Young people have been “disastrously” affected by the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, according to two studies showing happiness and confidence have plummeted to an all-time low.
Both studies detail the various ways in which young people continue to suffer. Difficulties include poorer physical and mental health, as well as severe learning loss that experts say will undoubtedly affect their future.
“While many see the pandemic as over, the aftermath is far from over for our country’s young people, particularly those from less affluent households,” said Sir Peter Lampl, founder and chairman of the Sutton Trust, which co-led one of the research projects with University College London involving 13,000 respondents.
“It is very clear that the pandemic continues to profoundly affect the lives of young people,” he added.
The findings echo concerns expressed in the second part of The Guardian’s Covid generation series, published on Sunday, in which young people look at how the pandemic continues to affect their lives and their plans for the future 18 months after the end of third. national lockdown.
Speaking to 2,025 young people aged 16-25, Jonathan Townsend, UK Chief Executive of Prince’s Trust, said: “The pandemic still has a debilitating impact on young people’s plans, confidence and hopes for a positive future.
“The significant disruption to their education during this period has left these young people concerned about their skills and qualifications, and without confidence in their ability to secure a job or achieve their future career goals.”
Their research found that almost half of the young people surveyed felt hopeless about the future. It was the lowest result in the 14 years the trust has been running its NatWest youth index, even at its launch during the global financial crisis.
Half of the young people surveyed said they worried they were left with permanent knowledge and skills gaps that would prevent them from getting jobs in the future.
The trust’s research echoes data from the Covid Social Mobility and Opportunities (Cosmo) study conducted by the Sutton Trust and UCL.
The Cosmo study found that almost half of young people said they had not caught up on learning they had missed during the pandemic, from 43% of those who had not had covid to 59% who had covid during long time.
Nearly one in five young people, including those who had not been infected, said their GCSE marks were worse than they expected, rising to a third of those with long-term covid.
The pandemic robbed young people of their motivation to study, the research found, with half of those who had not had covid saying they felt less motivated, rising to 57% of those with long-term covid.
Concern for the future was acute, with 40% of respondents saying the pandemic had left them unprepared to take the next steps in education and training. This figure was higher for those who had had severe and prolonged covid, with half saying they did not feel prepared.
As a result of the learning and confidence they had lost due to the pandemic, two-thirds of respondents to the Cosmo survey said they had changed their educational and career plans for the future.
This finding was echoed by research from the Prince’s Trust, which found that more than a quarter of respondents from poorer backgrounds planned to end their education early so they could start earning money, compared to 15% of young people in general.
Olly Parker, head of external affairs at charity YoungMinds, said the inquiry was a “shocking but sadly familiar snapshot of how the pandemic has fundamentally altered the lives of so many young people and called into question their hopes and confidence in the future.”
Ndidi Okezie, chief executive of the UK Youth charity, agreed. “Today’s youth face a number of immense challenges that cannot be underestimated,” she said. “The lingering effects of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis are having a profound impact on education, mental well-being, financial security, and indeed confidence in the future of young people.”
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