Mental health of young people in the post-pandemic era : perspective based on positive psychology and resilience

Abstract

With the gradual decline in COVID-19 cases, there is a need to re-visit the mental health of adolescents and emerging adults in the post-pandemic period. Several observations can be highlighted from the scientific literature. First, while some studies suggest that mental health of young people has worsened in the post-pandemic period, there are inconsistent and conflicting findings. Second, there are more studies on psychological morbidity than on positive psychological attributes. Third, compared with the West, there are relatively fewer Chinese studies. Fourth, compared with adolescents, there are relatively fewer studies on emerging adults. Based on these observations of the existing literature, I have detailed several reflections on the mental health of young people, including enhancing positive psychological attributes in young people through positive youth development (PYD) programs, building up the individual resilience of young people, strengthening family resilience, adopting multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches in understanding the mental health of young people, building more well-articulated theoretical models, charting future research directions, and developing intervention strategies in the post-pandemic period.