and a need for peer interaction [3]. Specifically, social distancing, school closure, loss of leisure activities and familial tensions [3-6], or even exposure to violence and abuse [7], are expected to burden children and adolescents, and there is a worry about negative long-term effects [5]. International studies have found an increase in depressive symptoms and more adolescents suffering from anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic [8, 9]. Beside mental illnesses, several studies have found stressors like worries [10, 11], helplessness [12], restlessness [10, 11], inattention [11], emotional problems [10], boredom [10], sleep difficulties [13], increased stress [13] and reduced health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in adolescents [4, 14], but also a fear that someone in their closest circle would become seriously ill or die from COVID-19 [11, 15]. As a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, adverse health behaviors such as increased media consumption [14], unhealthy diets [16], less physical activity [10, 16] and weight gain [14] have also been described. These unhealthy behaviors form a potentially vicious cycle with poor mental wellbeing. The symptoms related to mental health during the pandemic do not necessarily fall into the category of diseases. They do, however, affect wellbeing and development and may increase the risk of clinical mental disease later in life, depending on genetic make-up and the presence of additional environmental factors [17]. The mental wellbeing of children and adolescents who already had mental health problems before [5, 18], those from families with additional stressors such as a low socioeconomic status or a migration background, younger age groups [4] and those who experienced a severe course of COVID-19 disease in someone in their close social environment were more affected [19, 20]. An important observation was that parents' and children's mental health and stress were closely intertwined, and therefore stressors of parents also affected their offspring [20-22].

Most of the studies published to date were conducted in adolescents, and less is known about primary school children. Only very few of the studies were conducted in a population-representative sample [4]. Most of them recruited young people and children via social media and are therefore susceptible to participation bias.

The SOPHYA-study (Swiss children's objectively assessed PHYsical Activity) [23] is a nationwide representative study in children and adolescents. The main focus of the study is on the determinants of physical activity in Swiss youths. Within the framework of the study, the validated KINDL-questionnaire for HRQoL [24] was used in the context of two cross-sectional surveys. The first survey, conducted in 2014/15, is the baseline assessment for the SOPHYA cohort. The second survey, conducted in 2020, is the baseline assessment for a new sample of 5 to 11-year-olds recruited into the 2014/15 cohort at its first follow-up. The aim of the present study was to analyze whether there was a difference in the HRQoL of primary school children in 2014/15 compared to in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Material and methods

Study population

The present study included children aged 5 to 11 years who either participated in the baseline assessment of the SOPHYA cohort study in 2014/15 (SOPHYA1) [23] or were newly recruited during follow-up of the cohort in 2020 (SOPHYA2). In both surveys, the children invited for participation were identified based on national inhabitant registry data. All children living in Switzerland and aged 5 to 11 years at the time of the respective survey were eligible. From these children a random sample, stratified by year of birth and language area, was drawn by the Federal Statistical Office. The two study samples are therefore representative for the Swiss population and comparable across the two survey time points, allowing temporal trends to be tested. In SOPHYA1 and SOPHYA2, 2,241 and 2,760 valid addresses could be obtained respectively. Participant contact was exclusively remote, by phone and by mail, as the participants lived all over Switzerland. The SOPHYA-study is a collaboration between the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel, the leading partner and responsible for the participants in the German- and Romansh-speaking regions, the University of Lausanne, which recruits families in the French-speaking region, and the Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI), which recruits participants in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. Because of the time-consuming measurements by accelerometry and to cover seasonal variation, the data collection lasted more than one whole year for each of the two surveys. All parents gave written informed consent for their participation. The study obtained ethics approval from the local competent research ethics commission EKNZ ( https://www.eknz.ch/; Project-ID: 2019-01340). The study complied with the latest Helsinki declaration.

Health-related quality of life (HRQoL)

HRQoL was assessed with the validated KINDL-R questionnaire [24]. For each of the three language areas in Switzerland, the official translation of the questionnaire was used (Romansh-speaking people filled in the German questionnaire) [25]. The questionnaire was self-reported by parents, acting as proxies. They provided answers to 24 items on a five-point ordinal Likert scale ranging from "never" to "always". The questionnaire asked about the situation of the child in the preceding week. Answers were scored along six different dimensions: physical well-being, emotional well-being, self-esteem, family, friends and school. Each of these dimensions consists of four items. The modules were analyzed separately and summed up to give a total HRQoL score. Negatively oriented items were scored inversely. The single scores and the total score were translated into a scalable form between 0 and 100. If missing values occurred and affected less than 70% of the answers contributing to a dimension or the total score, an algorithm proposed by the authors of the KINDL-R-questionnaire was used to replace these missing data [26]. If more than 70% of the answers were missing, the score of the respective participant was excluded from the analyses. The exclusion of participants affected only 2% in SOPHYA1 and less than 1% in SOPHYA2. In 2014/15, all parents answered the questionnaire in paper format. Questionnaires were filled in over the period from May 2014 (first questionnaire answered) to August 2015 (last questionnaire answered). In 2020, parents could either use a QR access code to an online questionnaire or alternatively answer the questions on paper. 96% of the parents preferred the online questionnaire. Questionnaires were filled in over the period from the end of December 2019 (first questionnaire answered) to February 2021 (last questionnaire answered). For an analysis by the month of data collection, participants were labelled as January 2020 if they filled in the questionnaire at the end of December 2019 and as December 2020 if they filled in the questionnaire in January or February 2021, as the COVID situation in Switzerland and the related restrictions did not change within these periods.

Sample characteristics

In 2014/15, sociodemographics like age, sex, parental education (low, medium or high), nationality (Swiss, foreign nation or dual citizen) and household income (less than 6,000 CHF/month, 6,000 to 9,000 CHF/month or more than 9,000 CHF/month) were assessed through a combination of questionnaires and structured telephone interviews, with the parents as proxy contacts, whereas in 2020, sociodemographic information was exclusively obtained via self-reporting online questionnaires. Parental education was classified as "high" if a university degree (including a university of applied sciences degree) was obtained and as "medium" in the case of a professional apprenticeship of at least two years. As only 3-4% were below the cut-off for medium, low and medium education were combined for the statistical analysis. The classification into language regions (German, French and Italian regions) and urbanicity (urban area including isolated cities, agglomerations and rural areas) was done according to the definitions of the Federal Office of Statistics and was assigned for each community via ZIP code [27, 28].

Statistical analyses

First, differences by sample characteristics were calculated using a Χ ² test to assess socioeconomic differences resulting from participation differences between the two surveys. Second, associations between the HRQoL score and each social characteristic were tested using linear regression models, adjusting for the SOPHYA wave (1 or 2). Third, the differences in mean HRQoL scores between 2014/15 and 2020 (year of the COVID-19 pandemic) were tested not only for all subjects, but also for socioeconomic subgroups separately. Linear regressions with HRQoL as the dependent variable and the year of the survey as the independent one were conducted for all subjects and in the respective subgroups, as both bivariate analyses and multivariate analyses, adjusting for sample characteristics showing significant associations with the HRQoL score or differences in participation by survey year. Finally, to calculate the adjusted means for the six different dimensions, as well as for the overall HRQoL score by the month of data collection, multivariate linear regression models with the domain-specific and month-specific HRQoL respectively as the dependent variable and the survey year and month respectively as the independent variables were run, adjusting for all characteristics showing significant associations with the HRQoL score. The few missing values, which occurred in sociodemographic variables, were each replaced by an own category value in order not to lose power. A transformation of the HRQoL score was not necessary as the residuals were normally distributed and all assumptions of linear regressions were met. Because of an oversampling of Italian-speaking children, a sensitivity analysis using weights for language area was conducted. The weights were based on the proportions according to the Federal Statistical Office and introduced separately for each survey year. A second sensitivity analysis was done excluding children with missing values. All analyses were performed using STATA 15.1. The level of statistical significance was set at p ≤0.05.

Results

Of the contacted families, 799 (35.6% of valid addresses) filled in the proxy questionnaire about children's HRQoL in 2014/15 and 913 (33.1% of valid addresses) in 2020, resulting in a total sample of 1,712 children. In 2020, the mean age was significantly younger and more parents from the Italian-speaking part filled in a questionnaire, while in 2014/15 more parents did not want to disclose their income (table 1). For all other sample characteristics, no significant difference by SOPHYA wave was found.

SOPHYA1 survey 2014/15 SOPHYA2 survey 2020 a a

Supplementary Table 1 shows that the HRQoL score was significantly associated with several sample characteristics. HRQoL decreased with age and increased with household income. Girls, those living in the French-speaking areas and those from rural areas achieved statistically significantly lower scores.

Analyses on differences in the mean HRQoL scores between the survey periods in 2014/15 and 2020 were adjusted for factors associated with differential participation between surveys and for factors associated with HRQoL. Results are presented for both unadjusted and adjusted analyses (Table 2). Irrespective of adjustment, mean HRQoL was lower in the total study sample and in the subgroups during the survey period that coincided with the pandemic when compared to 2014/15. Most of the associations between mean HRQoL and the survey year by characteristic reached statistical significance, particularly in the adjusted analyses. The biggest decrease between 2014/15 and 2020 in the adjusted models was seen for the youngest age group (-3.9 points), followed by children from families with a high income (-3.2 points), girls (-3.1 points), Swiss citizens (-3.1 points) and German-speaking children (-3.1 points). Sensitivity analyses using weights for language areas or excluding children with missing values confirmed all results except for low-income households, where the difference between the survey years also reached statistical significance if weights for language areas were used.

Characteristic Subgroup Unadjusted mean HRQoL score (95% confidence interval) Adjusted a mean HRQoL score (95% confidence interval)

SOPHYA1 2014/5 SOPHYA2 2020 p-value SOPHYA1 2014/5 SOPHYA2 2020 p-value

Figure 1 presents the change in the mean HRQoL scores between the two survey periods by HRQoL dimension. The largest decrease was seen for "emotional well-being", followed by "family" and "school". The smallest decline, and the only one which was not statistically significant, was observed in the "friends" dimension.

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Figure 2 compares the mean monthly HRQoL scores by survey period. While the monthly means were quite stable over the years 2014/15, the scores fluctuated more in 2020 and were lowest in April 2020, coinciding with the first COVID wave and school closures, and in December 2020 and early 2021, at the peak of the second COVID wave and at the start of stronger restrictions in Switzerland.

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Discussion

To our knowledge, this is the first study testing the effect of COVID-19 and of restrictions related to the pandemic on HRQoL in a representative sample of children aged 5 to 11 over the course of one year. In this population-based, repeated cross-sectional study of primary school children in Switzerland, we found that the overall and dimension-specific HRQoL scores, and in particular the emotional well-being scores, were lower during the year of the pandemic (2020) compared to the survey year 2014/15. The fact that HRQoL in 2020 was particularly low during restriction periods, whereas in 2014/15 differences by month were more stable, supports the hypothesis that the pandemic had a negative impact on children's HRQoL. The differences in HRQoL scores in April and December compared to the neighboring months was even larger than the differences between children with and without asthma or with and without pain in the last three months [24].

Although the overall mean HRQoL score was still above the mean of reference data from Germany (79.0 (78.7-79.3) in 7 to 10-year-old children) [24], it was lower in the total study population and in every subgroup when compared to before the pandemic. This is in line with two previous COVID studies, conducted in 7 to 13-year-olds in Turkey [14] and in 7 to 17-year-olds from Germany [4] using the same or a comparable instrument [29], and a systematic review about HRQoL in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic [30]. Our observation that the relative decrease was largest in the youngest age group is in line with previous findings [4, 15]. However, the current study did not confirm findings from the above-mentioned German survey by Ravens-Sieberer, where HRQoL decreased most in socioeconomically disadvantaged children and in children with a migration background [4]. Instead, preexisting differences in HRQoL according to sociodemographic factors in the SOPHYA sample became smaller during the pandemic and the decrease in HRQoL was larger and statistically more significant in socioeconomically advantaged children. On the one hand, in families with children at such a young age, the impact of lockdown-related problems may have been more pronounced than the socioeconomic difficulties per se. Working from home during school closures has been reported to be a burden for families with young children [22], and home working was possibly more prevalent in highly educated parents. However, information on home schooling and home working was not assessed in the present survey. On the other hand, the restrictions in Switzerland were less drastic than in most other countries (no curfew, only eight weeks of school closure). Being constrained to a limited living space, which is more common in families with lower household incomes, may have had less of an impact on family stress than in other countries. In fact, the large but not population-representative Swiss Corona Stress Study in adolescents and adults also did not find a significant difference in the prevalence of moderate to severe depressive symptoms by education level [15]. Moreover, a qualitative study from Switzerland in families with young children found that well-being in families during the COVID-19 pandemic was independent of their socioeconomic position, but was influenced by the amount of social support, the flexibility of employers and whether home working and home schooling had to be managed at the same time [22].

Consistent with the Swiss Corona Stress Study, which found that people in the French-speaking part of Switzerland experienced more depressive symptoms compared to those from the German-speaking part [15], HRQoL in the SOPHYA-study was also lowest in the French-speaking part. However, this was pre-existent in 2014/15 and the pandemic did not lead to a further increase, but rather a decrease in the regional differences in HRQoL. Before the pandemic, protective factors for mental health [31, 32] were more prevalent in the German-speaking part: German-speaking children were significantly more physically active [33] and spent more time playing outdoors [34]. These protective factors were at least partly reduced by the pandemic restrictions in 2020 (no sports training in clubs, no active commuting to school during school closures, maximum group sizes, recommendations to stay at home and to reduce social interactions) in all language regions.

Among the individual HRQoL dimensions, emotional well-being was most affected, followed by the school- and family-related HRQoL domains. These dimensions have previously been associated with COVID-19 related conflicts or stress [4, 5, 7, 14]. An impact on the "friends" dimension score would be expected as a result of fewer opportunities for social interaction. But it is important to point out that the questionnaire focuses on whether the child feels different from others or whether the child is accepted, rather than on the intensity of social interactions. The quality of interactions may actually improve for some children if social groups are smaller and more selective.

There are some limitations to this study which must be acknowledged. First, the study was cross-sectional, making it impossible to draw any causal conclusion. Regarding the increased fluctuation of HRQoL scores in 2020 and its alignment with periods of more intense restrictions, it is not clear whether the restrictions or the fear of COVID-19 itself were the main driver for lower HRQoL, as both are time-correlated. The influence on mental health of both has been described in the literature [4, 11, 15]. Second, the participation rate was satisfactory for this type of recruitment but selection bias cannot be excluded. Specifically, fewer children of parents with low education seem to have participated in the survey, which could limit the generalizability of the findings. However, there is no evidence that this selection was very different between the SOPHYA waves and the analyses were adjusted for sociodemographic factors affecting participation or HRQoL. Finally, information on the HRQoL of children was obtained using parents as proxies. Parents' own HRQoL may have influenced their perception and reporting of their child's HRQoL. However, a correlation between the HRQoL of parents and their children has also been observed in studies in the absence of proxy reports [21]. Among the strengths of the study are its large sample size, its use of a validated and internationally used questionnaire to assess HRQoL, that it gathered data over a full year to allow testing of differences in HRQoL by month in parallel to the COVID-19 situation, and its recruitment using registry data to avoid clusters of participants.

Conclusion

The SOPHYA-study showed that HRQoL, and especially emotional well-being, was lower in 5 to 11-year-old children in Switzerland during the first year of the pandemic compared to results from a survey conducted in 2014/15. In the first year of the pandemic, the score was lowest at the height of the COVID waves and the related restrictions imposed in parallel by the government to address the threat. It cannot be determined whether fear of the disease itself or the restrictions caused this decrease in HRQoL. Therefore, containment policies should keep COVID-19 infections as low as possible, but still enable children to profit from protective factors such as leisure activities, physical activity and social contact. This includes avoiding the closure of schools. In addition, parents should be supported if they feel stressed, as parents' and children's stress are intertwined. Consequently, low threshold contact points providing psychosocial support should be available for both children and their parents. Finally, more research is needed to better understand the factors contributing to the decrease in HRQoL and to investigate whether or not HRQoL recovers to pre-pandemic levels.

Acknowledgments

We thank the SOPHYA-Study Group and Emmanuel Schaffener for their support, the fieldworkers for the data collection and all the children and parents participating in the SOPHYA-study.

The SOPHYA-Study Group: Nadja Mahler (FOSPO), Urs Mäder (FOSPO), Thomas Wyss (FOSPO), Andrea Poffet (FOPH), Lisa Guggenbühl (Health Promotion Switzerland) and Simone Isler (Swiss TPH)

Financial Disclosure

This study was funded by the Federal Office of Sport (FOSPO) and by Health Promotion Switzerland.

Credits

Header image: © Hanna Tverdokhlib | Dreamstime.com

Correspondence

Dr. Bettina Bringolf-Isler

Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute

Socinstrasse 57

CH-4002 Basel

bettina.bringolf[at]swisstph.ch

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5. United Nations. Policy Brief: The Impact of COVID-19 on Children. 15. April 2020.

6. OECD. Combatting COVID-19's effect on children. 2020.

7. UNICEF. UNICEF (2020) COVID-19: children at heightened risk of abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence amidst intensifying containment measures. 2020 [Available from: https://www.unicef.org/guineabissau/press-releases/covid-19-children-heightened-risk-abuse-neglect-exploitation-and-violence-amidst

15. de Quervain D, Aerni A, Amin E, Bentz D, Coynel D, Gerhards C The Swiss Corona Stress Study: second pandemic wave, November 2020 Basel: OSFPreprints; 2020 [Available from: https://osf.io/jqw6a/

16. Ravens-Sieberer U, Kaman A, Otto C, Adedeji A, Napp AK, Becker M [Mental health and psychological burden of children and adolescents during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic-results of the COPSY study]. Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz. 2021.1436-9990

22. Lannen P, Sticca F, Simoni H. Kleinkinder und ihre Eltern während der Covid-19 Pande-mie2020 28.04,2021.

24. Ravens-Sieberer U, Ellert U, Erhart M. Gesundheitsbezogene Lebensqualität von Kindern und Jugendlichen in Deutschland. Eine Normstichprobe für Deutschland aus dem Kinder- und Jugendgesundheitssurvey (KIGGS). Bundesgesundheitsbl - Gesundheitsforsch -Gesundheitsschutz. 2007;50:810-8.

25. Ravens-Sieberer U, Bullinger M. KINDL-R Questionnaires, Language versions: https://www.kindl.org/english/language-versions/ 1998 [

26. Ravens-Sieberer U, Bullinger M. KINDL-R, Fragebogen zur Erfassung der gesundheitsbezogenen Lebensqualität bei Kindern und Jugendlichen. Revidierte Form. Manual.; 2000.

27. Bundeamt für Statistik. Raum mit städtischem Charakter der Schweiz 2012. Eine neue Definition der Agglomerationen und weiteren stadtischen Raumkategorien.; 2014.

28. Bundesamt für Statistik. Räumliche Gliederung. https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/grundlagen/raumgliederungen.html [

Appendix

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
COVID-19 pandemic and health related quality of life in primary school children in Switzerland: a repeated cross-sectional study

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Bettina Bringolf-Islera b , Johanna Hänggia b , Bengt Kayserc , L.

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SOPHYA2-Bericht erscheint am 7. September 2022 (u.a. mit Fokus auf die Auswirkungen von COVID-19 auf das Bewegungs- und Ernährungsverhalten sowie auf die Lebensqualität von Kindern)

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Impact de la pandémie de Covid-19 sur les troubles psychiques des adolescents et jeunes adultes

# data[].attributes.subject
Impact de la pandémie de Covid-19 sur les troubles psychiques des adolescents et jeunes adultes

# data[].attributes.body
Tettamanti M., Devillé C., Kapp C., Armando M., Curtis L., 2021/09/22. Revue medicale suisse, 17 (751) pp. 1593-1596.

# data[].attributes.headline
Prof. Lilly Shanahan, Dr. Annekatrin Steinhoff, z-proso study

# data[].attributes.subject
Prof. Lilly Shanahan, Dr. Annekatrin Steinhoff, z-proso study

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.jacobscenter.uzh.ch/en/research/risk_and_resilience.html

https://www.jacobscenter.uzh.ch/en/research/zproso/aboutus/publication_list.html

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A first aim of the Risk and Resilience group at the Jacobs Center is to understand risk and protective factors in the development of stress-related diseases during the early life course, including of depression, anxiety, substance use, cardiovascular risk, and diseases of dysregulated immune function. That is, for whom, when and how do these mental and physical health problems (or their precursors) develop in the early lifespan? And, importantly, who is protected from them-despite facing considerable risks-and how?

When conducting research on these topics, one must understand developmental patterns of prevalence, co-occurrence, and service use for stress-related diseases in the early lifespan, and also of risk and protective factors. Therefore, a second aim is to conduct basic developmental-epidemiological research documenting such prevalence patterns in different populations.

When mental and physical health problems occur in the early life course, they constitute an important context for subsequent development. Therefore, a third aim of our work is to examine the subsequent mental, physical, social, and academic development of children and adolescents who suffered from mental and physical health problems in the early life course.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A first aim of the Risk and Resilience group at the Jacobs Center is to understand risk and protective factors in the development of stress-related diseases during the early life course, including of depression, anxiety, substance use, cardiovascular risk, and diseases of dysregulated immune function.

# data[].attributes.headline
z-proso COVID-19 supplementary assessments (4 wave longitudinal study including young adults [age 22] in the frame of an ongoing longitudinal study that started in 2004)

# data[].attributes.subject
z-proso COVID-19 supplementary assessments (4 wave longitudinal study including young adults [age 22] in the frame of an ongoing longitudinal study that started in 2004)

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.jacobscenter.uzh.ch/en/research/zproso.html

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
z-proso studies the social development of children and youths, with a particular focus on aggressive and delinquent behaviour, but also of prosocial characteristics. In doing so, it investigates how individual, family, school and situational factors work together in the development of violence and other problem behavior. About 1400 children have been regularly followed since 2004, when they entered primary school. The most recent wave of data collection took place in 2018 at age 20.

The study is complemented by a field experiment aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of two early prevention programs, i.e., a parent training program ( Triple P)and a school-based social skills training, originally named "PATHS" in English, and now " Denk-Wege" in German. z-proso fills an important gap in the field of violence prevention research as it examines the long-term effects of these prevention programs.

The marked cultural diversity of the sample, the long running time in association with an excellent retention rate of 90%, and the combination with a field experiment distinguish this project which is funded by the SNF as a research infrastructure.

Further reading
z-proso News: "Young People in the Corona Crisis" [available in German only] (PDF, 611 KB) Brochure on the occasion of 15 years of z-proso (PDF, 4 MB) "Forschungsmemo extremistische Einstellungen", April 2017 (german) (PDF, 474 KB) factsheet with central findings 2017 (german) (PDF, 382 KB) factsheet with central findings 2015 (PDF, 1 MB)

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the z-proso research infrastructure: <br/>the life-course development of violence and crime

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The z-proso Research Infrastructure: The life-course development of violence and crime

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
z-proso studies the social development of children and youths, with a particular focus on aggressive and delinquent behaviour, but also of prosocial characteristics. In doing so, it investigates how individual, family, school and situational factors work together in the development of violence and other problem behavior.

# data[].attributes.headline
Shanahan et al. 2020: Emotional distress in young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

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Shanahan et al. 2020: Emotional distress in young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

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From a psychological perspective, pandemics constitute life events associated with uncertainty, ambiguity, and loss of control, each of which is known to trigger stress and emotional distress, including internalizing symptoms (anxiety and depression), and anger (Ensel & Lin, Reference Ensel and Lin1991; Pearlin, Lieberman, Menaghan, & Mullan, Reference Pearlin, Lieberman, Menaghan and Mullan1981). The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic/lockdown are characterized by all of these features, as well as worries about one's own health and that of loved ones, economic disruption and losses (Forbes & Krueger, Reference Forbes and Krueger2019; Frasquilho et al., Reference Frasquilho, Matos, Salonna, Guerreiro, Storti, Gaspar and Caldas-de-Almeida2016), lifestyle disruptions, social isolation, and loneliness (Cacioppo, Hawkley, & Thisted, Reference Cacioppo, Hawkley and Thisted2010). Together, these conditions could create a 'perfect storm' for inducing emotional distress (Reger, Stanley, & Joiner, Reference Reger, Stanley and Joiner2020).

Research on previous epidemics involving quarantines has documented declines in psychological health (for a review, see Brooks et al., Reference Brooks, Webster, Smith, Woodland, Wessely, Greenberg and Rubin2020); studies documenting distress during the COVID-19 pandemic are rapidly emerging (e.g. de Quervain et al. Reference de Quervain, Aerni, Amini, Bentz, Coynel, Gerhards and Zuber2020; Wang et al. Reference Wang, Pan, Wan, Tan, Xu, Ho and Ho2020). However, these studies are typically based on cross-sectional study designs, which cannot discern whether distress has increased beyond pre-pandemic levels. Longitudinal designs with assessments before and during the pandemic are needed to examine increases in distress and the role of stressors during the pandemic when previous emotional distress is accounted for. Extant COVID-19 research has also primarily relied on convenience samples and, thus, may over-represent distressed individuals and certain demographics (e.g. females, de Quervain et al. Reference de Quervain, Aerni, Amini, Bentz, Coynel, Gerhards and Zuber2020; Veer et al. Reference Veer, Riepenhausen, Zerban, Wackerhagen, Engen, Puhlmann and Kalisch2020). Therefore, findings may not be representative of larger populations.

The current study draws on a prospective-longitudinal cohort study with data on a community-representative sample of young adults before and during the pandemic/lockdown during spring 2020. Young adults face many normative transitions (Arnett, Reference Arnett2000; Shanahan, Reference Shanahan2000), which are known to be stressful (Duffy, Twenge, & Joiner, Reference Duffy, Twenge and Joiner2019), including in their educational and professional development (e.g. important exams, entry into the labor market, financial pressures, and uncertainties), social and romantic relationships, and changes in their living situation (e.g. living away from family for the first time). These normative changes and pressures could be compounded by COVID-19-related stressors and disruptions (e.g. declining labor market and inability to socialize with friends or romantic partners). Despite these potential stressors, young adults have a relatively low risk of health complications from COVID-19, are competent in using social media to connect with others, and typically do not have caregiving duties (e.g. for children or elderly parents). Thus, they also have the potential to experience resilience (i.e. adaptive or better-than-expected outcomes despite the presence of significant risk/adversity, Masten, Reference Masten2001; Werner, Reference Werner1993) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During- and pre-pandemic emotional distress assessed in our study includes perceived stress, internalizing symptoms, and anger. In addition, pre-pandemic stressors typically associated with such distress, including social isolation, victimization experiences, and stressful life events, were measured. We also assessed low self-rated health to gauge participants' pre-pandemic health status. During-pandemic putative stressors assessed included one's own health risk status and that of loved ones. In addition, we assessed stressors related to secondary consequences of the pandemic (e.g. economic and lifestyle disruptions); and also hopelessness, low trust in societal responses to the pandemic, and frequent COVID-19-related news-seeking as factors that could be associated with increased emotional distress. We also assessed potentially adaptive coping strategies that could mitigate during-pandemic distress.

Data were collected in Switzerland's largest city, Zurich, which is located approximately 3 h by car/train from northern Italy, the first epicenter of the European COVID-19 outbreak. Following Italy, Switzerland was among the first European countries affected by COVID-19, ranking among the 10 most affected countries worldwide in March 2020, with one of the highest per-capita rates of COVID-19 infections (Salathe et al., Reference Salathe, Althaus, Neher, Stringhini, Hodcroft, Fellay and Low2020). The Swiss national lockdown policies were strictest from 16 March to 26 April 2020. Schools, universities, and all non-essential stores were closed, social distancing measures were enforced, social gatherings of more than five people were prohibited, working from home was implemented whenever possible, and public transport was considerably reduced (Swiss Federal Office of Public Health, 2020). Borders with neighboring countries were mostly closed. By the end of data collection (18 April 2020), Switzerland (with a population of 8.65 million) had reported 27 404 cases of COVID-19 and 1368 deaths (Worldometer, 2020). However, the case reports represent underestimates as testing was sometimes limited to at-risk individuals. Universal health care and unemployment benefits are available in Switzerland, and the government subsidized furlough schemes to prevent widespread unemployment during the pandemic.

Methods

Sample and procedures

Data came from the Zurich Project on the Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood ( z-proso), a prospective-longitudinal study. The cohort comprises participants who entered first grade in one of 56 public primary schools in Zurich in 2004. The initial target sample of schools was selected using random sampling procedures (slightly oversampling disadvantaged school districts). The original study consists of eight assessment waves, at ages 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, and 20 (in 2018), respectively (for additional details on the sample and attrition, see, Eisner, Malti, & Ribeaud, Reference Eisner, Malti, Ribeaud, Gadd, Karstedt and Messner2011; Eisner, Murray, Eisner, & Ribeaud, Reference Eisner, Murray, Eisner and Ribeaud2019). In April 2020, all age 20 participants (then aged 22) were invited to participate in a COVID-19 online study. The current analysis uses stressor and emotional distress data from the age 20 and COVID-19 assessments (see online Supplementary Fig. S1).

Out of 1180 eligible participants from the age 20 assessments, 21 could not be reached due to invalid contact information/unclear status. Out of 1159 cases contacted, 786 participants responded (67.8% of age 20 sample). Due to this attrition, sampling weights were used in all analyses to allow generalizations back to the original recruitment population from 2004 (for the creation of these weights, see Nivette et al., Reference Nivette, Ribeaud, Murray, Steinhoff, Bechtiger, Hepp and Eisner2020).

At age 20, participants completed surveys (lasting ~70 min) at a university research laboratory. Participants received a ~$75 cash compensation for their time. At age 22, data collection began during week 4 of the Swiss national lockdown (11 April 2020) and ended 7 days later. The online survey took ~15-20 min to complete; participants were entered into a lottery to win one of 50 prizes of ~$100. Participants provided written informed consent to participate in the study at ages 13-20 and online informed consent at age 22. Ethical approval was obtained by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of the University of Zurich. The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional committees on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008.

Measures

Below, we list the measures, and their sources and time frames. Individual items of all non-demographic measures, and their scales, scoring, and Cronbach's α can be found in the Online Supplement (Table S1).

Analytic strategy

Paired sample t tests were used to compare absolute levels of pre- and during-pandemic emotional distress. Regression analyses were performed in separate steps to examine the antecedents and concurrent correlates of during-pandemic emotional distress. First, we analyzed associations of pre- and during-pandemic stressors/risks with during-pandemic levels of emotional distress. For this purpose, each pre- and during-pandemic correlate was entered separately while adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics only. Second, we analyzed whether pre- and during-pandemic stressors and risk factors were associated with change in individual differences in distress. For this purpose, the lag of the outcome at the previous time point was added to examine predictors of COVID-19 distress 'net' of pre-pandemic distress. Third, all demographic variables and all significant concurrent correlates from the previous step were entered into one model, keeping only significant predictors. Fourth, in a separate model, the same step was repeated for all antecedent predictors. Thus, the third and fourth steps resulted in trimmed models of final concurrent and antecedent correlates.

Attrition analyses showed that, compared to the first assessment at age 7, respondents in the age 22 COVID-19 survey were more likely to be female and from a non-migrant background ( p < 0.001 and p = 0.006, respectively). The percentage of missing data in each assessment was low. Nevertheless, we used multiple imputation to address any potential bias (Enders, Reference Enders2017; Schafer & Graham, Reference Schafer and Graham2002). We specified an imputation model with all variables used in our study; 20 imputed data sets were generated. Multiple regression analyses were then performed in MPlus (Muthén & Muthén, Reference Muthén and Muthén2012) to examine the antecedents and correlates of distress during COVID-19. We estimated linear models (in which all outcome variables were continuous) using the maximum likelihood robust estimator. Parameter estimates were averaged across the imputed data sets and standard errors were pooled following Rubin's rules (Rubin, Reference Rubin1987).

Results

Table 1 shows the descriptive statistics for all study variables. Paired sample t tests revealed that young adults' mean perceived stress levels and anger were higher during the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic assessment ( p < 0.001). The mean of internalizing symptoms decreased ( p < 0.001). Only a minority of participants worked in an occupation that increased their risk of contracting COVID-19, had a health condition that increased their risk of COVID-19 complications, or had experienced symptoms of or were diagnosed with or hospitalized for COVID-19. Most participants had a loved one working in an at-risk occupation or with a health condition that increases their risk of complications, but only a minority of participants had a loved one who had either been diagnosed or hospitalized with COVID-19 or had died from it. On average, participants rated the COVID-19 crisis as somewhat disruptive to their lifestyle (i.e. daily routine, work, education, and family). Approximately one in seven participants reported economic disruption. More than one in five reported frequent news-seeking in relation to COVID-19. Online Supplementary Table S2 shows descriptive variables by sex, revealing, for example, that females reported higher levels of pre- and also during-pandemic emotional distress compared to males on all indicators. Females also reported higher levels of during-pandemic lifestyle disruptions and hopelessness than males.

Figure 1 shows associations between each correlate and each outcome, adjusting for sociodemographic variables; these coefficients of concurrent correlates of during-pandemic emotional distress could be compared to those from other cross-sectional work (for exact coefficients and p values, see online Supplementary Table S3). Females were at higher risk of each of the three emotional distress indicators. Having a migrant background was associated with more perceived stress. In addition, pre-pandemic social stressors, stressful life events, low generalized trust, poor self-rated health, and concurrent pandemic-related stressors (i.e. during-pandemic lifestyle and economic disruptions, loss of occupation/education) and other risks (e.g. hopelessness and low trust in responses) were associated with during-pandemic distress. Frequent news-seeking was associated with perceived stress and anger. Health risks to self and loved ones during the pandemic generally had small or no associations with distress.

Figure 2 shows results of the analyses in which all models depicted in Fig. 1 were adjusted for previous distress (i.e. adjusted for the outcome variable at age 20; for exact coefficients and p values, see online Supplementary Table S4). Thus, the coefficients for risk factors depicted indicate risk of greater increases in perceived stress and anger during the pandemic assessment compared to before relative to others in the sample (or fewer decreases in internalizing symptoms relative to others as internalizing symptoms decreased on average).

Those with previous emotional distress were at considerably increased risk of during-pandemic emotional distress; internalizing symptoms had the highest stability among the distress indicators. With the inclusion of previous emotional distress the size of the coefficient for female sex was reduced by about half. The inclusion of previous distress reduced the size of some associations between pre-pandemic stressors (e.g. low social support) and during-pandemic distress, but pre-pandemic bullying victimization, stressful life events, perceived social exclusion, and low self-rated health still predicted pre- to during-pandemic increases in emotional distress. Many during-pandemic/lockdown stressors, including lifestyle and economic disruptions and loss of education or employment, were associated with greater increases in emotional distress. In addition, hopelessness was associated with during-pandemic distress. Indeed, after pre-pandemic distress, during-pandemic stressors and hopelessness were the strongest correlates of during-pandemic distress. Health risks to or actual COVID-19 illness of loved ones were associated with increases in perceived stress; being in the health risk group was associated with internalizing symptoms, and having had symptoms or a diagnosis of or having been hospitalized for COVID-19 was associated with anger. All other associations between the health risk variables and emotional distress were not significant.

Table 2 shows associations from the final multivariate models which aimed to understand which correlates explained unique variance in during-pandemic emotional distress when taking into account pre-pandemic emotional distress and other significant correlates at the same time point. Pre-pandemic distress and lifestyle and economic disruptions and hopelessness during the pandemic were most strongly associated with during-pandemic perceived stress, internalizing symptoms, and anger. Pre-pandemic bullying victimization and cumulative stressful life events were also uniquely associated with during-pandemic emotional distress. Some correlates were associated with a single emotional distress outcome only. For example, migration background and a loved one's COVID-19 health risks or actual illness were (weakly) associated with increases in perceived stress only. Furthermore, low pre-pandemic generalized trust, low concurrent trust in society's responses, and frequent COVID-19-related news-seeking were associated with increases in anger only. With the inclusion of during-pandemic lifestyle disruptions and hopelessness, the sex coefficient was reduced considerably (to non-significance for perceived stress and internalizing symptoms). Table 2 shows that there were no correlates associated with internalizing symptoms only.

Follow-up analyses

Discussion

The stress-inducing characteristics of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown - which include uncertainty, ambiguity, loss of control, social isolation, and worries about one's own health and that of loved ones - could induce or increase stress and stress-related mental health problems, including internalizing symptoms and anger (Reger et al., Reference Reger, Stanley and Joiner2020). Although most young adults are at low risk of physical health complications from COVID-19, they may be distressed by the pandemic's secondary consequences, including the lockdown and associated social standstill and economic decline. Indeed, these secondary consequences of the pandemic could be especially troubling for young adults as they attempt to tackle many of life's key transitions (e.g. educational, professional, social, and romantic relationships, Arnett, Reference Arnett2000; Shanahan, Reference Shanahan2000), but are now frustrated in these efforts.

This study leveraged a prospective-longitudinal cohort study to examine several important issues relating to the pandemic/lockdown and young people's mental health, including the roles of previous distress and stressors in during-pandemic emotional distress, which can only be examined with a combination of pre- and during-COVID-19 assessments. The largest risk factor for emotional distress during COVID-19 was previous emotional distress. Stability of stress and psychopathology is a well-known phenomenon (Copeland, Shanahan, Costello, & Angold, Reference Copeland, Shanahan, Costello and Angold2009) and should be considered for the identification of those in need of during-pandemic mental health services. In addition, pre-pandemic social stressors (e.g. bullying victimization, stressful life events, and feelings of social exclusion) predicted during-pandemic emotional distress. It is possible that the effects of pre-COVID-19 social stressors may be exacerbated during the pandemic/lockdown (e.g. by limited opportunities for social contact).

Among during-pandemic stressors, the secondary consequences of the pandemic/lockdown, including lifestyle and economic disruption, and feeling hopeless, were most strongly associated with emotional distress. This is consistent with previous work reporting that economic disruptions are accompanied by declines in mental health (Forbes & Krueger, Reference Forbes and Krueger2019). Economic downturn changes young adults' future outlook, including their visions and hopes for their professional and economic future (Gassman-Pines, Gibson-Davis, & Ananat, Reference Gassman-Pines, Gibson-Davis and Ananat2015). Despite the availability of certain safety nets in Switzerland (e.g. unemployment benefits and furlough schemes), young adults, who are relatively new to or just transitioning into the job market, may be more likely to fall through the gaps in these safety nets. Economic disruptions also tend to be associated with tensions in interpersonal relationships, which can further impact mental well-being (Conger, Ge, Elder, Lorenz, & Simons, Reference Conger, Ge, Elder, Lorenz and Simons1994).

Surprisingly, health risks to self or others during the COVID-19 pandemic were only weakly associated with emotional distress. This could be due to the fact that only a small percentage of participants was exposed to the most traumatic aspects of the pandemic (e.g. death of a loved one or own hospitalization due to COVID-19). Furthermore, young adults with work-related potential exposure to the virus may not perceive themselves as being at risk of serious COVID-19-related complications, and/or could have found a sense of meaning or purpose in contributing to society during the pandemic (which could increase resilience). In addition, the Swiss lockdown was effective at 'flattening the curve', and at no point during March or April 2020 were hospitals or intensive care units in Zurich overwhelmed. Flattening the curve may not only reduce risks to physical health, but could also have positive downstream effects on mental health.

Female young adults had a higher risk than males of pre- and also during-pandemic distress, which is consistent with previous work reporting that females are generally more prone to internalizing-spectrum symptoms (Duffy et al., Reference Duffy, Twenge and Joiner2019). Indeed, with the inclusion of previous distress, the size of the female sex coefficient in the prediction of during-pandemic distress was halved. It was further reduced considerably (to non-significance for perceived stress and internalizing symptoms) with the inclusion of during-pandemic lifestyle disruptions and hopelessness (which had higher levels for females than males). Young adults with a migration background were also at increased risk of during-pandemic perceived stress, perhaps because of separation or isolation from loved ones due to closed borders, greater likelihood to work in jobs affected by the pandemic, or worries about loved ones in heavily affected countries.

Together, our findings suggest several targets for prevention/intervention. First, females, migrants, and young adults with higher pre-pandemic emotional distress, social exclusion, and an accumulation of stressful life events may need additional mental health supports and services during pandemics and lockdowns. Second, during times of unexpected disruption, educational and professional development institutions and responsible government agencies should aim to establish clear communication with young adults and make supportive measures available - perhaps especially for young adults in the final stages of their educational and professional development. Third, supplemental income measures could alleviate distress among economically vulnerable young adults who are not covered by unemployment or furlough payments. Finally, educating young adults about select coping strategies could counteract emotional distress during a pandemic.

Indeed, our findings show that keeping a daily routine, engaging in physical activity/exercise, positive reappraisal/reframing, and additional coping strategies were associated with lower distress. The association of positive reappraisal with less emotional distress is consistent with another recent study (Veer et al., Reference Veer, Riepenhausen, Zerban, Wackerhagen, Engen, Puhlmann and Kalisch2020). Importantly, positive reappraisal (i.e. changing thought patterns about events that cannot themselves be changed) is a skill that can be practiced and improved (Beck, Reference Beck2016) through avenues such as internet-based applications (Donker et al., Reference Donker, Petrie, Proudfoot, Clarke, Birch and Christensen2013) and online cognitive behavior therapy (Axelsson et al., Reference Axelsson, Andersson, Ljótsson, Björkander, Hedman-Lagerlöf and Hedman-Lagerlöf2020). Regular physical activity is known to be an effective antidepressant (Harvey et al., Reference Harvey, Overland, Hatch, Wessely, Mykletun and Hotopf2018). Switzerland did not institute home confinement, allowing individuals to exercise outside, which may have alleviated distress. Although we cannot infer causality from our cross-sectional analyses of coping and emotional distress, our results suggest actionable targets for prevention/intervention, even within the restraints of lockdowns, although these will need to be evaluated in future research. Future longitudinal during-pandemic study designs will also need to further illuminate whether increased use of certain coping strategies (e.g. emotional support-seeking) will result in decreased emotional distress over time.

Almost one in five young adults reported feeling better during than before the pandemic, a finding consistent with another recent study (de Quervain et al., Reference de Quervain, Aerni, Amini, Bentz, Coynel, Gerhards and Zuber2020). This phenomenon is worth exploring considering the pre-pandemic trends of increasing stress and internalizing symptoms among contemporary Western youth in recent decades (Keyes, Gary, O'Malley, Hamilton, & Schulenberg, Reference Keyes, Gary, O'Malley, Hamilton and Schulenberg2019; Twenge, Cooper, Joiner, Duffy, & Binau, Reference Twenge, Cooper, Joiner, Duffy and Binau2019), and the need for measures to reverse these trends. Participants whose well-being improved during the pandemic tended to appreciate the opportunity to decelerate their life. Additional work is needed to pinpoint the specific reasons for improved well-being during pandemic/lockdown conditions with the goal of applying these to post-pandemic life. In the open-ended comments, several participants suggested that being removed from workplace or educational pressures, more time with family, partners and close friends, spending time on hobbies, and the opportunity to sleep more contributed to better well-being during the pandemic; these and additional potential causes of better during-pandemic well-being warrant future systematic investigation.

Conclusion

In our sample of young adults, economic and social factors were more strongly and consistently associated with distress during the COVID-19 crisis than exposure to virus-related health risks. Indeed, previous distress and COVID-19-related economic and lifestyle disruptions and hopelessness were among the strongest correlates of young adults' distress during the lockdown, followed by pre-pandemic victimization experiences and accumulation of stressful life events. Keeping a daily routine, physical activity and exercise, and positive reappraisal/reframing were associated with less distress, and young adults whose well-being improved during the pandemic/lockdown tended to comment on a positive deceleration of their lives. Despite its many downsides, the pandemic/lockdown may have given some young people the opportunity to take stock of their lives and to improve their long-term well-being.

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Emotional distress in young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence of risk and resilience from a longitudinal cohort study | Psychological Medicine | Cambridge Core

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
From a psychological perspective, pandemics constitute life events associated with uncertainty, ambiguity, and loss of control, each of which is known to trigger stress and emotional distress, including internalizing symptoms (anxiety and depression), and anger (Ensel & Lin, Reference Ensel and Lin1991; Pearlin, Lieberman, Menaghan, & Mullan, Reference Pearlin, Lieberman, Menaghan and Mullan1981).

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Steinhoff et al. (2021): Self-injury and domestic violence in young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

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Steinhoff et al. (2021): Self-injury and domestic violence in young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

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https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jora.12659

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z-proso: Junge Menschen in der Corona Krise

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z-proso: Junge Menschen in der Corona Krise

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https://www.jacobscenter.uzh.ch/dam/jcr:172f5bd9-7423-4c59-bdd8-7277d77ee1fc/2020-zproso-news-COVID.pdf

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Prof. Shanahan's group and z-proso: several publications currently under review (Early adolescent predictors of young adults' coping during COVID-19 pandemic [Steinhoff et al.], Trends of substance use and other addictive behaviours among young adults in Zurich during the COVID-19 pandemic [Leos-Toro et al.], Risk and Resilience [Shanahan et al.])

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Prof. Shanahan's group and z-proso: several publications currently under review (Early adolescent predictors of young adults' coping during COVID-19 pandemic [Steinhoff et al.], Trends of substance use and other addictive behaviours among young adults in Zurich during the COVID-19 pandemic [Leos-Toro et al.], Risk and Resilience [Shanahan et al.])

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Nivette et al. (2021): Non-compliance with COVID-19 related health measures among young adults in Switzerland

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Nivette et al. (2021): Non-compliance with COVID-19 related health measures among young adults in Switzerland

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https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795362030589X

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Non-compliance with COVID-19-related public health measures among young adults in Switzerland: Insights from a longitudinal cohort study

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Adolescents and young adults were identified internationally as a group with potentially low compliance rates with public health measures aimed at cur…

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OBSAN: Psychische Gesundheit. Kennzahlen mit Fokus Covid-19

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OBSAN: Psychische Gesundheit. Kennzahlen mit Fokus Covid-19

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Die Publikation mit Kennzahlen zum Jahr 2020 beschreibt den psychischen Gesundheitszustand der Schweizer Bevölkerung, welche psychiatrisch-psychotherapeutischen Leistungen sie im ambulanten und stationären Setting in Anspruch nimmt sowie deren Kosten. Die dritte Aktualisierung der Kennzahlen-Reihe wurde aufgrund von Covid-19 erweitert und präsentiert zusätzlich Ergebnisse von weiteren nationalen Studien, monatliche Ergebnisse sowie erstmals schweizweite Zahlen zu Hospitalisierungen aufgrund mutmasslicher Suizidversuche. Das Bulletin wurde im Auftrag des Bundesamtes für Gesundheit (BAG) erstellt.

Zusätzliche Informationen

Herausgeber

Schweizerisches Gesundheitsobservatorium (Obsan)

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Autoren Daniela Schuler, Alexandre Tuch, Isabelle Sturny, Claudio Peter

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Die Publikation mit Kennzahlen zum Jahr 2020 beschreibt den psychischen Gesundheitszustand der Schweizer Bevölkerung, welche psychiatrisch-psychotherapeutischen Leistungen sie im ambulanten und stationären Setting in Anspruch nimmt sowie deren Kosten. Die dritte Aktualisierung der Kennzahlen-Reihe w…

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•	Pandémie COVID-19 et jeunesse : le point de vue et les réflexions d’un groupe d’expert·e·s 

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•	Pandémie COVID-19 et jeunesse : le point de vue et les réflexions d’un groupe d’expert·e·s 

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Abstract

Entre août 2020 et janvier 2021, nous avons mené une étude exploratoire qualitative sur le vécu du confinement et de la pandémie chez les adolescent·es âgé·es de 14 à 19 ans et les parents d'adolescent.es. Un total de 41 entretiens individuels ont été menés avec, à 2 exceptions près, des parents qui n'étaient pas les parents des adolescent.es interrogé.es. Cette étude nous a permis de collecter les expériences des participant.es quant à la maladie, aux mesures sanitaires, au confinement (son annonce, son déroulement, sa levée) incluant l'école à la maison et la vie familiale, la vision du futur et la place des jeunes dans cette pandémie. Bien qu'une telle recherche n'ait pas pour objectif d'obtenir un échantillon représentatif de la population, nous avons néanmoins pu assurer une diversité quant aux participant·es (exemple : jeunes en foyer, famille monoparentale, etc.) Le 1er juin 2021, nous avons présenté une sélection de ces nombreux résultats à un panel d'expert.es travaillant dans le domaine de la jeunesse afin d'obtenir leur point de vue quant aux résultats de cette étude mais surtout quant aux perspectives d'avenir afin de proposer des réflexions pratiques.

Sans se prétendre exhaustif, ce document a pour objectif de mettre en lumière des éléments importants à prendre en considération dans les décisions futures portant sur les effets de la pandémie et sur le bien-être des jeunes et des personnes les entourant.

Le rapport complet de l'étude sur le vécu de la pandémie et du confinement dus à la COVID-19 comprenant l'ensemble des résultats du point de vue des adolescent·es et des parents est disponible à l'adresse ci-dessous : 10.16908/issn.1660-7104/320

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Pandémie COVID-19 et jeunesse : le point de vue et les réflexions d'un groupe d'expert·e·s

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Entre août 2020 et janvier 2021, nous avons mené une étude exploratoire qualitative sur le vécu du confinement et de la pandémie chez les adolescent·es âgé·es de 14 à 19 ans et les parents d'adolescent.es. Un total de 41 entretiens individuels ont été menés avec, à 2 exceptions près, des parents qui n'étaient pas les parents des adolescent.es interrogé.es.

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•	Exploration du vécu de la pandémie et du confinement dus à la COVID-19 des adolescent·e·s et des parents

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•	Exploration du vécu de la pandémie et du confinement dus à la COVID-19 des adolescent·e·s et des parents

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Les objectifs principaux de cette recherche exploratoire qualitative sont de

1. comprendre le vécu des adolescent·es et des parents d'adolescent·es durant la pandémie et le confinement ;

2. d'explorer de quelle(s) manière(s) leur vie quotidienne a été affectée et l'impact sur leur bien-être ;

3. d'explorer l'effet que cette situation a potentiellement eu sur la conception de leur futur.

Les objectifs secondaires sont

1. d'explorer les stratégies mises en place pour réorganiser et vivre le quotidien, et

2. d'explorer l'impact sur la relation parents-adolescent·es.

Un total de 41 entretiens individuels (21 jeunes et 20 parents) ont été menés entre août 2020 et janvier 2021. Les parents interrogés, à deux exceptions près, n'étaient pas le parent d'un·e adolescent·e participant à l'étude. La moyenne d'âge des jeunes était de 16.5 ans (14-19 ans) et les filles composaient 57% de l'échantillon. La moyenne d'âge des parents était de 47.5 ans (35-58 ans) et les femmes composaient 74% de l'échantillon.

Une grille d'entretien regroupait les différentes thématiques à parcourir :

1. Le virus : connaissance, gravité, ressenti, mesures sanitaires ;

2. Le confinement : réactions, compréhension ; activités, rythme de vie, relations sociales, formation et école, règles à la maison ;

3. La gestion des émotions, points positifs et négatifs du confinement ;

4. La vision du futur personnel, familial et sociétal.

Cette grille d'entretien a légèrement évolué avec le temps afin de prendre en considération la deuxième vague.

Le virus et les mesures sanitaires étaient bien connus des jeunes. En termes de mesures sanitaires, les jeunes participant·es ont démontré une conscience sociale et une solidarité envers les personnes plus vulnérables. La distanciation physique a été la mesure la plus difficile à respecter pour les jeunes, surtout entre eux.elles. Pour beaucoup, la stigmatisation dont ils·elles ont été victimes durant la première vague a été mal vécue et incomprise. De plus, le modèle des adultes ne semble pas avoir été le meilleur par rapport au respect des mesures. Dans cette idée de solidarité, les jeunes n'ont pas ou peu émis de craintes quant au fait de contracter la maladie mais ont très souvent rapporté une peur de transmettre le virus.

Bien que l'annonce du confinement ait généré des réactions positives chez plusieurs jeunes, notamment par rapport au fait de ne plus avoir de cours, la fermeture des écoles a été un choc pour la plupart d'entre eux·elles. Cette mesure a, néanmoins, été comprise par les jeunes, certain·es se demandant alors même pourquoi un deuxième confinement n'avait pas été prononcé ou appelant même à faire un confinement plus long afin d'assurer la fin de cette pandémie. Durant le confinement, le rythme de vie a été modifié, parfois positivement amenant davantage de calme et de quiétude, mais aussi négativement lorsque le temps semblait long et que l'ennui prenait place, démontrant l'effet du temps. Bien que certains parents aient essayé de garder un rythme quant aux heures de sommeil de leur(s) enfant(s), la plupart des participant·es ont rapporté un changement en terme d'heures de coucher et surtout de lever.

L'école à la maison s'est révélée être un défi pour la plupart des jeunes mais aussi pour certains parents étant amenés à aider leur(s) enfant(s). Une désorganisation a été rapportée au tout début du confinement puis un décrochage au fur et à mesure du confinement. Certains parents ont appelé à davantage de soutien et de compréhension de la part des enseignant·es. Un stress conséquent est apparu chez les jeunes en transition dans leur parcours académique. Le deuxième confinement, bien qu'une grande lassitude ait été rapportée par les participant·es, semble s'être mieux déroulé surtout par rapport au fait que les écoles soient restées ouvertes.

La gestion des écrans durant le confinement a été au coeur des discussions. Les écrans ont aidé les jeunes, mais également les parents, à garder le lien avec l'extérieur, bien que les jeunes ont rapporté que les écrans ne remplaçaient en aucun cas les contacts en personne. Une augmentation de l'usage des écrans a été rapportée chez les jeunes, mais également chez les parents. Les temps en famille ont souvent été rapportés, parfois même comme des alternatives aux écrans, des alternatives très appréciées par la plupart des jeunes. Les activités en extérieur, notamment grâce à la météo clémente lors du premier confinement, ont permis de vivre cette période plus sereinement, que cela soit pour les parents ou les jeunes.

Nous avons relevé plusieurs stratégies d'adaptation afin de mieux vivre le confinement : établir une organisation pour la vie en communauté et assurer un rythme de vie, créer de nouveaux moyens de se saluer, essayer des nouvelles activités, ne plus regarder les informations ou se permettent de ne voir que certain·es ami·es en personne. Des sentiments d'ennui, de solitude et de lassitude ont, néanmoins, été rapportés par plusieurs jeunes. Nous avons également relevé une pression de bien réussir son confinement.

Les projections futures sont devenues difficiles, que cela soit pour les jeunes ou les parents. Pour l'avenir, des inquiétudes ont été émises par les jeunes, surtout par rapport à leur perspective académique. Néanmoins, ces craintes concernaient avant tout un avenir proche démontrant que les jeunes vivent davantage cette pandémie au jour le jour et ne projettent pas forcément sur le long terme. Les jeunes ont peu mentionné de craintes quant à l'avenir de leur famille et encore moins quant à l'aspect économique. Pour les parents, l'avenir de leur(s) enfant(s) faisait partie de leurs plus grandes craintes.

Les personnes qui vivaient déjà des situations problématiques avant la pandémie ont vu leurs difficultés augmenter durant cette période. La crise sanitaire a amplifié les écarts déjà existants en termes d'inégalités et de besoins entre les individus. Alors qu'ils·elles ont été les grand·es oublié·es de cette pandémie, les adolescent·es sont pourtant les adultes de demain et devront, immanquablement, continuer à vivre et à se construire avec les conséquences de cette crise sanitaire. L'adolescence étant déjà une phase de vie transitoire pouvant présenter de nombreux défis, notamment au niveau développemental, il est essentiel d'accompagner, de soutenir et d'écouter les jeunes pour éviter les souffrances psychiques post-pandémiques et des débuts difficiles dans une vie d'adulte.

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Exploration du vécu de la pandémie et du confinement dus à la COVID-19 des adolescent·e·s et des parents

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Les objectifs principaux de cette recherche exploratoire qualitative sont de comprendre le vécu des adolescent·es et des parents d'adolescent·es durant la pandémie et le confinement ; d'explorer de quelle(s) manière(s) leur vie quotidienne a été affectée et l'impact sur leur bien-être ; d'explorer l'effet que cette situation a potentiellement eu sur la conception de leur futur.

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" Pas au top à cause du Corona ? " - Sondage auprès des jeunes romand·es âgé·es de 10 à 25 ans

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La santé mentale des jeunes est fortement impactée par la pandémie de Covid-19. Stress, doutes, angoisses, perte de liens, comment faire face à cette période ? À qui se confier et vers qui se tourner pour poser des questions ?

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Research group on children and adolescent health at Unisanté 

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Research group on children and adolescent health at Unisanté 

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Responsable : SURIS GRANELL Joan Carles

Domaine de recherche : Epidémiologie, Santé des adolescents, Maladies chroniques, Addictions, Santé sexuelle et reproductive

Le Groupe de recherche sur la santé des des enfants et des adolescents (GRSA) mène des travaux de recherche clinique et de santé publique centrés sur les adolescents et les jeunes adultes. Il réalise des enquêtes épidémiologiques, des évaluations, des études cliniques et des études qualitatives depuis 1991. Le GRSA se concentre notamment sur la consommation de substances (tabac, alcool, cannabis), la santé sexuelle, l'usage d'Internet ou les jeux d'argent chez les jeunes.

Liste de mandats

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Santé des enfants et des adolescents (GRSA)

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Le Groupe de recherche sur la santé des des enfants et des adolescents (GRSA) mène des travaux de recherche clinique et de santé publique centrés sur les adolescents et les jeunes adultes. Il réalise des enquêtes épidémiologiques, des évaluations, des études cliniques et des études qualitatives depuis 1991.

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Prof. Dr. Fabio Sticca¹ & Valérie Brauchli, MSc.² - Children and digital media (KiDiM-Project)

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Prof. Dr. Fabio Sticca¹ & Valérie Brauchli, MSc.² - Children and digital media (KiDiM-Project)

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¹ University of Teacher Education in Special Needs (HfH) - fabio.sticca@hfh.ch

² Marie Meierhofer Children's Institute (MMI) - brauchli@mmi.ch

www.mmi.ch/kidim

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In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

www.mmi.ch/kidim