Depression among Teens during COVID-19 Lockdown

Abstract

Frequent lockdown, social distancing and lack of social interaction among peers have disrupted socialization process of teens during COVID-19 pandemic, leading to loneliness, boredom and a sense of hopelessness. These feelings can perpetuate into the minds of the teens and create negative patterns of thinking. Hence, it is imperative to explore the level of depression among the teens during the pandemic. From December 24, 2021 to January 14, 2022, 152 participants completed Socio Demographic Profile developed by the researchers and PHQ-9 modified for adolescents by Johnson (2002).The mean age of the participant was 17.69. Percentage analysis showed that 36.8% of the teens had severe depression, 22.4% had moderately severe depression, 19.1% had moderate depression, 16.4% had mild and 5.3% of the teens had none to minimal. Kruskal-Wallis test analysis showed that higher secondary school teens significantly differed in depression than high school and college teens. There was no significant difference in depression based on gender and birth order of the teens. Teens studying higher secondary school require special attention in identifying and reducing their depression level.