When schools reopened in September, students’ mental health was on everyone’s mind. Parents wondered how their child would cope in bubbles and how the constant hand-washing and masks would affect them.
Depending on who you ask, children are either resilient or vulnerable.
According to Marjorie Montreuil, assistant teacher and researcher at McGill University, teachers and parents should experience an increase in behavioral issues both in classrooms and at home.
In her study of the existing literature, she noted that 92 per cent of the scholarly articles claimed “pandemics and confinement measures are found to be associated with psychological distress.” In 2004, 33.4 per cent of children in Toronto started seeking psychological help during and after the SARS outbreak.
Montreuil’s findings suggested that children are more likely to develop stress, fear and anxiety and that adolescents are more prone to depressive symptoms and substance abuse.
Experts weigh in on how the pandemic has affected children
By Marianne Lassonde, Special to The Record
