Supporting adolescents' mental health during COVID-19 by utilising lessons from the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake

Abstract

Historical data can determine how adolescents recover from difficult situations such as the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study analysed 3 years of data obtained from high-school students who had been affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and consequently evidenced the importance of increasing resilience among affected adolescents. This involved identifying factors contributing to resilience through a model that assessed for each tsunami disaster. This model was determined by assessing the correlation between survivors' resilience scores and their measured psychological and lifestyle scores. This approach showed that, in all tsunami damage models, resilience was most affected by the depressed emotions. Thus, our approach suggests that interventions for improving the depressed mood may improve resilience in adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: Health humanities; Psychology.

Fig. 1. Adolescent homology during the COVID-19 pandemic and after the Great East Japan earthquake.

On the right “The Great East Japan Earthquake” gives the articles on children and adolescents after the Great East Japan Earthquake, and on the left “Novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)” gives the articles on children andadolescents under the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fig. 2. Longitudinal study of high-school students in the 3 years following the Great East Japan Earthquake.

A Flooded areas in Miyagi Prefecture by the Great East Japan Earthquake tsunami. B Flooded areas in Miyagi Prefecture by the Great East Japan Earthquake tsunami. C Survey timing and number of participants from the three high schools.

Fig. 3. Resilience and mental health indicators of students assessed in 2012 to 2013.

QIDS-J Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology—Japanese version, SAS Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, IES-R Impact of Event Scale—Revised, CD-RISC-10 10-item Conner-Davidson Resilience Scale, GEJE, Great East Japan Earthquake.

Fig. 4. Differences in daily life activities due to tsunami damage.

QIDS-J Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology—Japanese version; SAS Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, IES-R, Impact of Event Scale—Revised; CD-RISC-10, 10-item Conner-Davidson Resilience Scale; GEJE, Great East Japan Earthquake. *According to the Kruskal–Wallis test, there was a difference in time between 2012, 2013, and 2014 (P < 0.05); according to the Mann–Whitney U-test, there was a difference in time by between 2012 and 2013 (P < 0.05).

Fig. 5. Factors contributing to resilience after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

QIDS-J Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology—Japanese version; SAS Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, IES-R Impact of Event Scale— Revised, CD-RISC-10 10-item Conner-Davidson Resilience Scale.