Unpacking The Impact Of COVID Lockdowns On The Brains Of Teen Girls

In the years since a global pandemic caused the fundamental disruption of our society, there’s been plenty of evidence highlighting the toll the COVID lockdowns had on the mental, emotional, physical, and educational well-being of children.

But now there’s new data revealing that girls seem to have experienced an even more acute impact from the pandemic.

Premature aging

According to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science journal, the unavoidable isolation during the pandemic era led to a host of serious issues among adolescents, including:

• Eating disorders
• Depression
• Anxiety

And further research determined that the brains of children who lived through these lockdowns now appear older than they should be. Among teen boys, the average rate of premature aging was 1.4 years — but it was three times higher among girls.

While it’s too early to determine exactly what the long-term risks associated with these statistics will be, experts note that accelerated aging of the brain has been linked with an array of behavioral, neurological, and psychiatric issues later in life.

Exploring the gender gap

So why did girls show more rapid aging than boys? Lead researcher Patricia Kuhl speculated that one likely reason lies in the tendency of adolescent girls to require more social ties than boys during trying times. And without those connections, the impact was particularly severe.

If you’re looking for the silver lining, it seems to be that adolescents are known for their resilience, and most experts believe that they’ll be able to recover from the social isolation in time.

Nevertheless, Kuhl said her team’s research offers further evidence of COVID’s impact on kids, explaining: “The pandemic was dramatic and unexpected, of course, but dramatic and catastrophic in a way not only for physical health but mental health.”

Chris Agee September 11th, 2024

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