Publication:

Anxiety among adolescent during COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study

Background The epidemic from Wuhan started in early 2020 and within a few months metamorphosed into a pandemic.Emotional disturbance, maladaptive behaviour, defensive responses are a few psychological reactions of the pandemic.Adolescents are exposed to the greatest psychological impact on mental wellbeing due to the closure of schools, cutbacks of outdoor games and monotonous lifestyle. The study aimed to assess anxiety among young adolescents during COVID-19 pandemics.

Methods A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on adolescents of age group 10-17 years. Non-probability convenience sampling technique was used to select the samples. Coronavirus anxiety scale (CAS) was used to assess anxiety among adolescents. Data collected was analyzed using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 23.

Results The study findings revealed that more than half of the adolescents 70 (56%) had no anxiety, mild anxiety was identified among 49 (39%) of the adolescents, only 2.3% of the subjects had moderate anxiety and 3.3% of the adolescents had severe anxiety. The mean score of anxiety level was 0.075 with a standard deviation of 2.80. The Chi-square test (ꭓ2) showed a significant association between the level of anxiety with the profession of the mother ꭓ2=4.262 (p=0.039).

Conclusions Results indicate that more than 50% of adolescents were having no anxiety regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Four (3.5%) of the adolescents were having a total score ≥9 measured by CAS. The data presented by UNICEF and other authentic sources, regarding the reduced mortality rate among adolescents could be a reason for reduced anxiety related to COVID-19 among adolescents.