[Confinement and social distancing: stress, anxiety, depression in children and adolescents]

Abstract

Among the strategies to avoid COVID-19 disease that affects the world population it is keeping away from contagion through confinement and social distancing, which can cause in children and adolescents a change in the psychosocial environment with a high prevalence of psychological and psychiatric disorders, such as stress, anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, risk of suicide and eating disorders. During confinement, were made school closures, shutdowns of recreational and sports spaces, cancellation of outdoor activities, which can have consequences in social habits, sleep, modifications in the eating pattern that entails alterations in anthropometric variables, neurophysiological alterations with behaviors that affect mental health, in addition to the frustration of not executing plans, fear, boredom and the uncertainty of the duration of the pandemic could lead to further stress. Social distancing favors a reduction in interaction, is related to anxiety, stress and depression, in addition to the concern of infecting the family. These scenarios can generate stress for parents, domestic violence and uncontrolled use of the internet. Children and adolescents are vulnerable populations that adapt to the environment in crisis. The objective of this work was to review the influence of confinement and social distancing on stress, anxiety and depression in children and adolescents.

Keywords: Anxiety; COVID-19; Child; Depression; Stress, Psychological.

Cuadro I. Escala Newcastle-Ottawa para valorar los estudios seleccionados.

Figura 1. Algoritmo de síntesis y análisis de los datos.