2

An analysis of the effects of Covid-19 and lockdowns on social and psychological behaviours

The Covid-19 pandemic and its associated lockdowns have impacted the entire world in multiple

ways and have had a large effect on social and psychological behaviours. Various studies have found

that psychological effects of quarantine are not limited to the fear of contracting the virus (Barbisch et

al., 2015). Research by Li and Wang (2020) suggests that the feelings of separation from loved ones, loss

of freedom, uncertainty about the disease, and the feeling of helplessness majority contribute to the

observed psychological changes. People’s fears of getting sick and having friends or family get sick also

impact them socially and psychologically (Osofsky et al., 2020). Furthermore, unlike prior catastrophes,

Covid-19 impacted all parts of the world and as such, left little to no room for external help (Osofsky et

al., 2020). This has forced groups at several levels, such as local communities and even countries, to fight

the spread of Covid-19 with limited resources. The lack of resources further impacted the psychology of

people.

Additionally, the lockdowns impacted people of different groups differently—children could not

go to school or meet their friends, adults had to adjust to working at home, and people relying on

caretakers could simply not do certain tasks (Luijten et al., 2021; Saladino et al., 2020). Due to these

reasons, the analysis of social and psychological effects on people’s behaviour is essential to evaluate

the effectiveness, usefulness, and risks associated with lockdowns amid such pandemics and to dive into

some of the adverse Covid-19 effects on mental health and wellbeing, and this paper aims to do that.

Children

According to a survey by Orgilés et al. (2020), children are at a major risk of developing anxiety.

The survey involved over a thousand parents of children ranged 3 to 18. The parents observed many

changes in their children over the lockdown period, particularly, 76.6% children had issues related to

concentrating, 52% of the children were troubled by boredom, 39% and 38.8% struggled with irritability

and restlessness, 38% felt nervous, 31.3% felt lonely while 30.4% felt uneasy. The children were more
 3

likely to argue with their parents, cry, be angry, and were more afraid of Covid-19. The parents also

reported that their children’s screen time, excluding online coursework, increased drastically and time

spent doing physical activities dropped down. The lack of physical activity can lead to childhood obesity,

which is declared to be an epidemic. Steinbeck (2001) notes that childhood obesity is not a benign

condition and that increasing reports of type II diabetes in adolescents are a result of increasing obesity.

They also note that childhood obesity is associated with “increased adult cardiovascular mortality and

morbidity, irrespective of the adult weight.” This shows that physical exercises are essential for the

health of children. Lissak (2018) notes that there is an inverse relationship between screen time and

sleep duration, and short sleep can lead to fatigues, which in turn can lead to a further increase in

screen time. This vicious cycle leads to internalizing, externalizing, and peer problems. Increased screen

time can also lead to lower physical activity, increasing the risk of childhood obesity. This demonstrates

that lockdowns can be very harmful for children.

College Students

A study conducted by Cao et al. (2020) on 7143 college students in China revealed that the over

21% of the students reported anxiety. The study further revealed that living in urban areas led to a

lower level of anxiety, indicating that people, students particularly, in rural area were more adversely

affected by the lockdowns. There could be multiple reasons for increased anxiety in students, but the

chief reason was economic hardship due to loss of jobs and livelihood due to the lockdowns. The

students were also anxious because of the effect of the pandemic on their studies and prospects (Wang

et al., 2020). Cao et al. (2020) also noted that the lack of interpersonal communication leads to

worsening of anxiety, and that students need help and support from their families, colleges, and

government during public health emergencies.

Furthermore, Firang (2020) discussed the impact of Covid-19 on international students in

Canada, asserting that lockdowns are very likely to put international students, with almost no family
 4

nearby, into severe anxiety and stress. Additionally, travel bans imposed by several countries restrict

international students from travelling to the country of their institution, or back home, also causing an

immense amount of stress.

Daily wage workers

A considerable number of daily wage workers lost their jobs due to lockdowns. Since they relied

on daily work to meet their ends, without their jobs, they could not even afford food. According to a

study by Lee et al. (2020), the weekly income and days worked by people living in Delhi, India, fell by

56.5% and 73% respectively shortly after the initial lockdown was imposed. The impacts were larger for

daily wage workers as compared to workers who were paid monthly, indicating that the poor, especially

daily wage workers with no job security, were more impacted by Covid-19 than rich folk. The study also

noted that many immigrant workers in Delhi tried to return to their hometowns, and the resulting

commotion led to several deaths.

Health-Care Workers

Health-care workers were overworked due to the pandemic and affected by stress (Lai et al.,

2020). In addition to burnout, post-traumatic stress disorder, and exhaustion, the health-care workers in

daily contact with Covid-19 patients were stigmatised by the society (Brooks et al., 2020). The health-

care workers also faced challenges such as choosing who gets access to medicines and medical facilities

in cases of low availability and they could not take any breaks from their work. A survey by Lai et al.

(2020) showed that over 50% of health-care workers were depressed, 44.6% had elevated levels of

anxiety, 34% were suffering from insomnia, and 71.5% of them were distressed because of the

pandemic. These numbers indicate that a large majority of health-care workers were adversely affected

by the pandemic.

Adults
 5

In a study conducted by Benke et al. (2020) on German adults, 31.1% adults exceeded the

threshold for “potential depression,” 21.2% exceeded the threshold for “potential anxiety disorder

diagnosis” and 13.1% of them were scared and fearful because of COVID-19. The study also found that

“belonging to a risk group for a severe course of COVID-19, a current or past treatment due to mental

health problems, being unemployed or non-working, a lower educational level and younger age were

associated with negative mental health consequences of the COVID-19 public containment measures.”

Furthermore, they found that the lockdown caused adults to be lonelier, increased their psychosocial

distress and led to lower life-satisfaction, but it did not lead to anxiety or depression.

Changes in Behaviour

We observed that the pandemic and lockdown caused stress and anxiety over
 6

References

Barbisch, D., Koenig, K. L., & Shih, F. Y. (2015). Is There a Case for Quarantine? Perspectives from SARS to

Ebola. Disaster medicine and public health preparedness, 9(5), 547–553.

https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2015.38

Benke, C., Autenrieth, L. K., Asselmann, E., & Pané-Farré, C. A. (2020). Lockdown, quarantine measures,

and social distancing: Associations with depression, anxiety and distress at the beginning of the

COVID-19 pandemic among adults from Germany. Psychiatry Research, 293, 113462.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113462

Brooks, S. K., Webster, R. K., Smith, L. E., Woodland, L., Wessely, S., Greenberg, N., & Rubin, G. J. (2020).

The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the

evidence. Lancet (London, England), 395(10227), 912–920. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-

6736(20)30460-8

Buonomo, B., & Della Marca, R. (2020). Effects of information-induced behavioural changes during the

COVID-19 lockdowns: the case of Italy. Royal Society Open Science, 7(10).

https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.201635

Cao, W., Fang, Z., Hou, G., Han, M., Xu, X., Dong, J., & Zheng, J. (2020). The psychological impact of the

COVID-19 epidemic on college students in China. Psychiatry research, 287, 112934.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112934

Cucchiarini, V., Caravona, L., Macchi, L., Perlino, F. L., & Viale, R. (2021). Behavioral Changes After the

COVID-19 Lockdown in Italy. Frontiers in Psychology, 12.

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.617315

Firang, D. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on international students in Canada. International

Social Work, 63(6), 820–824. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020872820940030

 7

Lai, J., Ma, S., Wang, Y., Cai, Z., Hu, J., Wei, N., Wu, J., Du, H., Chen, T., Li, R., Tan, H., Kang, L., Yao, L.,

Huang, M., Wang, H., Wang, G., Liu, Z., & Hu, S. (2020). Factors Associated With Mental Health

Outcomes Among Health Care Workers Exposed to Coronavirus Disease 2019. JAMA network

open, 3(3), e203976. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.3976

Lee, K., Sahai, H., Baylis, P., & Greenstone, M. (2020). Job loss and behavioral change: The

unprecedented effects of the india lockdown in delhi. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3601979

Li, L. Z., & Wang, S. (2020). Prevalence and predictors of general psychiatric disorders and loneliness

during COVID-19 in the United Kingdom. Psychiatry research, 291, 113267.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113267

Lissak, G. (2018). Adverse physiological and psychological effects of screen time on children and

adolescents: Literature review and case study. Environmental Research, 164, 149–157.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2018.01.015

Luijten, M. A. J, van Muilekom, M. M., Teela, L., Polderman, T. J. C., Terwee, C. B., Zijlmans, J., Klaufus, L.,

Popma, A., Oostrom, K. J., van Oers, H. A., & Haverman, L. (2021). The impact of lockdown

during the COVID-19 pandemic on mental and social health of children and adolescents. Quality

of Life Research, 30, 2795–2804. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-021-02861-x

Orgilés, M., Morales, A., Delvecchio, E., Mazzeschi, C., & Espada, J. P. (2020). Immediate Psychological

Effects of the COVID-19 Quarantine in Youth From Italy and Spain. Frontiers in Psychology, 11.

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.579038

Osofsky, J. D., Osofsky, H. J., & Mamon, L. Y. (2020). Psychological and social impact of COVID-

19. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 12(5), 468–

469. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0000656
 8

Saladino, V., Algeri, D., & Auriemma, V. (2020). The Psychological and Social Impact of Covid-19: New

Perspectives of Well-Being. Frontiers in Psychology, 11.

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.577684

Steinbeck, K. S. (2001). The importance of physical activity in the prevention of overweight and obesity in

childhood: a review and an opinion. 2(2), 117–130. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1467-

789x.2001.00033.x

Wang, C., Horby, P. W., Hayden, F. G., & Gao, G. F. (2020). A novel coronavirus outbreak of global health

concern. The Lancet, 395(10223), 470–473. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30185-9