Ordinary Magic: Resilience in Early Adolescence
While there are undoubtedly potential negative social, educational, and mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown on adolescents, a sole focus on risk will miss the young people who evade difficulties and continue to thrive, despite adversity. In other words, those adolescents who display resilience (Wright et al., 2013). Just as we need to understand which young people are at increased risk of mental health conditions during this pandemic, it is equally important to understand which adolescents do well, and why (Dvorsky et al., 2020). An understanding of the resilience processes that some adolescents use to cope can advance our understanding of how young people respond to crises, and can help inform the services and resources offered (Dvorsky et al., 2020).
There is some research to suggest that certain traits such as an optimistic outlook and intrinsic curiosity are important for promoting resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic (Xie et al., 2020). For instance, the aforementioned Chinese study reported that adolescents with higher levels of optimism for the COVID-19 pandemic had lower levels of anxiety and depression symptoms (Zhou et al., 2020). The TELL study, a qualitative research project with older adolescents aged 16-19 years in the UK, also found that some young people attempted to adopt a positive outlook in order to care for their wellbeing during the pandemic (Demkowicz et al., 2020). Among participants in the TELL study, it was common for this attempt at a positive mindset to be anintentional coping strategy for promoting good mental health. Notably, many adolescents actively engaged in self-care and implemented adaptive coping strategies in an attempt to look after their mental health. These included engaging in enjoyable activities, creating a routine, participating in hobbies, exercising regularly, and keeping in touch with friends. A Portuguese study of adolescents and young adults (aged 16-24) found similar themes regarding intentional coping strategies (Branquinho et al., 2020).
Contrary to some reports, adolescents have reported benefits of lockdown. They viewed it as an opportunity for growth and development, to learn new skills, and welcomed the additional free time they had to relax (Branquinho et al., 2020; Demkowicz et al., 2020). Others were grateful for the opportunity to avoid the normal pressures of daily life, particularly the social pressures to fit in at school (Demkowicz et al., 2020). It is possible that for some young people, for instance those who experience peer victimisation at school or who have difficulties with social anxiety, that lockdown may even have been preferable (Dvorsky et al., 2020). Thus, for some adolescents, the real concern comes when they return to full-time schooling. It is currently unclear how they will respond; there is a paucity of research in this area. However, the additional disruption that lockdown brings, combined with the perceived negative consequences of returning to school, may well result in heightened levels of emotional distress for these young people.