Research overview

Given the complex connections between young men’s mental ill-health and the conditions in schools and the workplace, it is also particularly important to compile knowledge about how mental health is affected when these social structures undergo a rapid and urgent change. During the COVID-19 pandemic, school attendance was affected by profound changes, with school closures and changes in the type of instruction. Teleworking, redundancy notices and a sudden deterioration in access to work in industries that have traditionally employed young people make the pandemic an important situation to investigate.

The pandemic affected people of all ages throughout the Nordic countries. However, the reduction in and restriction of social contacts have been particularly challenging for young people, who have a great need to gradually increase their independence and for social contacts with their peers.

This part of the research overview summarises research on how young men’s health was affected by the temporary societal level changes that the pandemic entailed, with a particular focus on education and training and the workplace for young people. In addition, this section brings together the research that compares the prevalence of ill-health before and during the pandemic for the group ‘young men in the Nordic countries’.

School closures were used to varying degrees and for different periods during the pandemic in the Nordic countries, and entailed major changes in young people’s everyday lives and education. It can be assumed that distance teaching and reduced opportunities for social gatherings affected mental health negatively for pupils and students. A report on distance teaching in all Nordic countries shows that the quality of the teaching probably deteriorated during the pandemic and that the use of distance teaching has had negative effects (Hall, Hardoy & Lundin, 2022). The picture is the same in an interview study conducted by the Public Health Agency of Sweden, where the participants describe distance teaching as the most pervasive change during the pandemic, with less support and assistance from teachers and a lack of motivation and effective study routines (Public Health Agency of Sweden, 2022). The negative effects are likely to be greater among younger pupils, children in need of special support, and among pupils with poorer conditions for study at home as well as among newly arrived immigrant groups. The report also highlights that pupils in vocational education and training (VET) programmes are a group that had particular difficulties during the pandemic, as the opportunities for practical training and workplace-based learning were limited.

A Norwegian study investigated the perceived consequences of the pandemic for everyday life, intended learning outcomes, family relationships, sleep problems and worries about infection, friends and their future, among young people aged 12–19 years over three weeks of school closures in Norway (Lehmann et al., 2021). Young people in the municipality of Bergen were invited via SMS to participate in a 15-minute online survey and a total of 2,997 young people (1,242 young men) responded, with an average age of 17 years. Overall, one-third of the respondents reported feeling that they had been slightly too much affected by their school having closed, while just under two-thirds reported learning less during the period compared to before.

The results show that school closures during the pandemic have had varying effects on boys and girls. A higher percentage of girls report feeling affected by school closures to some degree compared to boys. In addition, girls seem to have experienced nightmares and been more worried about becoming infected, while boys were more worried about their family members becoming infected. The perceived consequences and degree of worry varied with age, gender, socio-economic status and to some extent country of birth. Girls, older adolescents, young people with a lower socio-economic background and those with immigrant backgrounds seemed to experience the closures as more difficult, and the study accentuates the need for support for these groups.

In spring 2020, the pandemic resulted in schools closing and social restrictions being imposed throughout Norway. A study by von Soest et al. (2020) investigated whether these school closures and social restrictions affected young people’s satisfaction with life and subjective quality of life. The study reported that young people in Oslo experienced a pronounced reduction in satisfaction with life and a lowered subjective quality of life after the restrictions were introduced. Young people’s socio-economic status was of less importance for their satisfaction with life. Especially among boys, the share with a high life satisfaction fell clearly from just under 90% in the years before the pandemic, to below 71% after the introduction of the restrictions. The corresponding figure for girls was 80% before the pandemic and 62% during the pandemic restrictions.

Public health recommendations in Sweden relied on personal responsibility. Universities were one of the few public institutions that were at times completely closed, which meant that students had to quickly adapt to distance teaching. A study (Berman et al., 2022) investigated compliance with the recommendations, as well as the associations with self-reported symptoms of COVID-19, effects on their mental health and academic self-efficacy among university students in Sweden in May to June 2020. A total of 4,495 students participated, of which 30% were young men. The study shows that students generally complied with the public health recommendations during the closures of universities, but many reported significant negative consequences related to mental health and academic self-efficacy. Unfortunately, the tables in the study do not show separately the shares of men and women who experienced these negative effects. Nevertheless, the study indicates that the mental health of many students has been affected.

Studies included in a research overview on the effects of the pandemic on young people with regard to education and training, work and health (Olofsson & Kvist, 2022) show that mental health deteriorated during the pandemic, but the picture is not clear-cut. Support from school pupil health services seems not to have been sufficient during the pandemic. The study presents some preliminary results: that school closures and distance teaching have had a negative impact on young people’s learning to varying degrees, that the effects have been the most negative for pupils in need of special support, and that the transition from school to work was made more complicated and more prolonged.

A Finnish yearbook Poikkeuksellinen nuoruus korona-aikaan – Nuorten elinolot 2022 (Exceptional youth during the COVID-19 pandemic – young people’s living conditions yearbook 2022) compares satisfaction with life among young people over 15 years of age before and after the outbreak of the pandemic. At first sight, the results directly strengthen the assumption that the pandemic has had negative effects, but on closer examination the study also nuances this assumption. The empirical studies in the Yearbook show that on the one hand the students’ experiences of how distance teaching was organised were positive and served to support their own studies, and on the other hand, it complicated their studies. What is most important with distance teaching is that the teacher structures it well and provides support for the student’s learning. Digital learning environments thus open up new opportunities, but for distance teaching to promote pupil well-being, attention must be paid to how it is implemented, i.e. distance teaching is conducted in a way that strengthens the pupil’s agency and inclusion.

The pandemic affected young people’s mental health due to poorer conditions for those who were about to take the step from school to the workplace during this period. Engdahl in Sjögren et al. (2021) describes negative effects on labour market attachment for young people entering the labour market during a recession, as was the case during the pandemic. The pandemic greatly affected the industries where many young people get their first jobs such as the service, hotel and restaurant industries, which means that young people were particularly vulnerable to unemployment during this crisis (Sjogren et al., 2021).

In the Public Health Agency of Sweden’s report Unga och covid-19-pandemin – ungas livsvillkor, levnadsvanor och hälsa (2022) (Youth and the COVID-19 pandemic – young people’s living conditions, lifestyles and health) where the target group was adolescents and young adults aged 16–29 in Sweden, it emerges that for young people who are already living in circumstances of social, economic or health disadvantage, the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have interacted with these prior circumstances and in some cases augmented existing challenges. Overall findings regarding both sexes are presented in the report, which also includes an interview study and a literature study. The study shows that young NEETs feel that their physical and/or mental health has deteriorated as a result of loneliness, isolation and reduced opportunities for employment. But they also state that the pandemic, at least in part, brought opportunities for rest and recovery.

A research overview (Olofsson & Kvist, 2022) highlights the consequences of the pandemic for young people in Sweden with regard to education and training, work and health. Overall, the report concludes that the negative effects on young people’s educational outcomes appear to have been smaller in Sweden in comparison to many other countries, and that the immediate negative effects on health do not appear to be as pronounced as in some other countries. The study also highlights that the pandemic consistently had a negative impact on the labour market for young people, as it is industries such as the hospitality industry and retail trade that were most affected during the pandemic, and also have a significant proportion of young workers. Young people are over-represented in precarious employment and were also those who lost their jobs first in parallel with there being fewer job vacancies to apply for. Young people with a low level of education were hit by difficulties in supporting themselves, and during the pandemic the number of long-term welfare recipients increased.

A Finnish study (Ranta, Silinskas & Wilska, 2020) focused on how young adults aged 18–29 dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic in comparison to an older comparison group (30–65 years). The study shows that young adults were significantly more concerned about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their mental well-being, career/studies and financial situation than older people. Young women were more concerned about their mental well-being than young men. Among young people, lower satisfaction with life was related to concerns about mental well-being and lower satisfaction with their financial situation was related to concerns about career/studies and their financial situation.

Higher unemployment during the pandemic in Sweden was associated with two factors: being young and being foreign born (Campa, Roine & Stromberg, 2021). However, gender does not seem to have played any great role in the context of Sweden. The results of the study support earlier findings on the most vulnerable having been hit the hardest.

A Danish study (Groot et al., 2022) investigated 7,445 adolescents/young adults (median age 20 years) from the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC) to determine whether the decline in adolescent mental health during the period when restrictive measures were in place was related to their housing environment. Data were collected at the age of 18 and again three weeks into the first national lockdown in April 2020. The associations between housing environment (access to outdoor spaces, urbanicity, household density and household composition) and changes in mental health (mental well-being, quality of life, and loneliness) were investigated. The study shows that young people without access to outdoor spaces experienced greater deterioration in their mental well-being compared to those who had access to a garden for example. Living alone more than doubled the risk of feelings of loneliness compared to living with their parents. Young people living alone, in denser households and without direct access to outdoor spaces were particularly vulnerable to a deterioration in their mental health. Young men experienced greater deterioration in their mental well-being if they lived alone or in shared households, and in denser households, and experienced greater loneliness when living alone. Women living alone experienced a greater deterioration in their quality of life than those who were living with their partner.

A Norwegian study (von Soest et al., 2022) compared nationwide data from 2014–2021 to investigate psychosocial outcomes in adolescents before and during the pandemic. The study shows that they reported higher depressive symptoms and less optimistic expectations for their future lives during the pandemic. Alcohol and cannabis use decreased but screen time increased. However, the effects of all observed changes during the pandemic were relatively small. All in all, behavioural problems and satisfaction with social relationships remain stable. Girls, younger adolescents and young people from low socio-economic backgrounds demonstrated more negative changes during the pandemic. Estimated changes in psychosocial outcomes varied little in relation to municipal infection rates and restrictions.

Another Norwegian study found that social isolation during the restrictions was a burden for upper secondary school pupils (Bekkhus, von Soest & Fredriksen, 2020). Lack of physical contact with friends was associated with both depression and loneliness among adolescents during the pandemic. On average, girls felt lonelier than boys, and reported more symptoms of anxiety and depression than boys. These results are consistent with previous research showing that girls report more internalised mental health problems than boys.

The report Konsekvenser av covid-19-pandemien for barn og unges liv og psykiske helse: oppdatering av en hurtigoversikt (Consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for children and young people’s lives and mental health: a brief updated overview) (Nøkleby, Borge & Johansen, 2021) included a study that investigated whether the pandemic restrictions could be linked to changes in symptoms of depression, anxiety and loneliness in 3,545 young people aged 13–16 years compared to before the lockdown (Hafstad et al. 2021). Higher rates of symptoms were found among young people in lower-income households or single-parent households, with parents with mental health problems or alcohol/drug abuse, or with a history of abuse compared to peers without this background. High levels of depression and anxiety symptoms prior to the pandemic also predicted high levels of depression and anxiety symptoms during the pandemic.

In the concluding discussion, the authors note that the social context (family, school, conditions in the immediate neighbourhood) can generally be seen as a potential buffer against the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report also highlights that home schooling as a result of the pandemic restrictions may have been beneficial for children with social anxiety, relationship difficulties with peers, or children who have been bullied at school. Home schooling may have helped to reduce stress and improve mental health outcomes. Regarding gender differences, the report concludes that a majority of international studies show that girls were more affected by emotional difficulties and symptoms of depression, both before and during the pandemic. For boys, overall a higher rate of behavioural difficulties was reported compared to girls, with these problems having increased slightly during the pandemic.

Schools were closed and strict restrictions were in place in Norway when an electronic survey was sent out to nearly 2,500 upper secondary school pupils in May 2020. The results were compared with similar surveys conducted annually in the same counties from 2014. The study shows that the prevalence of boys and girls who reported a high quality of life decreased significantly and their satisfaction with life decreased significantly compared to the pre-pandemic period (by an average of ten percentage points). The lockdowns were only associated with a higher risk of girls reporting higher levels of depressive symptoms. The most socio-economically disadvantaged groups showed the greatest psychological suffering (Myhr, Naper, Samarawickrema, & Vesterbekkmo, 2021).

In another Norwegian study among just over 8,000 upper secondary school pupils in Oslo, young people’s satisfaction with life during the pandemic was compared with corresponding surveys conducted in Oslo (2018) and several other counties before the pandemic (van Soest, Bakken, Pedersen & Sletten, 2020). The study showed that young people experienced a pronounced reduction in satisfaction with life and a lowered subjective quality of life after the COVID-19 restrictions were introduced. Young people’s socio-economic status was of less importance for their satisfaction with life. Especially among boys, the proportion with a high level of satisfaction with life fell clearly (6 points or higher on a ten-point scale).

Satisfaction with life decreased among women and men aged 20–24, but not among boys aged 16–19 in relation to other groups. One explanation for this may be that the deterioration in opportunities to support themselves that arose during the pandemic among respondents aged 20–24 years was what they perceived as a deterioration in living conditions during the pandemic.

The studies in the yearbook Poikkeuksellinen nuoruus korona-aikaan – Nuorten elinolot 2022 (Exceptional youth during the COVID-19 pandemic – young people’s living conditions yearbook 2022) show that inclusion during the pandemic seems to have been polarised and girls’ experience of inclusion deteriorated. Although satisfaction with life declined among young people during the pandemic, one important observation is that it declined in particular among young people who belong to gender and sexual minorities. A quarter of higher education students felt lonely quite often or all the time, and women felt lonely more often than men. A feeling of loneliness is associated with mental strain. It was more difficult for higher education students to establish social contacts during the pandemic and they were forced to think consciously about how and where they wanted to meet other people and who they wanted to meet. Studies show that affinity with and trust in other people decreases when young people’s feelings of inclusion deteriorate.

The prevalence of worry about infection was investigated in upper secondary school pupils in Norway (Andreas & Brunborg, 2022). The study shows that most upper secondary school pupils were moderately worried about COVID-19 infection during the year of the pandemic. 10.2% of girls said they felt excessively worried about their schooling. Many different circumstances are associated with this worry, such as female sex, oldest age group (school year 13), the existence of a mental health risk, a history of illness or death in the family, and being resident in places with high rates of infection. Another Norwegian study showed no significant gender differences in worry about getting COVID-19, that a loved one or friends would get it (Dyregrov, Fjaerestad, Gjestad & Thimm, 2021). However, girls scored significantly higher (more anxiety) than boys. Furthermore, the study showed that young people’s perceptions of risk are related to their worry about spreading the virus to loved ones. They also worry about their future in terms of their education and social life. They want more information targeted at young people. Being well-informed and being able to trust the information you receive reduces anxiety.

A Swedish study investigated possible differences between those exposed to COVID-19 and those not exposed (Chen, Osika, Henriksson, Dahlstrand & Friberg, 2022). The study shows no significant differences between the two groups in terms of sex. Adolescents reported higher levels of stress and psychosomatic symptoms and lower levels of happiness at follow-up compared to the time of the first measurement. These changes were also detected in both the control group and the group exposed to COVID-19. Similarly, the group exposed to COVID-19 showed no deterioration in peer relationships or relationships with parents compared to controls.

The changes over the 2-year period are similar among boys and girls, except when it comes to psychosomatic symptoms. Boys report a decreased level of psychosomatic symptoms and girls report an increased level over the 2-year period. Days involving at least 60 minutes of physical activity per week had decreased significantly among girls, but not among boys. There were no significant differences between groups that had been exposed to COVID-19 in terms of overnight sleep duration and physical activity. The conclusion is that Swedish adolescents exposed to COVID-19 for most of 2020 do not show longitudinal changes in mental health, relationships with parents and peers, and health behaviours compared to those not exposed to COVID-19.

A large international meta-analysis (Kerekes et al., 2021) in which Sweden was the only Nordic country to participate shows that a significantly larger proportion of female pupils (15–18 years) reported stress after the outbreak of the pandemic. A significant proportion of the pupils reported reduced time outdoors and fewer physical meetings with friends as well as poorer performance at school, while reporting that they had more time for things they didn’t have time for before. Only a small percentage of the respondents reported increased substance abuse or vulnerability. The overall impact of the pandemic on adolescents’ lives was gender-specific and the study further shows that female students felt more anxious, depressed or sad and that their sleep was less regular compared to male adolescents.

Similar results were found in a Norwegian study (Ulset, Bakken & von Soest, 2021) which showed that fewer boys than girls reported negative consequences of the pandemic. While 43% of boys responded that the COVID-19 pandemic had affected their lives somewhat, a lot, or a lot negatively, the same figure for girls was 55%. Sex differences were particularly great with regard to mental health, where the percentage of girls who reported negative changes was almost twice as high as for boys (Ulset, Bakken & von Soest, 2021).

A Norwegian study (Hafstad, Saetren, Wentzel-Larsen & August, 2021) investigated the potential negative consequences of lockdowns and the pandemic for the mental health of adolescents. The prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms was evaluated in 3,572 adolescents aged 13–16 years in a representative longitudinal study between February 2019 and June 2020. The study showed that clinical levels of anxiety and depression overall increased slightly during this period. The observed change was influenced by increasing age between the assessments. Being a girl, having pre-existing mental health issues, and living in a single-parent household were predictors of higher levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms at the second assessment. Living in a single-parent household was associated with a significant increase in symptoms.

The study indicates that anxiety and depressive symptoms increased slightly among Norwegian adolescents between 2019 and 2020, but this change seems to have been driven by increasing age rather than by pandemic-related restrictions. However, living in a poor family or having a history of substance abuse was associated with a significantly lower increase in symptoms. Symptom levels were unevenly distributed across demographic groups both before and during the pandemic, suggesting that health differences persist for young people in risk groups even during a pandemic.

A Finnish report on Pandemia ja nuorten mielenterveys - Kouluterveyskysely 2021 (The pandemic and adolescents’ mental health) (Aalto et al., 2021) presents the findings from a school health survey. This survey was a national survey conducted in 2021 among compulsory school and upper secondary school pupils, and among pupils in vocational education and training schools who were under the age of 21. The study was conducted during the third wave of the pandemic in Finland, and at the time of the study, the pandemic had been going on for more than a year. During the academic year, most of the adolescents in the survey had participated in distance teaching during autumn 2020 and/or spring 2021. When the survey was filled in, in spring 2021, the pupils had returned to school. Some upper secondary school pupils were still receiving instruction via distance teaching. The school health survey had also been conducted in 2019, which allowed for comparisons to be made. About 30% of girls and 8% of boys reported moderate or severe anxiety in 2021. Worry had increased since the 2019 survey in both boys and girls. For girls, the increase was around ten percentage points higher than for boys. Depressive symptoms had increased in all respondent groups. In spring 2021, the increase in symptoms was greater in girls than in boys, and depressive symptoms lasting more than two weeks were reported by more than 30% of the girls in all respondent groups (compulsory school, upper secondary school and VET school). Among boys, depressive symptoms were most common among upper secondary school pupils (15%). The report also found that about a tenth of the boys and a quarter of the girls reported feeling lonely quite often or constantly. Loneliness was most common among girls who were studying at VET schools. During the follow-up period, feeling lonely had become more common in all respondent groups.

Based on the results of the school health survey, the mental health of Finnish adolescents had deteriorated during the pandemic. The reliability of the results was strengthened by the large population sample covering the entire age group, and in particular by the good response rate obtained in the respondent groups of pupils in years 8 and 9, and upper secondary school pupils (about 75%).

A Danish study investigated the potential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on general health, mental well-being and locus of control compared to the pre-pandemic period (Wurtzen et al., 2022). Young men (18–24 years), young women (18–24 years) and older women (65–74 years) reported poorer mental well-being during the early phase of the pandemic compared to the results from 2016. In 2020, both women and men reported significantly poorer mental well-being as measured by internal locus of control compared to the 2016 sample. This was especially true for young men and women. There were no statistically significant differences in overall health between the population groups. This study partly supports the hypothesis that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affects mental well-being among younger people.

An Icelandic study investigated sex differences in adolescent well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic and possible explanations for these differences (Halldorsdottir et al., 2021). Mental health problems during the pandemic were compared with expected scores based on nationwide ratings of same-aged peers in 2018. Although both boys and girls appear to be affected, girls reported a greater negative impact on all broad indicators of well-being and behavioural changes during COVID-19 than boys did, and girls’ depressive symptoms were above and beyond the expected nationwide scores. Higher depressive symptoms were associated with increased passive use of social media and decreased contact with family members via phone or social media among girls, and decreased sleep and increased online gaming only among boys. Concerns that others might become ill with COVID-19, changes in daily routines and school routines, and not being able to meet friends in person were among the main contributors to mental ill-health identified by the adolescents, in particular the girls. The study shows that adolescents were generally negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions and that this negative impact was more pronounced in girls. The findings suggest that a steady routine and staying socially active can help adolescents cope with the uncertainty and social restrictions associated with a pandemic.

University students are a group who were affected by the pandemic due to changes in how they studied. An Icelandic study (Gestsdottir, Gislagottir, et al., 2021) compared mental and physical health and well-being before and during the pandemic in female and male first-year university students. A total of 115 students (just over half men) answered questions about their mental and physical health: they were asked to rate their physical activity, loneliness, stress and sleep quality. The study showed that young men had fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression, and that self-esteem was higher in the men than in the women. Over half of both sexes rated their mental health as worse during the pandemic. A larger proportion of men (69%) compared to women (38%) assessed that their physical health had deteriorated compared to before the pandemic. A larger proportion of women (38%) than men (14%) experienced increased loneliness and stress. Over 70% assessed that they had become more sedentary, and a larger proportion of men compared to women assessed that they were less physically active during the pandemic than before it. About half of the participants assessed that the quality of their sleep had deteriorated. The study shows that university students of both sexes rated their mental and physical health as having significantly deteriorated during the pandemic.

The aim of a Finnish study by Sarasjarvi et al. (2022) was to understand which pandemic-related issues could predict mental well-being during the pandemic. The study showed that the pandemic did have an impact on the mental well-being of higher education students. Mental well-being was found to be the lowest among non-binary students. The deterioration in mental well-being was least among doctoral students.

The study used cross-sectional data collected in May 2020 and data collected in April 2019. The study respondents were higher education students, of whom just under half were men. The analyses show a significant deterioration in overall mental well-being during the pandemic, along with higher mental well-being among men and older age groups at both data collection points. No interaction effects were found between mental well-being and socio-demographic variables at these two data collection points. This can be partly explained by the homogeneity of the student sample. Higher levels of mental well-being were associated with lower levels of academic stress and pandemic-related worry, along with a higher satisfac­tion with information from their higher education institution and the government. Pandemic-related symptoms and infections showed no impact on students’ mental well-being during the outbreak. Small to moderate effects were detected over time, suggesting a total deterioration in mental well-being during the outbreak.

The aim of a Norwegian study (Sivertsen et al., 2022) was to investigate changes in and the incidence of mental health problems, suicidal thoughts and suicidal behaviours, and their associations with COVID-19 related restrictions.

The study shows that there was a significant increase in the incidence of mental health problems from 2010 to 2021, and a particularly great increase between 2018 and 2021. A similar pattern was also observed for suicidal thoughts. The figures are consistently slightly higher for young men compared to young women. Unlike in previous measurements, there were large geographical differences in mental health problems in 2021 that can be related to the different levels of COVID-19 cases and regional COVID-19-related restrictions. The fewer the days spent on campus in the previous two weeks, the higher the levels of mental health problems experienced over the same period of time. An association was also found between the number of days on campus and a higher incidence of suicidal thoughts, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicide attempts in the past year. Thus, this study shows a sharp increase and worrying levels of mental health problems and suicide risk among students in general, but in particular higher among male students, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lifetime prevalence of NSSI has consistently been found to be around 17% in a representative sample of young people in Sweden and in other countries. NSSI is defined as bodily injury without suicidal intent and is done to deal with painful feelings and thoughts (Zetterqvist, Jonsson, Landberg & Svedin, 2021). Because COVID-19 posed a threat to young people’s mental health, self-injury among upper secondary school pupils in Sweden was investigated and the same questions were asked on three different occasions and the responses compared. The results from measurements I (2011) and II (2014) were very similar, showing a lifetime prevalence of self-injury of 17.2% and 17.7%, respectively. Sex differences are also fairly consistent, with 26.4% compared to 24.7% of girls, and 8.0% compared to 8.8% of boys reporting lifetime prevalence of self-injury for the first two measurement points. Results from measurement III (2020–2021) showed a jump in lifetime prevalence to 27.6%, with 36.3% of girls and 16.0% of boys confirming NSSI. In addition, the rate of self-injury in adolescents with a non-binary identity increased from 28.3% in 2014 to 69.2% in 2020–2021 (Zetterqvist et al., 2021).

As the impact of the pandemic on alcohol consumption was not known, a study was conducted on the impact of the pandemic on alcohol consumption and hazardous drinking during the initial phase of the pandemic in Norway (Alpers et al., 2021). The study showed that drinking was more common among people who reported money worries, among those who were in quarantine, and among those who were studying or working at home. In terms of average alcohol consumption, men had a higher total consumption (4.0 units/week) compared to women (2.4 units/week). Alcohol consumption is highest in the age group 18–29 years, and the same age group also has the highest proportion of frequent binge drinkers (30%).

The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and drug/substance use during adolescence was investigated in an Icelandic study (Thorisdottir et al., 2021). This study showed an increase in depressive symptoms and deterioration in mental well-being in all age groups during the pandemic compared to same-age peers in previous measurements. These findings showed a significantly worse deterioration in teenage girls than in teenage boys. However, substance use decreased for both boys and girls. The findings suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences significantly worsened adolescents’ mental health. The decrease in substance use observed during the pandemic may be an unintended benefit as a result of their isolation.

A Swedish study investigated whether self-reported gambling increased during the pandemic, and potential associations with such a change (Hakansson, 2020). The study compared data collected in 2016 with data collected during the pandemic. The study included 1,022 men, of whom 309 were in the age group 18–29 years. In total, 4% reported an increase in gambling during the pandemic. In the age group 19–24 years, this figure was 19% and for 25–29 year olds, it was 18%. In summary, only a minority of all participants in the study reported increased gambling during the pandemic. However, this group reported significantly higher problem gambling and changes in alcohol consumption. The results thus indicate a subgroup with a particularly high vulnerability.

Stability and changes in Internet and offline gaming and its association with physical inactivity among young people in Norway were investigated during the pandemic (Haug et al., 2022). A total of 2,940 young people (42% boys) participated in an online longitudinal study during the first Norwegian national lockdown. They responded to one survey in April and another in December 2020. Physical activity and gaming behaviours were evaluated at both times. Among boys, 41% reported much more gaming and 35% slightly more in the first survey compared to before the national lockdown. The corresponding figures for girls were 14% and 23%. The analysis shows that a pattern of increased gaming reported in the first survey, followed by a further increase in gaming reported in the second survey, was associated with more physical inactivity. In summary, the study shows increased gaming among many adolescents, more among boys, and a correlation with physical inactivity during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically restricted the lives of young people. Given how important education and the workplace are as places for interventions for good health and social support, the effects of the pandemic on young people were particularly severe. The negative impact was more pronounced for girls and young women than for boys and young men, although many of the negative consequences of the pandemic were the same for all. In addition, there were some specific behaviours that were more pronounced among young men, such as how increased gaming seems to have replaced physical activity – a combination that increases vulnerability to mental ill-health. The reduction in and restriction of social contacts were particularly challenging for young people, who have a great need to gradually increase their independence and for social contacts with their peers.

Distance teaching has been described as the most profound change during the pandemic, with consequences such as poorer assistance from teachers and a lack of motivation and study routines. School closures and distance teaching affected young people’s learning negatively to varying degrees, and the effects were most negative for pupils in need of special support. The support from school pupil health services seems to have also been insufficient during the pandemic, which affected both the group that already needed extra support and help, and those who were specifically negatively affected by the restrictions. During the pandemic, the transition from education and training to the workplace was also more difficult and more prolonged. Restrictive measures were also implemented in various sports facilities and hobby activities, further reducing opportunities for social interaction.  The social support that young people receive through sharing with each other decreased, as did young people’s contacts with other important adults in their lives such as teachers, sports coaches and grandparents. However some studies also highlight that home schooling as a result of the pandemic restrictions may have been beneficial for children with social anxiety, relationship difficulties with peers, or children who have been bullied at school. Home schooling may have helped to reduce stress and improve mental health outcomes. The research indicates that distance teaching is inferior to traditional teaching, especially for pupils who are less able academically, and pupils with poorer socio-economic circumstances. Technological development in society and the digitalisation that has taken place in the Swedish school in recent years, with each pupil having access to a computer of their own even before the pandemic, created better conditions for a rapid transition to remote learning and distance teaching (Sjögren et al., 2021).  

Although gender-related patterns are important for understanding how masculinity norms affect young men’s mental health in these circumstances, the studies in this overview show that an intersectional perspective is also important for separating out particularly vulnerable groups. For example, the negative effects are greater among younger pupils and pupils with poorer conditions for study at home. Children in need of special support and newly arrived immigrant groups are also particularly vulnerable in this context. Although satisfaction with life declined among young people during the pandemic, one important observation is that it declined in particular among young LGBTI people.

The pandemic has had a devastating impact on higher education, with the closures of student campuses and a more or less immediate transition to online studies and digital contacts. Many reported significant negative consequences related to their mental health and academic performance. But even though mental well-being declined among higher education students, the support provided by their higher education institution, along with its actions and ways of dealing with the outbreak, played a significant role for students’ mental well-being.

The number of young people with a low level of education who experience difficulties establishing themselves in the labour market risks growing in the context of crises, as in the case of the pandemic. Young people are the group that find it the most difficult to get permanent and secure employment conditions and the transition from education to the workplace was more difficult during the pandemic (Olofsson & Kvist, 2022).  Young people who belong to the least privileged socio-economic groups experienced the greatest mental suffering (Myhr et al., 2021). Health inequalities related to living circumstances became particularly apparent during the pandemic.

Some of these factors were defining factors for young men’s health during the pandemic. For example, they were at risk of increased substance abuse (Alpers et al., 2021), increased online gambling and gaming, and decreased sleep (Halldorsdottir et al., 2021). This may have been due to factors such as lack of access to activities and a society that had shut down, where social life was being lived in a new way. Increased boredom may have led to both increased drinking and gaming. Feeling lonely increased among all respondent groups: lower secondary school pupils, upper secondary school pupils, and vocational education and training school pupils. Social isolation and loneliness constitute risk factors for young people’s mental health (Pietrabissa & Simpson, 2020).  Young men being less physically active and more sedentary in their lifestyles may also have significant public health consequences, albeit temporary ones (Gestsdottir & Gisladottir, et al., 2021).

The risk of depressive symptoms developing was significantly lower among those who reported being physically active at least three times per week, using social media less than three hours per day, and engaging in gaming less than three hours per day. Both frequent gaming and extensive use of social media can be related to depressive symptoms (Løvheim Kleppang, Håvås Haugland, Bakken & Holte Stea, 2021). However, it is problematic to compare the use of social media for the period before and after the pandemic, because lockdowns, and closures of schools and opportunities for physical activity limited young people’s opportunities for social interaction. At certain times, online contacts were the only social window on the outside world, that is, the only opportunity for a social life.

From the research overview, it emerges that suicide rates increased among teenage boys and young men in the Nordic countries. The lifetime prevalence of non-suicidal self-injury has consistently been found to be around 17% in Sweden and in other countries (Zetterqvist et al., 2021). When non-suicidal self-injury was investigated among upper secondary school pupils in Sweden, the results from the measurement during the pandemic showed a lifetime prevalence of 27.6%. In addition, the rate of self-injury in adolescents with non-binary gender identity increased drastically (Zetterqvist et al., 2021). This shows that non-binary young people are a very vulnerable group that is in need of extra support.  

The pandemic has thus had a significant impact on the mental health of teenage boys and young men in the Nordic countries. Studies show increased levels of anxiety and depression, which may be due to factors such as social isolation, uncertainty about the future and a changed everyday life. The consequences of school closures and new routines due to changes in school type, studies and difficulties in entering the labour market were also clear. Feeling uncertain about their future in terms of their education or training and work, as well as the social isolation that these young people were subjected to, may have contributed to increased anxiety, financial stress and a feeling of having lost their footing. Since boys more often than girls are in need of special education interventions at school, distance teaching can further impair their schooling and increase their worries about their performance in school and their future prospects.