Subjective distress and educational uncertainty during the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

The health crisis caused by Covid-19 has consequences that go beyond the strictly biomedical, having a differential impact on the labor market, economic and subjective well-being of the population, causing high vulnerability and prolonged uncertainty. The pandemic has produced events that escape the biomedical, impacting differentially on people’s economic and subjective well-being. By means of contingency tables and Classification Trees, we analyze the perception, uncertainty and feelings that young people between 14 and 24 years old have about the pandemic and its effects, reported in the Covid-19 Youth survey. Of special interest are those who fear losing the school year due to the health crisis. The results highlight that young people recognize the seriousness of Covid-19, although they perceive that adults exaggerate the crisis and that young people are not infected; in addition, they report high levels of uncertainty due to the death of a family member or friend, family economic problems, and fear of losing the school year. Educational uncertainty is predominant among younger youth and is linked to high levels of worry, anxiety and fear, together with the manifestation of compulsive drinking and insomnia. The conclusions highlight the impacts that the pandemic has had on the subjective wellbeing of the young population; socioemotional deterioration related to the fear of death of close ones, family economic problems, and losing the school year. This problem raises the need for a multidimensional and extended approach beyond the end of the pandemic.