The Double-edged Sword of Online Learning for Ethnoracial Differences in Adolescent Mental Health during Late Period of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the U.S.: A National Survey (Preprint)

Abstract

Despite several theories suggesting online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic would aggravate ethnoracial disparities in mental health among adolescents, extant findings suggest otherwise.

To identify why findings from prior studies appear to not support that ethnoracial disparities in mental health were aggravated by testing different mechanisms. Our aim was to test two pathways by which online learning may be associated with mental health. In one pathway, online learning is associated with reporting fewer confidants, which in turn is associated with poorer mental health. In the second pathway, online learning is associated with reporting better sleep, which in turn is associated with better mental health.

We analyzed data from a U.S. sample (N=540) of 13- to 17-year-olds to estimate how school modality was associated with mental health via the two pathways. The sample was recruited from the AmeriSpeak Teen Panel and completed the survey in Spring 2021. Mental health was measured with the 4-item Patient Health Questionnaire. School modality was recorded as either fully online or with some in-person component (fully in-person or hybrid). We recorded self-reports of the number of confidants and quality of sleep. Covariates included age, sex, access to high-speed internet, living in a metropolitan area, household size, and annual household income. We estimated bivariate associations between ethnoracial group membership and both school modality and mental health. To test the pathways, we estimated a path model.

Black and Latino respondents were more likely to report being in fully online learning than their White counterparts (P < .001). Respondents in fully online learning reported fewer confidants than those with any in-person learning component (β = -0.403, p < .01), which was associated with an increased likelihood of reporting symptoms consistent with anxiety (β =-0.121, p < 0.05) and depression (β =-0.197, p < 0.05). However, fully online learning respondents also reported fewer concerns of insufficient sleep than their in-person learning counterparts (β = -0.162, p < .01), which was associated with a decreased likelihood of reporting symptoms consistent with anxiety (β = 0.601, p < .001) and depression (β = 0.588, p < .001). Because of these countervailing pathways, the total effect of membership in a minoritized ethnoracial group on mental health was nonsignificant.

The findings compel more nuanced discussions about the consequences of online learning and theorizing the pandemic’s impact on minoritized ethnoracial groups. The pathways potentially linking online learning to mental health should be identified and tested in future research.