WHO says girls are more affected by the pandemic than boys

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), girls are more affected than boys by the negative impact of the pandemic, as are older adolescents (15 years old) compared to younger ones (11 years old).

Based on data released on Tuesday based on information collected by countries participating in the Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, including Portugal, WHO advocates for specific resources to “developing responses for girls” . and older adolescents” and reflect their needs in future pandemic response plans.

“There is more and more of this idea of ​​erasing gender differences (…), but the fact is that girls are different from boys,” Tania Gaspar, research coordinator at HBSC Portugal, told Lusa.

The official also highlights one of her findings: “Things that affect girls’ mental health are much greater than boys’, and that makes the intervention even more difficult.”

“While boys have two or three highlights (…), girls have a lot of things,” he explains.

And he adds: “We have a school, we have literacy, we have a job as a mother, we have more stress management strategies, we like school, which means that in order to make girls happy, we have to intervene in many things.”

Data released Tuesday shows that between 15% and 30% of teens reported that the pandemic had a negative impact on their lives.

While the negative impact has more to do with mental health, exercise, and school performance (future expectations), the beneficial impact has more to do with the family: “We have to work with families because it will have a huge impact on children, and then and teachers,” defends Tanya Gaspar.

The official also emphasizes that teachers acted as “the second source of social support for a positive impact on the pandemic” and gives an example: “Those children who had the best support from teachers were not affected as much and felt less pressure.”

The work, which collects information from 22 countries, shows that in terms of mental health and well-being, between 17% and 38% of young people report being adversely affected and that adolescents from families with lower socioeconomic status were more affected than adolescents from families with lower socioeconomic status. people with better socio-economic conditions.

The study also shows that teens who report that the pandemic has negatively impacted their academic performance and relationships with family and friends also report less mental health and more psychological symptoms.

The pandemic has negatively affected the performance of one in four teenagers, and about half of young people have experienced pressure from the school, which is greater the longer schools have been closed.

During the pandemic, there were countries where schools did not close for a single day, such as Finland. The country with the most school closures was Italy (341 days), nearly three times as many as Portugal (123 days).

The data collected also suggests that teens who felt socially supported by peers and teachers experienced less pressure.

Family (family relationships and communication) was the most important pillar to mitigate the negative impact of the pandemic, followed by teachers, colleagues and finally friends.

It is for girls that there is a stronger link between family and teacher support and the impact of the pandemic.

In the conclusions of this work, the WHO argues that it is necessary to take into account the negative impact on the school, to intervene in groups with different impacts, and that adolescents must be heard for post-pandemic recovery. He also says that interpersonal relationships and emotion management will be important for future stressful situations or pandemics.

It also argues that interventions to promote mental health and well-being should be evaluated and monitored and that mental health programs and services should be adequate to facilitate adolescent access and appropriate for different ages and genders.