Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Japanese Youths: Analyses of Longitudinal Survey Data

ABSTRACT

This study examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the attitudes and mental health of Japanese youths, using data from two longitudinal surveys which followed the trajectories through secondary education, tertiary education, and transition from school to work. A state of emergency such as a pandemic is considered to maintain or, make matters worse, leading to a deterioration of existing inequalities. Most of the participants in these surveys attended tertiary educational institutions, or completed higher education. The authors examined their attitudes toward campus life or changes in mental health, considering their life stages. Generally, students attending tertiary educational institutions consider school life as a high risk exposure to the COVID-19 contagion, and female students and those having poor mental health are more likely to be cautious about the disease. Female students also tend to have negative attitudes toward school life. Additionally, with regard to participants who completed higher education, the gap in mental health widened between genders, although the changes in mental health before and after the pandemic was not statistically significant. © 2021 Japanese Association for Mathematical Sociology. All rights reserved.