@article{10.11648/j.hss.20210904.15,
  author = {Carl Hermann Dino Steinmetz},
  title = {Mental Health of Children and Young People During COVID-19: A Call for a Preventive Approach},
  journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences},
  volume = {9},
  number = {4},
  pages = {106-121},
  doi = {10.11648/j.hss.20210904.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20210904.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20210904.15},
  abstract = {This article answers the research question of whether it is true that the socioemotional and psychological well-being of children and young people has been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. The conclusion is twofold. Doomsayers have written off children and young people because they are socioemotional and psychologically 'damaged' by COVID-19. The positivists, on the other hand, see COVID-19 as a wonderful learning factory where children and young people learn to cope with socioemotional and psychological setbacks. Doomsayers are guided by capitalist insights. Those insights are that children and young people as future "wage slaves" are unable to provide pensions and care for the "older" generation because they have become socially and mentally handicapped by the COVID-19 pandemic. The positivists, on the other hand, are guided by the view that COVID-19 is an incentive to strengthen existing social groups, such as extended families, neighborhoods and tribes, with their solution-oriented approaches to issues and problems learned during COVID-19. This article reaches this conclusion by reasoning critically about the assumptions underlying the view that children and young people are worse off socioemotional and psychologically because of the COVID-19 pandemic than they were before it. Not only does this article make use of logical reasoning, but also of the existing literature on children and young people, the COVID-19 pandemic and socioemotional and psychological wellbeing. This article is structured as follows. Figures are presented on the impact of COVID-19 on children and young people in many countries, non-Western and Western. Furthermore, a distinction is made throughout the article between immigrants, refugees and the indigenous population. The first two groups are particularly affected by COVID-19 in socio-economic and psychological terms, as is the case for the indigenous population with a low socio-economic status. This article also contains the scarce figures on the availability of online education for children and young people, for immigrants, refugees and natives. Finally, the socioemotional and psychological well-being of children and young people is examined through the lenses of negative and positive psychology. This article harshly doubts the efforts of mental health services for children and adolescents, they are too individualistic, especially in the western world. This article supports the preventive approach to the possible psychological lack of socioemotional and psychological well-being of children and adolescents through psycho-education and an approach through extended families by leaning on their sources of strength and resilience. A great example is the Chinese approach.},
 year = {2021}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Mental Health of Children and Young People During COVID-19: A Call for a Preventive Approach
AU  - Carl Hermann Dino Steinmetz
Y1  - 2021/08/05
PY  - 2021
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20210904.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.hss.20210904.15
T2  - Humanities and Social Sciences
JF  - Humanities and Social Sciences
JO  - Humanities and Social Sciences
SP  - 106
EP  - 121
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-8184
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20210904.15
AB  - This article answers the research question of whether it is true that the socioemotional and psychological well-being of children and young people has been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. The conclusion is twofold. Doomsayers have written off children and young people because they are socioemotional and psychologically 'damaged' by COVID-19. The positivists, on the other hand, see COVID-19 as a wonderful learning factory where children and young people learn to cope with socioemotional and psychological setbacks. Doomsayers are guided by capitalist insights. Those insights are that children and young people as future "wage slaves" are unable to provide pensions and care for the "older" generation because they have become socially and mentally handicapped by the COVID-19 pandemic. The positivists, on the other hand, are guided by the view that COVID-19 is an incentive to strengthen existing social groups, such as extended families, neighborhoods and tribes, with their solution-oriented approaches to issues and problems learned during COVID-19. This article reaches this conclusion by reasoning critically about the assumptions underlying the view that children and young people are worse off socioemotional and psychologically because of the COVID-19 pandemic than they were before it. Not only does this article make use of logical reasoning, but also of the existing literature on children and young people, the COVID-19 pandemic and socioemotional and psychological wellbeing. This article is structured as follows. Figures are presented on the impact of COVID-19 on children and young people in many countries, non-Western and Western. Furthermore, a distinction is made throughout the article between immigrants, refugees and the indigenous population. The first two groups are particularly affected by COVID-19 in socio-economic and psychological terms, as is the case for the indigenous population with a low socio-economic status. This article also contains the scarce figures on the availability of online education for children and young people, for immigrants, refugees and natives. Finally, the socioemotional and psychological well-being of children and young people is examined through the lenses of negative and positive psychology. This article harshly doubts the efforts of mental health services for children and adolescents, they are too individualistic, especially in the western world. This article supports the preventive approach to the possible psychological lack of socioemotional and psychological well-being of children and adolescents through psycho-education and an approach through extended families by leaning on their sources of strength and resilience. A great example is the Chinese approach.
VL  - 9
IS  - 4
ER  - 

Copy | Download