COVID-19 School Closures and Mental Health of Adolescent Students: Evidence from Rural Mozambique

Abstract

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, entailing widespread school closures as well as acute disruptions to household livelihoods, has presumably had substantial consequences for adolescent well-being in developing country contexts that remain largely unexplored. We present novel evidence about the prevalence of mental health challenges among adolescent students as well as educators in rural Mozambique using data from an in-person survey conducted in 175 schools. In our sample, 31% of students report low levels of well-being (though only 10% suffer from high anxiety): students enrolled in schools that used a wider variety of distance learning measures report lower anxiety, while students reporting familial shocks linked to the pandemic report higher anxiety and lower well-being. Educators experience comparatively lower levels of anxiety and higher well-being, and household-level shocks are most predictive of variation in mental health. However, well-being is negatively affected by the range of hygiene-related measures implemented in schools upon reopening.

Note:
Funding: Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) of the CGIAR, from World Vision (grant no. FFE-656-2019/018-00-IFPRI), and from the COVID-19 Africa Rapid Grant Fund of the National Research Foundation (grant no. COV19200616532519).

Declaration of Interests: None to declare.

Ethics Approval Statement: Ethical approval was provided by the IFPRI Institutional Review Board and the Comite National de Saude in Mozambique, and parental consent was provided for minors.

Keywords: MOZAMBIQUE, SOUTHERN AFRICA, AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA, AFRICA, Coronavirus, coronavirus disease, Coronavirinae, COVID-19, mental health, rural areas, adolescents, students, school closures