Note:
Life and Stress of Japanese Children and Adolescents During the Prolonged Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic
Junko Okuyama*1,*2,, Shuji Seto*2,*3, Yu Fukuda*4, Kiyoshi Ito*2,*3, Fumihiko Imamura*2,*3, Shunichi Funakoshi*5, and Shin-Ichi Izumi*1
*1Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University
2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8575, Japan
Corresponding author
*2Core Research Cluster of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
*3International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS), Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
*4Faculty of Literature, Notre Dame Seishin University, Okayama, Japan
*5Miyagi Psychiatric Center, Natori, Japan
This study surveyed adult web monitor enrollees about the lives of and stress experienced by Japanese children and adolescents during the prolonged coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The survey was conducted on February 10, 2022 (after the sixth wave) and August 19, 2022 (during the seventh wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan), with 231 and 217 survey participants, respectively. The questionnaire was designed so that adults could assess the frequency of exercise, and difficulties experienced by children and adolescents around them. Regarding exercise opportunities, 22% of parents of middle and high school children reported that children’s exercise opportunities “stayed the same” or “increased considerably” in the first survey. Whereas, in the second survey, all parents of middle and high school children reported that children’s exercise opportunities “decreased.” Regarding stress, 17% of parents of adolescents 18 years and older responded that the stress experienced was the “same as before” or “a little less than before” in the first survey, but all of these parents responded “quite a bit” to the same question in the second survey. The findings suggest that the life changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic may have a significant impact on children and adolescents and may increase stress. The long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and adolescents should be further investigated.
- [1] J. Okuyama et al., “Mental health and physical activity among children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Tohoku J. Exp. Med., Vol.253, No.3, pp. 203-215, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1620/tjem.253.203
- [2] M. Zhou, X. Zhang, and J. Qu, “Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): A clinical update,” Front. Med., Vol.14, No.2, pp. 126-135, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11684-020-0767-8
- [3] United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), “Education: From disruption to recovery, COVID-19 impact on education, visualize evolution over time.” https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse [Accessed August 28, 2022]
- [4] Y. Sasaki et al., “Evaluating the daily life of child and adolescent psychiatric outpatients during temporary school closure over COVID-19 pandemic: A single-center case-control study in Japan,” Glob. Health Med., Vol.4, No.3, pp. 159-165, 2022. https://doi.org/10.35772/ghm.2022.01001
- [5] United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU), “How many children and young people have internet access at home? – Estimating digital connectivity during the COVID-19 pandemic,” 2020.
- [6] Cabinet Secretariat, Government of Japan, “COVID-19 Information and Resources.” https://corona.go.jp/en/ [Accessed November 13, 2022]
- [7] S. Ohtomo and R. Kimura, “Developing an assessment framework of the recovery calendar for COVID-19 calamity: Based on the data from the June 2021 Survey,” J. Disaster Res., Vol.17, No.1, pp. 113-122, 2022. https://doi.org/10.20965/jdr.2022.p0113
- [8] K. Hayakawa, “Impact of activity restrictions, telework, and voluntary restraint due to the Corona disaster and countermeasures: What has changed and what should be done?,” J. Soc. Health Care Menopause Aging, Vol.21, No.1, pp. 75-79, 2022 (in Japanese).
- [9] R. Saito, X. Wang, and A. Tsuda, “Parents’ perceptions of life and family relationships among school-aged children during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hokuriku area,” J. Wellness Health Care, Vol.46, No.1, pp. 65-77, 2022. https://doi.org/10.24517/00066963
- [10] K. Menzawa, “School health efforts in each country during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Jpn. J. Sch. Health, Vol.63, No.1, pp. 37-42, 2021 (in Japanese).
- [11] C. Asahara, “‘Connecting without contact’ with person with disabilities using ICT – Practice by university students during the COVID-19,” J. Soc. Welf. Nihon Fukushi Univ., No.145, pp. 55-67, 2021 (in Japanese).
- [12] S. Ueda, K. Kudo, S. Tomimatsu, S. Shimizu, and T. Moriyama, “Lecturers’ and students’ perspectives toward the shift to online teaching owing to COVID-19: A case at Kyushu University School of Medicine,” Program and Abstracts of the JTTA 2021 GIFU, p. 121, 2021.
- [13] M. Matsumoto, “Changes of learning and lifestyle in Japanese undergraduates during the infectious phase of COVID-19,” Rev. Kobe Shinwa Women’s Univ., Vol.55, pp. 67-77, 2022 (in Japanese).
- [14] Expert Panel on Response to New Coronavirus Infection, “Medium-to long-term challenges for the next infectious disease crisis based on past efforts to deal with new coronavirus infection,” 2022 (in Japanese). https://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/coronavirus_yushiki/pdf/corona_kadai.pdf [Accessed November 13, 2022]
- [15] A. Kasuga et al., “Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the management and end-of-life care of unresectable pancreatic cancer,” Intern. Med., Vol.61, No.24, pp. 3641-3649, 2022. https://doi.org/10.2169/internalmedicine.0492-22
- [16] H. Tobe, “Implementation status and issues of measures against COVID-19 in schools: From the survey of Yogo teachers at the beginning of FY2021,” Jpn. J. Sch. Health, Vol.64, No.2, pp. 135-145, 2022 (in Japanese). https://doi.org/10.20812/jpnjschhealth.64.2_135
- [17] Y. Ota, “Corona disaster’s third graduation ceremony, with a tailwind to ‘a sunny day’,” The Sankei News, March 21, 2022 (in Japanese). https://www.sankei.com/article/20220321-LTZVQE5VMVKM3JFRNDXFHH625U/ [Accessed November 13, 2022]
- [18] J. Okuyama and S. Seto, “Physical activity and mental health of children and adolescents in prolonged COVID-19 pandemic,” Stress Sci. Res., Vol.36, pp. 3-11, 2021 (in Japanese). https://doi.org/10.5058/stresskagakukenkyu.2021002
- [19] Kawasaki City, “Kawasaki city survey on children’s rights report,” 2021 (in Japanese). https://www.city.kawasaki.jp/450/cmsfiles/contents/0000127/127147/7chousa_all.pdf [Accessed November 13, 2022]
- [20] S. Chikazawa, A. Take, and A. Sasaki, “Literature review of the effects of COVID-19 on infants, toddlers and parents,” Osaka Med. Coll. J. Nurs. Res., Vol.11, pp. 82-91, 2021 (in Japanese). https://www.ompu.ac.jp/research/omc/outcome/magazine/nursing/of2vmg0000008w9b-att/a1619515305830.pdf [Accessed November 13, 2022]
This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationa License.