Middle school students go to school in Seoul on June 14, 2021. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to drag on, many children, teenagers and young adults in South Korea are struggling with a sense of depression and despair.
The National Youth Policy Institute conducted a survey of 4,347 people between the ages of 9 and 24 (excluding high school seniors), 22 percent of whom said they had felt depressed and hopeless during the pandemic era.
Among the respondents, 45 percent felt stressed out because of the pandemic, while 27.5 percent became more concerned about their school grades following the coronavirus outbreak.
Roughly half of the respondents said they were spending more time with family in the pandemic era, while 47.2 percent said they were spending more time alone.
Another 61.9 percent said they were spending more time on their smartphone, while 38.6 percent said they were sleeping more irregularly.
Family remained the most important factor for respondents before (26.4 percent) and after (24.5 percent) the coronavirus outbreak.
In the pre-pandemic era, family was followed by friends (15.5 percent) and leisure (9.9 percent). Following the coronavirus outbreak, friends and leisure were replaced with health (14.9 percent) and money (11.5 percent).
Only 28.8 percent of the respondents believed that the government was doing well to fend off the pandemic.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
