Adolescent health brief
Adolescents’ Time During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence From the American Time Use Survey

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2022.08.018Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study is to examine where and with whom adolescents spent time during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to 2019.

Methods

Time diary data from the May 2019 to December 2020 waves of the American Time Use Survey were used to examine trends in where and with whom a sample of individuals aged 15–18 years (N = 437) spent their time.

Results

Only 13% of adolescents spent any time at school on a given day during the pandemic (May-December 2020), compared to 36% in the same period in 2019. Average time with friends decreased by 28%. Over the 7.5-month period, this amounts to an average of 204 fewer hours/34 fewer days in school and 86 fewer hours with friends. Time spent sleeping or sleepless did not change.

Discussion

Time at school and with friends decreased substantially during the first months of the pandemic.

Keywords

Time use
COVID-19 pandemic
School closure

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Conflicts of interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

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