YoungEqual: Children's and adolescents' responses to the pandemic
Short description
The living conditions and everyday life of young people were profoundly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. There are many studies showing that the mental health, wellbeing and learning of young people was negatively affected by school closure, distance learning and other disease containment measures, but it has been hard to draw firm conclusions about the COVID-19 impact on young people’s mental health and learning. We are responding to these challenges by planning for a number of empirical studies, combining quantitative and qualitative analyses.
The purpose of the project is to improve our understanding of the welfare for children and young people and the consequences of the pandemic and the restrictions on education, wellbeing, mental health, and living conditions.
About the project
YoungEqual: Children's and adolescents' responses to the pandemic – future risks of increasing inequalities in learning and mental health
Work packages
The project is organised in five work packages (WP), with an experienced research leader for each of them. The WP:s cover some of the most essential aspects of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s and adolescents’ lives within and out of school.
- WP A: Long-term changes of mental health and wellbeing among adolescents – disparities among and within sociodemographic groups. Leader: Professor Curt Hagquist, University of Gothenburg.
- WP B: Education, learning achievement and educational wellbeing among primary and lower-secondary students in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic – cross-country comparisons of pre-pandemic and post-pandemic time periods. Leader: PhD Jacob Højgaard Christensen, Aarhus University.
- WP C: Impact of the pandemic on schools and school community – protecting and risk factors for mental wellbeing and learning. Leader: Professor Arja Rimpelä, Tampere University.
- WP D: Implications for adolescents’ mental health and wellbeing of changes in social relations and social media use during the pandemic. Leader: Senior lecturer Anne Mari Steigen, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences.
- WP E: Setting-up indicators for cross-country monitoring and comparison for digital learning and health. Leader: Professor Risto Hotulainen, University of Helsinki.
Panel Discussion 26 September 2024
Young people’s mental health in the wake of the pandemic
How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect the daily lives of young people, their mental health, well-being, and school achievement? These questions were discussed by researchers from seven countries at a panel talk on 26 September at the Department of Education and Special Education at the University of Gothenburg. The panel discussion was organised as a part of an advisory board meeting in YoungEqual, the Nordic research project funded by NordForsk.
Panel participants, from left:
- Arja Rimpelä, Emerita Professor, Tampere University, Finland
- Anne Mari Steigen, Postdoctoral Fellow, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Norway
- Steve Zubrick, Emeritus Professor, The University of Western Australia and The Kids Research Institute Australia
- Tamsin Newlove-Delgado, Associate Professor, University of Exeter, UK
- Magdalena Janus, Professor, McMaster University, Canada
- Moderator, Erland Hjelmquist, Professor Emeritus, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
- Jacob Højgaard Christensen, Vice Center Director, National Center for School Research, Aarhus, Denmark
- Curt Hagquist, Guest Professor, Project leader, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
