The impact of 'social malnutrition' on students' mental health and how to address it

Some young learners are struggling to build early reading skills, while others stumble over math concepts. Repeated pandemic pivots have left students out of practice with classroom learning, impacted their mental health and distanced them from peers. The CBC News series Learning Curve explores the ramifications of COVID-19 for Canadian students and what they'll need to recover from pandemic-disrupted schooling.

For more than two years, Rachel MacFadyen had become used to seeing her classmates wearing masks and hand sanitizer dispensers placed around her school, an atmosphere she says didn't exactly encourage socializing.

As a result of measures put in place to lower transmission during the COVID-19 pandemic, Rachel says she doesn't have as close a connection with her classmates as she used to.

"I just miss being able to just be with people and not feel like I have to be cautious," the Grade 9 student told CBC News. "I miss feeling more free."

Rachel, 14, who lives in Cornwall, P.E.I., says school has become extra stressful since the pandemic began in March 2020.

"I always feel a little bit more stressed because I didn't want to do anything wrong. Or like I didn't want to make someone uncomfortable if I went too close to them."

Across the country, students have dealt with ongoing disruptions — from cancelled school clubs and events to changing cohorts and online learning. Both health-care professionals and students have noticed the impact a lack of socialization has had on mental health. Here's what they have to say about how to mitigate those effects.

Dr. Saba Merchant, a pediatrician with a practice in Vaughan, Ont., north of Toronto, has used the phrase "social malnutrition" to describe the effect that isolation has had on children and youth during the pandemic. She says some parents she works with have yet to send their children back to in-class learning, which she finds concerning.

"At home when parents are having conversations, if they fear COVID, then they are transmitting that fear to their child, and their child is going to be afraid, too," she said.

Merchant says she's less worried about the social and emotional development of younger children. "With the three-to-seven-year-olds, there's certainly more resilience," she said. "There is a lot of opportunity for catch-up."

For older students, it's another story.

Merchant says she's seeing mental health issues in teenagers at higher levels than ever before in her 20 years of practice, and she thinks this age group may have a harder time bouncing back than younger children.

"The resilience that we see in the younger age group, I'm not sure there's that much resilience in the teen group," she said. "I think that that would be a longer-term thing that we're going to deal with."

Merchant points to warning signs that parents or guardians should be aware of, including a change in behaviour, mood swings, trouble sleeping and quick weight gains or losses. "Know those windows where your teenager is more receptive to conversations, because that is going to be very important."