How Covid lockdowns are hitting teenage boys’ mental health hardest

Teenage boys were the worst hit by Covid lockdowns, with their mental health failing to recover despite the return to normality, the most comprehensive academic study of its kind has found.

Early research into the impact of lockdown on children indicated that girls suffered greater mental health problems than boys.

However, a new study, conducted by academics from three British universities, has been published in the journal European Child + Youth psychiatryResearch found that teen boys’ long-term mental health was more affected.

The study followed a cohort of about 200 children, aged between 11 and 14 at the time, and asked them and their mothers to rate their mental state. It recorded data on each child before the lockdown, three months after the measures started and again after fifteen months after the start of the pandemic.

Researchers then compared this data to historical data showing the common pattern of mental well-being for boys and girls during adolescence.

The academics found that although mental health immediately deteriorated in both genders, boys did not experience the natural improvement in mental wellbeing that usually accompanies maturation as they move through the teenage years.

Dr. Nicky Wright, lecturer in psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University and co-author of the paper, said: “The key message from this is that we expect more boys to be at risk of mental health problems now than before (the pandemic).

“On average, girls are more likely to have mental health problems than boys. But the girls in the study followed their usual pattern, suggesting the experience of lockdown had a greater impact on boys than girls.

“There was no pandemic effect on girls’ depression. When you take puberty and development into account, this is consistent with previous trends,” Wright said.

This weekend marks four years since the first UK lockdown was announced on March 23, 2020. Schools were closed, leaving teenagers who were used to spending at least six hours a day surrounded by their peers isolated from society. The work of homeschool teachers took most adolescents an average of two to three hours a day, and because many parents were at work, many teens were left alone for long periods of time.

For those who switched from primary to secondary school during the pandemic years, the lockdowns also disrupted integration into new social groups and the opportunity to form friendships.

For older teens, universities and colleges switched to virtual lectures and seminars, leaving new students unable to connect with others.

Psychologist and author Wendy Gregory said the study’s findings reflected changes in her client list in her private practice. “Lockdown has had a terrible impact on mental health, especially in boys and young men, and part of the reason I am now seeing the results of this is because I am increasingly seeking therapy,” she said.

“There has been a large increase in the number of men seeking mental health care, generally across all age groups, and for teenage boys there has been a huge increase.”

In south London, Dr. Jen Wills Lamacq, a child psychologist who works in public schools, said she has seen firsthand the pandemic effect on boys’ mental health, including increased challenging behavior. She believes the decline in young men’s mental health was caused by the rupture in their lives at a crucial point in adolescent development.

“Many boys, to regulate their emotions, want to be outside, doing something active and being around other people, without necessarily talking. For a long time, they were denied the opportunity to regulate their mental well-being in a way that came naturally to them,” she says.

For parents of teenage boys and young men, the findings may not come as a surprise. Single mother Rebecca* from London says her teenage son, who was receiving counseling before the pandemic, had a breakdown during lockdown, causing him to become violent and call the police to restrain him.

“He did his GCSEs and when lockdown started it was initially a huge relief because he didn’t have to go to school as that was an anxiety trigger, but losing that routine was devastating and he had a breakdown. He had a psychotic episode in which he heard voices. The police came and were very harsh on him, and they handcuffed him in front of me,” she said.

Rebecca’s son is now an adult and his health has improved since that crisis point, but she says the lockdown has had a lasting impact on his mental wellbeing. “I think it was terrible. I think there will be consequences for all children for years to come,” she said.