A new study has found that Irish young people reacted well to the first few weeks of lockdown in April.

The University of Limerick study examined the mental of children and young people for a month of lockdown beginning on April 10th.

Parents of young children reported no significant increase in behavioural and attentional difficulties; however, there was a slight increase in emotional difficulties, such as feeling unhappy, worried and being clingy.

Meanwhile, teenagers reported no change in their own emotional or behavioural difficulties with many actually reporting a reduction in their restless or attentional issues.

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, lead author, Dr Jennifer McMahon from the Department of Psychology at the University of Limerick, said there was a slight increase in emotional symptoms among children.

“It wasn’t statistically significant but there was a trend upwards for primary school age children,” she said.

“We have a sister study in the UK which found a statistically significant increase in these symptoms as well for primary school children – so that is an important trend.”

Lockdown

She said the reduction in emotional symptoms experienced by teenagers was surprising and suggests they were managing their mental health well in the early weeks of lockdown.

She said the study only looks at a one-month period early on in the pandemic and noted that other studies have indicated an increase in mental health difficulties by August and September.

“That suggests that for young people, the longer the restrictions go on, the harder it is,” she said.

“We have been collecting the data since March and we have additional time points so, when we go back to that, we could find that there is changes across those time periods in these symptoms so child wellbeing and mental health will continue to be a concern even in the presence of those findings.”

Mental Health

Dr McMahon said the next phase of the study will try to understand which categories of young people are most vulnerable during lockdown periods so authorities can “target the resources appropriately and make sure the people who need it the most get the support they need.”

She said children should remain in school for as long as possible and warned that children “may not fare so well” if further school shutdowns are announced.