NDLI: School and class closures and adolescent mental health during the second and later waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland: a repeated cross-sectional study

Content Provider	Springer Nature : BioMed Central
Author	Rimpelä, Arja Kesanto-Jokipolvi, Heidi Myöhänen, Anna Heikonen, Lauri Oinas, Sanna Ahtiainen, Raisa
Abstract	Background Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, several studies have shown deterioration of adolescents’ mental health when comparing periods before and after the start of the pandemic when there were national school closures. Less is known of the following waves with more variation in school closures and their duration. We study here, if variation in school or class closures was related to adolescents’ mental health, if the duration mattered, and if the relationships were gender sensitive. Methods All comprehensive schools in Finland were invited to participate. Students (grades 7–9, age 13–16 years) answered digitally in November–December 2020 (n = 41,041) and April–May 2021 (n = 28,501). The responses were given anonymously. Mental health was measured by daily health complaints and moderate/severe anxiety (GAD-7, only in 2021). School and class closures were combined to a variable (yes/no). The duration of a closure was analysed in weeks. Logistic regression analysis was used. Results In 2020, 14% of pupils reported a school closure and 33% in 2021. The gender-adjusted odds for daily health complaints were higher among those with the school or class closure compared to those without (OR = 1.2 (1.1–1.3) in 2020; OR = 1.3 (1.2–1.3) in 2021). For anxiety, the corresponding OR was 1.3 (1.2–1.4). Girls had higher odds for both measures than boys and the non-binary gender had the highest. A one-week increase in the duration of closure had a small effect on daily health complaints OR = 1.05 (1.02–1.09) in 2020; OR = 1.05 (1.02–1.08) in 2021) and anxiety OR = 1.05 (1.01–1.08). Gender differences in the associations of the school or class closure with mental health were negligible. Conclusions A specific negative influence of school or class closures on adolescents’ mental health was seen when comparing those who had school/class closure and those who did not during the further waves of the pandemic. The duration of closure had a small effect, too. The non-binary gender had lowest mental health, but the influence of school closure on mental health was mainly similar between the genders. School closures are one of the factors in adolescents’ mental health, but not the only one.
Related Links	https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/counter/pdf/10.1186/s12889-023-17342-8.pdf
Ending Page	10
Page Count	10
Starting Page	1
File Format	HTM / HTML
ISSN	14712458
DOI	10.1186/s12889-023-17342-8
Journal	BMC Public Health
Issue Number	1
Volume Number	23
Language	English
Publisher	BioMed Central
Publisher Date	2023-12-06
Access Restriction	Open
Subject Keyword	Public Health Medicine Epidemiology Biostatistics Vaccine Environmental Health Adolescents Anxiety COVID-19 Duration of school closure Health complaints Mental health School Medicine/Public Health
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Journal Impact Factor	3.5/2023
5-Year Journal Impact Factor	3.9/2023

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

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