31% adolescents battled extreme anxiety in past few months due to COVID-19, says survey

About 31 per cent surveyed adolescents battled extreme anxiety in the past few months worrying about the impact of coronavirus pandemic on their family's financial status, according to a survey of over 7,300 adolescents from four states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Odisha. The survey on 'What do the Adolescents have to say? COVID-19 and its Impact' by NGO Centre for Catalysing Change was conducted in two rounds in the months of April, July and August.

Out of the 7,324 adolescents surveyed, 31 per cent admitted to battling extreme anxiety worrying about the pandemic's impact on their family's financial status.

The survey also found that adolescent girls faced significant gender discrimination in these months due to the pandemic.

"Only 12 per cent of surveyed adolescent girls had access to their own mobile phones to be able to attend online classes, while 35 per cent boys had access to their own mobile phones," the survey found.

"Further, 51 per cent of the adolescent girls surveyed lacked access to essential textbooks in comparison to boys, highlighting how the pandemic had jeopardized girls' access to education," it said.

About 39 per cent of the girls were found to be contributing to housework as opposed to the number of boys at 35 per cent, it said.

Under the survey, the adolescent girls also stated how their mobility has been curbed, with only 39 per cent girls saying they were allowed to go out alone in comparison to 62 per cent boys of the same age who were allowed to go out alone.

"At the same time, only 36 percent adolescents knew the correct helpline numbers, while awareness about the use of the helplines was even lower. Only 18 per cent was aware that the helplines could be used in reporting domestic violence and only 22-23 per cent knew that it could be used in reporting child labour and child trafficking cases," it added.