TY - JOUR

T1 - Adolescent Anxiety During the COVID‐19 Pandemic

T2 - A Qualitative Systematic Review of Risk and Protective Factors

AU - Kara, Buket

AU - Scharf, Nitzan

AU - McCormack, Kathleen

AU - Bhreathnach, Linda

AU - Currie, Candace

AU - Symonds, Jennifer

PY - 2025/8/20

Y1 - 2025/8/20

N2 - ABSTRACTIntroductionThe COVID‐19 pandemic significantly disrupted adolescents' lives, leading to increased stress and anxiety rates globally. Although existing research highlights the necessity of understanding the increased rates of anxiety in adolescents during and after the pandemic, it offers little insight into the risk and protective factors for the development of adolescent anxiety at this time. To more deeply understand how the pandemic impacted anxiety in adolescents around the world, the current study adopted a qualitative approach to synthesising the global evidence on adolescents' lived experiences of anxiety during the pandemic.MethodsFive databases (Academic Search Complete, British Education Index, Education Research Information Centre, APA PsycINFO, and Scopus) were searched for studies that included qualitative data reported by adolescents on their lived experiences of anxiety during the pandemic. After duplicate records were removed, 348 records were title and abstract screened, a shortlist of 117 publications for full text screening, resulting in 34 papers to be included in the review.ResultsThematic analysis of data uncovered adolescents' experiences of anxiety during the pandemic in relation to a wide range of risk factors (i.e., academic stressors, family and economic stressors, social isolation, online dangers, uncertainties and health‐related concerns) and protective factors (e.g., social support, personal coping, accurate information and clear guidelines, digital tools) in different developmental contexts.ConclusionsThese findings can guide the development of effective practices and policies for young people navigating the complexities of the post‐pandemic world.

AB - ABSTRACTIntroductionThe COVID‐19 pandemic significantly disrupted adolescents' lives, leading to increased stress and anxiety rates globally. Although existing research highlights the necessity of understanding the increased rates of anxiety in adolescents during and after the pandemic, it offers little insight into the risk and protective factors for the development of adolescent anxiety at this time. To more deeply understand how the pandemic impacted anxiety in adolescents around the world, the current study adopted a qualitative approach to synthesising the global evidence on adolescents' lived experiences of anxiety during the pandemic.MethodsFive databases (Academic Search Complete, British Education Index, Education Research Information Centre, APA PsycINFO, and Scopus) were searched for studies that included qualitative data reported by adolescents on their lived experiences of anxiety during the pandemic. After duplicate records were removed, 348 records were title and abstract screened, a shortlist of 117 publications for full text screening, resulting in 34 papers to be included in the review.ResultsThematic analysis of data uncovered adolescents' experiences of anxiety during the pandemic in relation to a wide range of risk factors (i.e., academic stressors, family and economic stressors, social isolation, online dangers, uncertainties and health‐related concerns) and protective factors (e.g., social support, personal coping, accurate information and clear guidelines, digital tools) in different developmental contexts.ConclusionsThese findings can guide the development of effective practices and policies for young people navigating the complexities of the post‐pandemic world.

U2 - 10.1002/jad.70038

DO - 10.1002/jad.70038

M3 - Journal article

JO - Journal of Adolescence

JF - Journal of Adolescence

SN - 0140-1971

ER -