Becker, S. P., & Gregory, A. M. (2020). Editorial Perspective: Perils and promise for child and adolescent sleep and associated psychopathology during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 61(7), 757-759. doi:10.1111/jcpp.13278

Covid-19 could have negative impacts on children and adolescents in the sleep aspect. Due to covid-19 more children have been forced to isolate and stay to themselves to not catch this deadly virus. Doing that though could lead to growth in weight and that can have a negative effect on your health and sleep as time goes on. The stress of all this with family situations can also have a negative effect on children and adolescents in the sleep aspects. Since most people are inside regularly that can make for an inconsistent sleep schedule and wake up time, making daytime naps more regular and longer. Remote learning also increases the time spent in their beds or bedrooms making it easier for them to fall asleep or not pay attention. Remote learning also comprises the in person interactions that children and adolescents need as they are developing in this world. With the added time being on technology the children and adolescents are exposed to “blue light” which disrupts melatonin which is basically your body’s cue that you’re tired and it’s time to sleep. Meaning that the children and adolescents miss value time to sleep and let their bodies rest. 

Horita, R., Nishio, A., & Yamamoto, M. (2020, November 07). The effect of remote learning on the mental health of first year university students in Japan. Retrieved February 23, 2021, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165178120332224

This article talks about the effects of Covid-19 first year Japanese students’ mental health by comparing the surveys with the previous year. The studies have shown that the depression levels were lower with the first year students as compared to the previous students. The studies did show that the first year students experienced high academic distress since they had to adapt to an unfamiliar e-learning environment. The university measured depression, general anxiety, social anxiety, eating concerns, hostility, family distress, academic distress and substance use. Studies showed that 2020 students feel unconnected with the outside world due to the fact that they had to stay home for months and work from home and couldn’t leave.

Kecojevic, A., Basch, C. H., Sullivan, M., & Davi, N. K. (2020, September 30). The impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on mental health of undergraduate students in New Jersey, cross-sectional study. Retrieved February 23, 2021, from https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0239696

This article was trying to see how Covid-19 has impacted college students from Northern Jersey. They ran tests to assess the increased levels of mental health such as depression, anxiety and stress. They collected surveys on knowledge levels, behavior changes, academic and everyday struggles and measured their mental health. The results showed that students had a good understanding of Covid-19 and what they should be doing to try and keep themselves safe. The studies also showed that there was a high level of depression associated with the difficulties of being able to focus on school work and maintaining a job and steady income. There were also high levels of somatization which is when psychological concerns are converted into physical symptoms. The results also showed that those with a high level of stress were prodomenity females unable to focus on academic work. Covid-19 has taken a huge toll on college students having to be able to study and learn challenging topics and staying calm and safe from the virus is having a negative impact on all students especially their mental state. 

Rotas, E., & Cahapay, M. (2020, December 1). Difficulties in Remote Learning: Voices of Philippine University Students in the Wake of COVID-19 Crisis. Retrieved February 23, 2021, from http://www.asianjde.org/ojs/index.php/AsianJDE/article/view/504

This article talks about the difficulties of remote learning and how it was challenging for the students. They talked about how they sometimes have unstable internet connection, uncertain learning contents, overload lessons in activities, unable to talk to your peers and have the adequate one on one time with your professor about a topic. On a global scale UNICEF reported that more than 1.5 billion learners of all ages are affected because of the closure of schools and universities. 32% and 22% out of 3,670 Filipino medical students surveyed have difficulty adjusting to a new learning style. 

Waters, L., Algoe, S., Dutton, J., Emmons, R., Fredrickson, B., Heaphy, E., . . . Steger, M. (2021, February 09). Positive psychology in a pandemic: Buffering, bolstering, and building mental health. Retrieved February 23, 2021, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17439760.2021.1871945

This article talks about nine topics in positive psychology that support people: meaning, coping, self-compassion, courage, gratitude, character strengths, positive emotion, positive interpersonal processes and high quality connections. Researchers Rusk and Waters found that suffering was a common feature in positive psychology because individuals recover and rebuild from adversity (mental toughness, resilience, compassion). An example was after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the USA instead of growing apart everyone became resilient and worked together. When Covid-19 hit an increase of anxiety and depression came about and happiness and life satisfaction was still present. Some positive reactions increased, people were able to focus on their family, feeling blessed for what they have and to be alive. There are three types of interactions: buffering, bolstering and building. The buffering is when positive emotions, and/or relationships serve to diminish or starve off psychological ill health during a crisis. Bolstering effect of positive psychology is when positive emotion, and/or relationships act to maintain mental health despite being in a crisis. The building effect emerges when the individual is able to use the crisis in a transformative way to develop new practices and new outlooks that can lead to improvement on the person’s mental health in the future. During the SARS outbreak it was shown that people were taking great care of their family members, giving friends more support and a spiritual growth and higher level of appreciation for life. Meaning plays an important role in coping with stress and trauma including greater use of effective coping strategies such as avoiding emotional suppression. Despite spikes in stress, anxiety and depression for frontline healthcare workers there was 61% of them that found increased meaning and purpose for their life. Coping can be boasted by a positive psychological intervention. Moskowitz conducted an experiment with people diagnosed with HIV, metastatic breast cancer and dementia caregiving. Wanted to demonstrate positive effects and meaning and purpose. Self compassion involves treating yourself with the same kindness and care you would show a good friend. Self compassion buffers the negative effects of suffering, meaning people who are compassionate towards themselves are less likely to be anxious and depressed. Courage or to take a risk toward your goal. You never know when things could be taken away from you. Gratitude the affirmation and recognition of benefits received. Gratitude lowers stress levels and increases positive emotions, life satisfaction and resilience. Character strengths may bolster mental health by helping one identify and use their best qualities and strengths in new ways. May also help a person see adversity in a positive and not always a negative way. Positive emotions include joy, hope, pride. High quality connections can help people remove distractions from their life and just focus on the interaction they are having. Positive interpersonal processes is also a positive psychology trait but not pertaining to my topic.  

Iwai, Yoshiko. “Online Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Scientific American Blog Network, Scientific American, 13 Mar. 2020, blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/online-learning-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/. 

The article opens up about how the author woke up late for class and even though she was late to her class she turned off her video, became distracted with her outside surrounding like texting on her computer, making coffee and running to the bathroom. The author said she knew this wasn’t a unique experience and wondered how many other people would be going through it. She finds herself obsessing over her family in Japan especially her mother whose lung cancer puts her at a high risk. She then talks about how some professors weren’t able to navigate zoom or had technical difficulties resulting in the cancelation of class. Some classes are easier to teach like biochemistry as compared to a dance class. She then talks about the difficulties of being able to participate in the zoom class. Being on mute doesn’t allow you for a quick response and raising your hands may be unnoticed.

Tucker, Kristine. “Synonym.” Classroom.synonym.com, 2017, classroom.synonym.com/. 

This article talks about how online class and taking a class on campus is similar and differ. They opened up talking about textbooks and how both types of students have the same textbook the only difference is if the teacher in using hands on resources inn the classroom that an online students wouldn’t have. Both learning types depend on the teacher instructions, but online school is hard because some teachers will have their lectures prerecorded which will make it hard for students to ask questions if they are confused rather than if the students in person they would be able to stop the teacher at any time they were confused and ask questions. Both types of learning will have formal assessments and quizzes but online students have the option of using the internet and outside resources to help them in what ever they are doing. In person students don’t have that luxury due to the teacher being in the room looking around for students who are cheating.