Ashworth, E, McLoughlin, S, Saini, P, Chopra, J, Eames, C and Hunt, A (2021) Young people's mental health and wellbeing in the north west during the COVID-19 pandemic: The ALICE study evidence briefing. Project Report. LJMU.

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Abstract

The ALICE study is a research project aiming to explore what risk and protective factors are associated with early adolescent mental health during Covid-19. Early adolescence (11-14 years old) is a critical period of development, where young people are developing social skills and forming relationships outside the family. During lockdown and tier restrictions due to Covid-19, usual developmental experiences in school and with family are interrupted, during a period of uncertainty. We wanted to find out how young people experience and manage their wellbeing during lockdown.
In total, 294 young people took part in the study, between 9th September 2020 and 22nd December 2020. Most participants were aged 11 (34.4%), 12 (31%), or 13 (26.5%) years old. More males took part (52.4%), with 45.6% identifying as female, 1.4% as other, and 0.7% preferring not to say. In terms of ethnicity, the majority of young people identified as White (76.9%), followed by 8.8% Asian or Asian British, 7.5% Mixed Ethnicity, 2% Chinese or Chinese British, 2% other ethnic group, 1.7% preferring not to say, and 1% Black or Black British. Half of those who took part stated having no religion (51.4%), followed by Christian (32.7%), Muslim (8.2%), and Hindu (1.4%) as the dominant religious groups. Most young people identified as heterosexual (79.9%), with 10.2% preferring not to say how they identified, and 9.5% identifying as gay, bisexual, transgender, or belonging to LGBTQIA+.
We also asked about young people’s home life. Most said they did not receive ‘free school meals’ (83%), lived in a semidetached (42.2%), terraced (31%), or detached house (15.6%), lived with a 2-parent family (83.3%) and did not move between mum and dad’s house (86.1%), and did not have any caring responsibilities (87.8%). Most lived with 1 sibling (46.9%), followed by 2-siblings (19.4%) or were lone children (18.7%).
Most did not have anyone at home who were ‘shielding’ or considered ‘high risk’ (71.8%), and almost half (44.2 %) had a keyworker in their home (e.g., providing essential work during lockdown such as nurse, supermarket worker, delivery driver), while 47.3% did not.

Item Type:	Monograph (Project Report)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions:	Psychology (from Sep 2019)
Publisher:	LJMU
Date Deposited:	26 Jan 2021 09:50
Last Modified:	06 Oct 2021 11:13
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/14319

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