Effect of School Reopenings on Children's Mental Health During COVID-19: Quasi-experimental Evidence from California.

ABSTRACT:

Background

School closures during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic disrupted children's education, socialization, and access to mental health resources, raising concerns about long-term effects on childrens' mental health. The objective was to evaluate the impacts of pandemic-era school reopenings on children's mental health and healthcare expenditures. Variation in the timing of school reopenings created a unique quasi-experiment.

Methods

We used difference-in-differences analysis to examine how staggered implementation of school reopenings affected diagnoses with depression, anxiety, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and related healthcare spending among school-aged children during March 2020-June 2021 across 24 California counties. Data were drawn from me

SUBMITTER: Ozluk P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12824883 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature