The Mental Health Impacts of COVID-19 on PK–12 Students: A Systematic Review of Emerging Literature

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Adam

The mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on PK–12 youth represents an urgent, enduring concern, with research still developing. A systematic review synthesized empirical studies to clarify how the pandemic affected students’ emotional wellbeing. Across 104 included studies, five themes emerged: widespread disruption, links between caregiver and child mental health, increased stress anxiety and depression, heightened vulnerability by demographics and prior conditions, and coping strategies that included both negative and positive outcomes. Research practice and policy implications are discussed.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages40

Reading Time1 h 41 min

AccessFree to download

The Mental Health Impacts of COVID-19 on PK–12 Students

Likely Mental Health Impacts of COVID-19 on PK–12 Students

Mental Health Challenges During Natural Disasters

Psychological Impact of Quarantine

Particularly Affected Student Groups

AERA Open January-December 2022, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 1–40 DOI: 10. 1177/23328584221084722 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)© The Author(s) 2022. [https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero](https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero) The Mental Health Impacts of COVID-19 on PK–12 Students: A Systematic Review of Emerging Literature David Naff Shenita Williams Virginia Commonwealth University Jenna Furman-Darby Chesterfield County Public Schools Melissa Yeung Bowling Green State University The mental health impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on PK–12 youth is likely an urgent and enduring concern, yet research on this topic is still emerging. To synthesize current knowledge, the researchers conducted a systematic review of empirical studies exploring the mental health impacts of COVID-19. Five themes emerged across 104 included studies: (a) the pandemic proved widely disruptive to PK–12 youth; (b) there was a clear connection between the mental health of caregivers (e.g., parents) and children; (c) the pandemic broadly increased levels of stress, anxiety, and depression in PK–12 youth;(d) students were particularly affected on the basis of age, gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and previous mental health or disability diagnosis; and (e) youth demonstrated negative and positive coping strategies and even saw some positive mental health outcomes during the pandemic. Implications for research, practice, and policy are discussed. Keywords: adolescence, child development, counseling, COVID-19, early childhood, literature, mental health, PK–12 students, stress/coping, textual analysis Although disruptions to PK–12 schooling because of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have led to reasonably earnest concerns about learning loss (Engzell et al., 2021), attending to the impacts on the mental health of PK–12 students is likely an equally urgent need (Nearchou et al., 2020) . Students have experienced reduced access to school-based mental health providers such as counselors, social workers, and psychologists at a time when they find themselves at the nexus of national uncertainty about how to safely reopen schools for in-person learning while navigating the personal disruptions the pandemic has caused. The systematic literature review presented herein explored empirical research focused on the mental health impacts ofCOVID-19 on PK– 12 students. Likely Mental Health Impacts of COVID-19 on PK–12 Students Preexisting literature suggests that the emotional wellbeing of PK–12 students has been affected by COVID-19 . To explore this we drew from research related to the mental health challenges associated with school closures during natural disasters and the psychological impacts of quarantine. Mental Health Challenges During Natural Disasters. After Hurricane Katrina, nearly 200,000 Louisiana students from kindergarten through 12th grade were displaced (Jaycox et al., 2007), and an estimated 34% experienced symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression (Katoaka et al., 2009) . Students commonly navigated secondary stressors such as separation from family or friends or parental unemployment (Overstreet et al., 2010) . Such stressors often compound emotional distress related to a traumatic event and may manifest in disengagement from school (Sims et al., 2015), disruptive behavior (Coombe et al., 2015), or substance abuse (Brock & Cowan, 2004) . When students returned to school, there was often high demand for mental health support, particularly in higher poverty contexts (Madrid et al., 2008) . Compounding this increased demand, educators across the PK–12 spectrum reported higher levels of emotional distress when they returned to work (Burnham & Hooper, 2012) . Taken Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creativ

FAQs

What was the goal of the systematic review?

To synthesize current knowledge by reviewing empirical studies on the mental health impacts of COVID-19 on PK–12 students.

What key themes were found across the included studies?

Five themes emerged: wide disruption, caregiver–child mental health connection, increased stress/anxiety/depression, greater effects for particular student groups, and both negative and positive coping with some positive mental health outcomes.

How does the review relate COVID-19 mental health impacts to past events?

It draws on research about mental health challenges during natural disasters and psychological impacts of quarantine, including evidence of PTSD symptoms, depression, and increased need for mental health support.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Adam