The study highlights concerns about the lockdown's long-term impact on mental health.
The teen years, a crucial phase in human development marked by the transition from adolescence to adulthood, have been significantly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Covid-19 seriously changed this activity. Recent medical research pointed out that the Covid-19 social restrictions have struck at the very fragile phase of human development, especially in adolescent girls.
Premature Brain Ageing Observed
In 2022, researchers found evidence of premature brain ageing in teens who had faced Covid lockdowns. New research suggests one group bore the brunt of the burden.
The latest study, which was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the first to reveal stark differences between boys and girls.
MRI scans have revealed that, on average, girls' brains appear approximately 4.2 years older than expected following lockdowns, while boys' brains show an average ageing of 1.4 years.
Concerns for Mental Health and Learning
Although the precise implications of these changes are still under investigation, there are growing concerns about their potential impact on adolescents' mental health and cognitive abilities. The study underscores the need for further research to understand the long-term effects of pandemic-related disruptions on young people's development.
"Social isolation due to lockdowns that were imposed because of the Covid-19 pandemic had a detrimental impact on adolescent mental health, with the mental health of females more affected than males. We assessed the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns on adolescent brain structure with a focus on sex differences. We collected MRI structural data longitudinally from adolescents prior to and after the pandemic lockdowns," said the authors of the study.
"The pre-Covid data were used to create a normative model of cortical thickness change with age during typical adolescent development. Cortical thickness values in the post-Covid data were compared to this normative model. The analysis revealed accelerated cortical thinning in the post-Covid brain, which was more widespread throughout the brain and greater in magnitude in females than in males."
"When measured in terms of equivalent years of development, the mean acceleration was found to be 4.2 years in females and 1.4 years in males. Accelerated brain maturation as a result of chronic stress or adversity during development has been well documented. These findings suggest that the lifestyle disruptions associated with the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns caused changes in brain biology and had a more severe impact on the female than the male brain."
The results emphasizes the need for continued support and targeted interventions to address the developmental challenges faced by today's youth in the wake of the pandemic.