Paper Example on Youths in Crisis: COVID-19's Impact on Young People Worldwide

Introduction

Even though there have been commendable steps taken in empowering the youths, still a large population of youths suffers disproportionately from poverty, drug abuse, violence, and today the worst effects of COVID-19 are on them. Several experts have raised the alarm with regard to the acute impacts young people around the world are facing amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Some of these are seen to be massive loss of jobs, hardships, family issues, and mental health. The pandemic has made the situation worse because even the outbreak of the virus almost 1.54billion young people had dropped out of school (Valencia, 2020). Some have faced violence and conflicts from drug use which has resulted in frustrations and psychological problems. Even the hurdles have been extreme, it has become explicit that young people must now be engaged with support programs because they are the lot that creates demand and drives for change in the world today (Valencia, 2020). The New York Times has made multiple publications with regard to some specific challenges like limited community support and counseling for the youth during this pandemic.

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Family

In the article, The Challenges of the Pandemic for Queer Youth from The New York Times, we learn that the study was recently carried to ascertain some of the challenges of the pandemic for queer youths. Some such challenges include improper access to counseling, limited support from both communities, and the family members at the times of lockdowns (Valencia, 2020). For example, when Brittany Brockenbrough’s son could not meet-up with other L.G.B.T.Q youths during the pandemic, his cognition deteriorated. He was showing the feelings of depression and was extremely withdrawn. According to cognitive theorists, the ability of an individual especially a young to deal with issues, is based on how they perceive their social environment. In the stages of social development and even after controlling the social background, when a youth is made to obey the law to avoid punishment their cognition might be affected (Bolton & Hattie, 2017). Therefore, with this pandemic, a lot of queer youth put under compulsory quarantine have found it extremely hard to cope.

Conclusion

In summary, the pandemic has indeed brought a lot of compounding challenges in our society today. However, because of the agility of the young population especially in social aspects of life, the compulsory lockdowns and less support from both their families and community have plunged them into mental problems like stress and anxiety.

References

Bolton, S., & Hattie, J. (2017). Cognitive and brain development: Executive function, Piaget, and the prefrontal cortex. Archives of Psychology, 1(3). https://archivesofpsychology.org/index.php/aop/article/view/30

Valencia, M. (2020). The Challenges of the Pandemic for Queer Youth: The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/29/well/family/LGBTQ-youth-teenagers-pandemic-coronavirus.html?searchResultPosition=1