Corona generation

The most important information

• The sense of time is different in adolescence. A lockdown can seem endless to teenagers.
• Most young people have experienced the pandemic as a temporary crisis and have weathered it well so far.
• Young people who consume problematic content on social media are increasingly confronted with such content through algorithms.
• A classic dilemma of puberty doesn't affect the young people themselves, but their parents: the art of letting go.

It's a time of embarrassment. The body grows in the strangest places and pimples compete for the best spot on the face. Parents' behaviour is a constant source of embarrassment: You can't show your face in public with them anymore. Your own feelings are completely unreliable and require some acting talent to hide the fact that the clearly uncool guy from the parallel class causes a slight tug in the stomach when he strolls past you. In general, the whole of life is one terrible endeavour.

At the other end of this process is a new person who knows how they want to live.

Welcome to puberty, which this dossier will take a closer look at. Firstly, because experts agree that it is one of the most exciting, if not the most exciting, developmental stages in a person's life. Secondly, because adolescents in particular have had to bear a special burden over the past two years, namely that of a global pandemic. The reassuring thing is that the vast majority of young people get through puberty with little or no difficulty, even though a virus called corona has been raging during this time.

Between striving for autonomy and safe harbour

Generally speaking, however, there is no escape for anyone. Everyone has to go through puberty - some earlier, some later. Nevertheless, at the other end of this undeniably challenging process, a new person beckons, a young adult who knows where their place is in this world and how they want to live. To get there, however, a crisis is needed, as science now knows very well. And every crisis, as is well known, harbours an opportunity. It is a complex, fundamental phase of development that each and every one of us goes through. Roughly speaking: Girls around the age of 10 to 16, boys from 12 to 18. However, it can sometimes take until the early 20s for all physical changes to be completed. During this time, we learn many things: planning processes, organising actions, reasoning, critical and logical thinking. We expand our concept of ourselves, develop our own identity and define ourselves as a person: Who am I? What makes me special? What makes me different from others? We become more willing to take risks, more emotional and develop the urge for intense feelings.

The sense of time is different in adolescence. A lockdown can seem endless to teenagers.

Oskar Jenni, developmental paediatrician.

«All these processes are not without doubt and tension,» says Oskar Jenni, Head of the Department of Developmental Paediatrics at the University Children's Hospital Zurich, «but only 5 to 15 percent of young people have really serious problems.» A little friction between parents and adolescents is actually a good thing: young people learn how to resolve conflicts, test their limits and see to what extent their parents are still there and involved in their lives. This should not be underestimated, says Jenni, because just as much as teenagers strive for independence, they need the support and safe harbour of home.

Parents lose influence

When parents realise how much they are losing their own influence, they are usually the most worried. What if the son or daughter falls in with «the wrong crowd»? Young people choose their peer group themselves, which is an important part of the process of separating from the parental home. «You just have to accept that you are losing control and hope that it goes well,» says Jenni. And emphasises that a look at the scientific literature shows that in most cases it does. Parenting in the true sense of the word is no longer possible during puberty, so parents should not try to influence their pubescent offspring in their thoughts, feelings or goals. «But providing structure, for example by setting rules for going out, and always making an offer to talk is important in this phase of a child's life,» says Jenni. Those who stay in contact with their child are also more likely to notice changes. School, meeting friends, going to the club, getting something from the supermarket, going back to a colleague to do homework, a round of Netflix at the weekend - the everyday life of teenagers is characterised by variability. Parents should be alert when monotony sets in and their son or daughter shows signs of withdrawal. The same applies if suicidal thoughts are expressed, even if it's in passing. With an open dialogue, also with the help of a specialist, young people can often be shown a way to find solutions.

The pandemic is influencing development

So puberty is already challenging enough. And it becomes even more so when a pandemic forces young people into situations that interfere with the key developmental tasks of adolescence: breaking away from their parents, making new friends and entering into a romantic relationship. Instead of exploring life outside, thousands of Swiss teenagers were stuck at home in lockdown. To make matters worse, their parents were usually there all the time. «We know from studies that the sense of time is different in childhood and adolescence, time seems to run slower and a lockdown can seem endlessly long to teenagers,» says Jenni.

The fear of having missed something

The most serious effect on young people's mental health was probably the apparent collapse of their own prospects. Their parents, their environment, the whole world was characterised by uncertainty. This had an impact on the young people's perception: What will happen to me and my school leaving certificate? Can I go to university? Learn the job I want? What will happen to my friendships and relationships? «Of course that's scary, especially as young people don't have the long period of life behind them that we adults have and can say: It'll pass,» says Jenni.

Experts are also trying to find out how the pandemic is affecting the lives and psyches of young people through studies and surveys. This is difficult because we are still in the middle of the pandemic. Figures published in the spring, summer or autumn of this year may be out of date again a few months later because circumstances are still changing. A study published this summer on behalf of the Federal Office of Public Health, for example, focussed on the time when far-reaching measures to combat the pandemic were in place in Switzerland. Although the entire population stated that they were worse off after a year of the pandemic than before, it was the young population that suffered the most. In this group, it was mainly the 20 to 25-year-olds who were noticeably worse off than the over-35s.

While 15 to 19-year-olds are most concerned that they have missed out on important experiences in their youth, respondents in their twenties are more worried that they have not been able to seize career opportunities. The frequency of contact fell sharply in all population groups in spring 2020, but it was within the group of young people that it almost returned to pre-pandemic levels most quickly after the lockdown was eased. And even though a third of the young generation stated that they had already reached their personal limits in terms of coronavirus-related restrictions in spring 2021, the authors of the study have now noticed an easing in this regard.

More people seeking help

In the first year of the pandemic, Pro Juventute Switzerland's 147.ch counselling service registered a sharp increase in people seeking help with a wide range of issues. Contacts regarding depressive moods increased by 16 per cent, while 21 per cent more children and young people contacted 147 for «mental illness». With the start of the second wave of the pandemic, these enquiries increased by a further 40 per cent between October and December 2020. More children and young people needed help in an acute crisis situation than in the previous year. According to Pro Juventute, the number of «acute contacts» at 147.ch increased by almost a third in 2020 compared to the previous year. Counselling sessions for intra-family conflicts and domestic violence also increased over the course of the year, particularly during the first lockdown.

Most young people have experienced the pandemic as a temporary crisis and have weathered it well so far.

Between March and May 2020, the number of enquiries about «conflicts with parents» (+60 per cent), «conflicts with siblings» (+100 per cent) and «domestic violence» (+70 per cent) rose dramatically. The effects of the restrictions on social life are also clearly evident. Many fear for their friendships and feel lonely: enquiries about «making friends» (+28 per cent compared to 2019) and «loneliness» (+37 per cent) have risen sharply, while those about «losing friends» almost doubled in 2020 (+93 per cent).

Dagmar Pauli can also confirm that the pandemic has left its mark on young people. The Deputy Director of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich has a pretty good overview of how young people in the country are doing. The good news is that the vast majority of young people have experienced the pandemic as a temporary crisis and have weathered it well so far. «Of course, this phase was also drastic for mentally healthy young people, and many missed out on what is actually the most adventurous part of puberty: the first trip alone, the grand 18th birthday party, the school graduation trip,» says Pauli. «But they dealt with all of this like any other crisis as part of life, in which one thing is lost but another is gained: for example, more closeness to the family.» Fortunately, a large proportion of the young people returned to normality relatively quickly.

Corona as a burning glass

However, the lockdown has had a much greater impact on boys and girls who were already suffering from mental health problems before coronavirus. Mental illnesses have increased during the pandemic, with clinics seeing more young patients with anxiety disorders, depression, eating disorders or self-harming behaviour. For those who already had few friends before coronavirus or were unable to avoid conflicts at home, social isolation was correspondingly more severe. However, Pauli and her colleagues have been observing for three or four years that young people are increasingly getting into crises because they don't know enough coping strategies. They try to help themselves and find relief by scratching, vomiting, dieting or developing a fitness addiction, for example. «Corona is not the cause of this, but corona has acted like a magnifying glass and exposed these conditions and exacerbated the situation for some of those affected,» says Pauli. The expert blames social media and the very narrow online circles in which young people often move for the general development. The famous bubble. In addition, young people who consume problematic content on social media are increasingly confronted with this content through the algorithms of these media.

Young people who consume problematic content on social media are increasingly being confronted with such content through algorithms.

A few decades ago, young people with mental health problems found a kind of corrective in their environment: they saw that the others in the class weren't cutting themselves or chasing after a fitness trend and saw themselves as an exception, as «not normal». This increased their motivation to get out of their own slump and find solutions. Today, however, the social bubble and the media's algorithm suggest that who you are and what you do is exactly the right thing to do. «If only young people who feel and act similarly network with each other and only content with similar problems is suggested, a collective is created that pulls each other down. It gives the impression that depression and a negative perception of the world are the norm and that you can only get out of it by tormenting yourself or even contemplating suicide,» says Pauli. She sees this with great concern. «Mentally ill young people then quickly define their identity through this illness and not through all their other characteristics. This can lead to problematic developments.» All the more so when exceptionally aggravating circumstances such as a pandemic are added to the mix. Eating disorders, for example, have become increasingly common in younger and younger patients since the pandemic. More time alone at home led to more media consumption on the one hand and more opportunities to stuff themselves with this and that on the other - this was reflected in the weight and therefore also in the psyche of more young people, says Pauli.

Parents remain important companions

Even if they are often unwanted figures in teenage life: Parents do not lose their function as important companions during puberty. «As adults, however, we tend to go into counselling mode too quickly,» says Pauli. «It's more helpful to simply be there, take an interest and listen.» And - even if this is sometimes difficult - to insist on joint activities up to a certain age. Shared meals, walks together on Sundays or a film night together during the week. «Many young people will say that they don't want to do this, but they still benefit from it,» Pauli assures us. If contact with each other is not completely broken off during this phase, parents can also register changes such as a noticeably depressed mood or sudden weight loss more quickly and react to them. Initially with an open conversation, and if necessary with parental authority and insistence, for example to persuade the teenager to seek professional help. I-messages can be particularly successful in such cases: I can see that you're not feeling well, I'm worried because you only stay in your room.

A classic dilemma of puberty doesn't affect the teenagers themselves, but the parents: the art of letting go.

A classic puberty dilemma doesn't affect the teenagers themselves, but the parents: the art of letting go. Recognising that you are no longer playing the leading role in your teenager's life is hard for many. Dagmar Pauli advises them to consciously remember their own adolescence: how did they experience it when their parents were clingy, what thoughts and secrets did they prefer to share with others rather than adults? «For me, the key question is: Are they okay?» says Pauli. «Then I can let them go, because I know they are well equipped with sufficient self-esteem and few problems.» Knowing that you are releasing emotionally stable children who have close, trusting relationships with other people into the world also gives you a sense of pride in what you have achieved. And there is a reward, Pauli promises: a beautiful relationship with children who are grown up and for whom you are no longer responsible. «That's good for you and good for the young people who are entering a new phase of their lives after the challenging phase of puberty.»

The knowledge that you are releasing emotionally stable children into the world also makes you proud.

Dagmar Pauli, child and adolescent psychiatrist.

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