The COVID-19 Pandemic and Sustainable Life of Korean Adolescents: Exploring Gender Differences

Abstract

To ensure that adolescents continue to lead healthy, well-adjusted lives—“sustainable lives”—after the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to examine the latter’s impact on various aspects of their lives compared to the socio-cultural context before the outbreak. This study used national representative data on Korean adolescents to analyze the impact of the pandemic on adolescent life from various perspectives, with a focus on gender differences. Our findings confirm that during the pandemic physical activity and sitting time for study purposes decreased, while sleeping and sitting for purposes other than studying increased, with more pronounced changes among girls. Drinking and smoking decreased and boys experienced greater decreases. The findings also indicated that the pandemic generated positive outcomes for mental health: stress, sadness/despair, and suicidal ideation decreased, which was counterintuitive to our general expectations, with a greater impact seen among girls.