The Effect of COVID-19 Burnout on Happiness Levels in Adolescents

Abstract

Objective: This research was conducted to determine the effect of adolescents’ COVID-19 burnout on their happiness levels. Method: The population of this cross-sectional and descriptive study consisted of first-year students studying at the Faculty of Health Sciences and Nursing of a university located in eastern Turkey. There are a total of 647 first-year students in the specified faculties in the 2020-2021 academic year. It was tried to reach the whole universe without using any sampling method. The research was completed with the participation of a total of 534 volunteer students. The data were obtained through the “Personal Information Form”, the “COVID-19 Burnout Scale” and the “Happiness Scale”. In the analysis of the data, descriptive statistics (number, percentage distribution, mean, standard deviation) as well as t-test, one-way analysis of variance, kruskall wallis, mann whitney-u and pearson correlation analysis were used. Results: Of the adolescents with a mean age of 18.80±0.43, 77.9% were girls and 22.1% were boys. 67.4% of adolescents have not had COVID-19 yet, and 23.6% have experienced a loss from their relatives due to COVID-19. It was determined that the mean score of the adolescents from the COVID-19 burnout scale was 31.09±9.50, and the mean score from the happiness scale was 20.00±4.29. Adolescents’ gender, family attitude, and loss of life due to COVID-19 affect their COVID-19 burnout levels. Adolescents’ happiness levels are affected by gender, marital status, family type, family attitude and economic status (p<0.001; p<0.05). It was found that there was a weakly significant negative correlation between the COVID-19 burnout scale mean score and the happiness scale mean score (r=-0.227; p<0.001). Conclusions and Suggestions: In this study, it was concluded that as the burnout level of adolescents increased, their happiness level decreased, with this, their happiness and burnout levels were affected by socio-demographic and individual characteristics. It is recommended to determine the factors affecting the burnout and happiness levels of adolescents during the pandemic period and to establish psychological support intervention programs.