Teens experiencing less anxiety amid the pandemic 青少年在疫情期间经历更少的焦虑

李恒

1 A group of researchers in South West England suspected that young teens who were remote schooling due to the COVID-19 pandemic might be feeling more anxious. When they conducted a survey， however， what they found was surprising to them： the students were actually experiencing less anxiety.

2 The study， which was carried out by researchers at the University of Bristol， made use of an already ongoing study dealing with social media use and teen mental health. The participants had already done a baseline survey before the pandemic in October 2019. To assess the impact of the pandemic， another survey was done during the April/May time frame. Over 1，000 year-nine students from 17 secondary schools in South West England were involved in the study.

3 The team found that 54 percent of 13- to 14-year-old girls were at risk of anxiety prior to the pandemic， with that figure dropping by 10 percent during lockdown. Twenty-six percent of boys in the same age group were at risk during the initial survey， compared to 18 percent during lockdown.

4 Many of the teens also reported an increased sense of well-being while they were in lockdown.Boys reported a bigger improvement than girls. Also， those who reported the lowest sense of well-being prior to the pandemic experienced the greatest improvement. Emily Widnall MSc， who was the lead author of the study， said that she and her team were surprised when they found the results of the survey. “However when taking a step back，” she said， “we know that school for many teenagers can be quiet anxiety-provoking in terms of exam pressure and challenging peer relationships including bullying. This has been a really rare opportunity to understand how younger teenagers feel without the day-to-day pressures of school life.”

5 Many students also reported feeling a greater connection to their schools with increased opportunities to talk with their teachers despite not physically being at school. “It may be because digital platforms could play a bigger role as a learning tool.”

Reading  Check

Choose the best answers according to the text.

Detail 1. Why did Emily carry out the research？

A. To find out how to fight against the pandemic.

B. To know how social media use affects teens.

C. To find why the teens were anxious during lockdown.

D. To evaluate the impacts of the pandemic on teens' mental health.

Vocabulary 2. What do the underlined words “prior to” in paragraph 3 probably mean？

A. Junior to. B. Previous to.

C. Equal to. D. Familiar to.

Inference 3. What can we infer about the research from the text？

A. Boys suffered from high level of anxiety than girls.

B. Remote schooling can help teens get rid of pressure.

C. Girls improved more in the sense of well-being than boys.

D. The study was made up of data collected on two different occasions.

Gist 4. What does the text mainly talk about？

A. The pandemic had influence on teens.

B. Teens felt greater connections to schools.

C. Social media helped the teens relieve stress.

D. Teens reported mental improvements in lockdown.

Language  Study

Memorize some text-centered chunks

conduct a survey 進行一次调查

carry out 执行

make use of 利用

deal with 应付;处理

at risk of 面临……的风险

compared to 与……相比

play a bigger role as 作为……扮演更重要的角色