PANDEMIA DA COVID-19: indicadores do impacto na saúde mental de adolescentes

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is imposing major changes in the psychosocial environment of the affected countries, impacting their whole population. The aim of this article is to analyze adolescents’ anxiety, stress and depression levels during the COVID-19 pandemic and to correlate anxiety, stress and depression levels with the adolescents’ perception about the impact of the pandemic in their lives. The research was quantitative, correlational and cross-sectional. The sample consisted of 77 brazilian adolescentes, between the ages of 12 and 18 who accepted to participate in the online research. All the ethical procedures were adopted and the participants were asked to answer a sociodemographic questionnaire, a questionnaire composed of specific questions related to their perception about the impact of the pandemic, and the DASS-21 scale. The data analysis showed symptoms considered extremely severe and severe of anxiety in 33,8% of the adolescents, of depression in 36,4% and stress in 36,1%. These symptoms were positively correlated to feelings of helplessness in mental health care and family conflicts. These results show that the pandemic can be faced by adolescents as a complicated period that can cause suffering, intensifying their vulnerabilities and limiting access to support systems.