This differences in experiences is already evident in survey data and hospital statistics up to this past October. The pandemic doesn’t appear, so far, to have led to a rise in suicide rates, according to preliminary data from provincial coroners. 

In BC, hospitals saw an overall drop in pediatric emergency department visits, and admissions for suicidal thoughts and self-harm.  At the same time, calls to crisis lines have jumped exponentially, and the young people who are being admitted to hospital are in more serious condition. 

A study at CAMH (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) , led by Dr. Henderson, has been following 600 young people, between the ages of 14 and 28, at regular intervals over the course of the pandemic. Preliminary data shows that distress and worry were highest at the beginning of the lockdown, fell during the relative freedom of the summer, and began to rise again in the fall, with school resuming in fits and starts, and a second wave predicted. But at each sample stage, one-third or more of young people in the study were able to identify “positive changes in their lives” because of the pandemic. Some examples they gave: better mental health, greater self-care, reduced school stress and more time with their families.
 
It therefore makes sense that as we enter unprecedented exposures in schools, and a greater impact in younger adults, that anxieties will again be increasing rapidly, but not all youth will react the same way. 

An encouraging Statistics Canada survey, released in February and conducted this past September, found that while 14 per cent of youth aged 12 to 17 said their mental health was worse than a year earlier, another 60 per cent described their mental health as roughly the same, and 26 per cent said it was actually better.

Research consistently shows that how the adults in a teen’s life cope with stress and trauma during a disaster filters down to them – which is why Dr. Sukhera warns adults to be careful about projecting their own fears and anxiety upon their kids. “We look at the world through the lens of our own baggage,” he says. “Their experience will be completely their own.”
In fact, teenagers are in the unique position of being the ones most affected by the lockdown measures but with the least amount of control over the decisions being made. That’s a potential risk factor in itself: Studies from natural disasters suggest youth who felt less in control experienced increased negative mental health symptoms.

In previous research on disasters, and in more recent studies about the pandemic in general and the mental health toll of lockdown, one of the protective factors for youth was accurate information from credible sources. Having parents, for instance, who discussed the 9/11 attacks was found to make a difference in the post-traumatic distress of teenagers one year after the event. Open and supportive family chats – along with casual check-ins – can also reinforce coping skills.

For teens, feeling as though they are contributing in some way – such as participating in disaster recovery, delivering groceries to isolated seniors or having a selfless reason to physically distance – has also been associated with increased self-efficacy, the belief that one’s action can improve their circumstances. This helps kids find meaning and purpose in times of uncertainty so they can make sense of what is happening, and also find an active, positive role to play.

History suggests that momentous cultural events seep into the air that a generation breathes, especially when it happens during adolescence. One theory of young people who grew up in the Great Depression, and lived through the World War that followed, was that they became more community-oriented and civic-minded as a result. At a key stage of their social development, they’d witnessed firsthand the importance of society pulling together against a common cause.

Could this also be the legacy of a pandemic that required universal sacrifice from young people, even though the danger was mainly to their elders? Too young to remember 9/11, they have now lived through a massive global event at the precise time research suggests it will make the largest impact on them. How will this group of teenagers – already more diverse and tolerant than any before them – respond to the social inequities highlighted so clearly by COVID-19 (and reinforced by the coinciding Black Lives Matter movement)? Will they become more invested in in-person relationships after losing them so abruptly? Will they see value in life at a simpler, slower pace? Will they be germaphobes? The truth is, we can’t know yet; the collective personality of a cohort coalesces over time.