In the COVID-19 epidemic, youth as a group reported the greatest declines in mental health in comparison to other age groups.
The research on youth mental illness during the pandemic focused on low academic engagement, lost peer networks, missed landmark events, and difficult summer employment experiences. There is little information about the role that the place where the young people lived had on their mental health.
In the first months of the pandemic, the public was limited to taking a walk in the park or ordering takeout. The majority of youth were not attending school and did not participate in indoor or organized sports.
Many people chose to do their daily activities away from home based on what they could reach within walking distance. The main locations for social interaction were parks and retail stores that sold food. The parks and food-related retail became the main places for physically distanced social interactions.
Neighborhood amenities
The availability of parks close to the home did not have a significant impact on the mental health or stress levels of children. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tijana Martin
In our study, we included Canadian youth aged 13 to 19 years old in London, Ontario. We examined whether the presence of neighborhood amenities contributed to the positive or negative change in mental health – interpreted by the youth as their perceptions of their mood, outlook on life, and stress levels – during the first half of the pandemic.
In close proximity, you will find parks, restaurants, and convenience stores.
We examined whether these amenities might have prevented mental decline and increased stress, as well as whether youth in suburban areas had different perceptions about mental health and anxiety than those in urban areas.
Parks are missing in action.
The availability of parks close to the home did not have a significant impact on the mental health or stress levels of young people. This result is contrary to data that suggested these parks were essential to support well-being in the pandemic.
These parks may not have played the same role as other amenities in supporting youth mental health or lowering their stress levels compared to others.
Experiences of youth in urban neighborhoods
The food-based amenities of urban neighborhoods could have been a place for young people who were stressed to socialize and cope with their declining mental health. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Eduardo Lima
Fast-food outlets located near the homes of urban youth resulted not only in a lower level of stress but also a worsening mental health. In urban areas, youth are almost seven times as likely to have poor mental health when combined with the observed decrease in eating habits.
We found that while the environment near a young person’s home can have a positive impact on their mental health, it has a greater effect on their stress level.
Fast food, convenience store snacks, and socializing may provide a place for young people in urban neighborhoods to reduce their stress.
Experiences of youth in suburban neighborhoods
Youth living in suburban areas were more likely than urban youth to report mental health changes, both positive and negative. In comparison to urban youth, they also had more food outlets nearby. It was found that having more convenience shops near home was linked to more dramatic changes in mental health and higher levels of stress.
Youth living in suburbs who reported a decrease in physical activity were at a three-fold higher risk of worsening mental health compared to their peers who said their physical activity level had not changed.
In general, the mental health of boys was significantly worse than that of girls during the study period. This was particularly true for those living in suburbia.
This trend may be due to the fact that boys are likely to participate in organized sports, which schools usually offer as extracurriculars. Boys also tend to have fewer extensive digital social networks outside of school.
Boys may feel isolated and lonely because of the lack of physical activity at school and the transition from face-to-face social networks to online ones.
Role of Neighbourhood Amenities
The pandemic revealed long-standing problems in youth accessing amenities in their communities. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
The first six months of the pandemic have revealed that neighborhood amenities are important in protecting mental health from decline and in reducing stress.
We found that parks were helpful for other groups of people, but their impact on youth’s mental health and stress was minimal. Planners and landscape architects can consider how to make these places more appealing to youth so that they get the same benefits as older and younger groups.
It is also important to take into account that youths living in urban and suburban neighborhoods have different experiences. It is important to consider the perspectives of youth in planning public spaces to promote healthy and vibrant communities.
The pandemic brought to light long-standing problems in the way youth access community amenities and how best to meet their needs.
