Emotional suffering in teenagers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic represented a challenge to physical and emotional health for adolescents subjected to almost two years of social isolation, restricted to family life and prevented from being in school. This article presents data from the pandemic associated with emotional distress among adolescents and the impact of restricted school life in this period. This is an exploratory, descriptive research, whose objective was to identify the frequency of situations in which there are signs of emotional distress in adolescents and to compare the scores found between demographic profile issues (race, gender and smartphone use). A total of 1,991 adolescents participated in the sample, students from two directorates of the Sao Paulo state public education network. The investigation instrument was built from a broad literature review in the form of a questionnaire with closed questions, divided into two parts: the first, containing 13 questions about the student's profile and, the second, with 21 questions, about signs of emotional suffering. From the quantitative analysis, the results found highlight a higher score of emotional distress among adolescent girls and black students and point to the urgency of actions that provide welfare and the learning of assertive forms of conflict resolution, as well as the urgency of spaces for expression of feelings by students.