Locking adolescents down during the COVID-19 pandemic had a dramatic — and damaging — impact on their brains, according to a new study.
New research from the University of Washington, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found the lockdowns caused “unusually accelerated brain maturation in adolescents.”
That is, all that social isolation prematurely aged their brains.
“This maturation was more pronounced in girls,” they continued, explaining it was the equivalent of 4.2 years of aging for females and 1.4 years in males.
And while we often think of maturity as a good thing, it’s not in this case: Brain maturation has to do with the thickness of the outer layer of the brain, the cerebral cortex.
Teens who were locked down had a thinner cerebral cortex than they should have had at their age. “Chronic stress and adversity are known to accelerate cortical thinning, which is associated with an increased risk for the development of neuropsychiatric and behavioral disorders,” the researchers said in a university release.
“Many of these disorders, such as anxiety and depression, often emerge during adolescence — with females at a higher risk.”
Senior author Patricia Kuhl said, “Teenagers really are walking a tightrope, trying to get their lives together. They’re under tremendous pressure. Then a global pandemic strikes and their normal channels of stress release are gone … but the social criticisms and pressures remain because of social media.”
Kuhl continues, “All teenagers got isolated, but girls suffered more. It affected their brains much more dramatically.” The researchers theorize it’s because adolescent females depend more on social interaction.
Future research is needed to see if the damage is reversible.