The pandemic's restrictive measures such as lockdowns, social distancing, and the wearing of masks transformed young people's daily lives and brought up major concerns regarding children's and adolescents' well-being. This longitudinal mixed study aims to identify how different experiences contributed to children's and adolescents' well-being through different stages of the pandemic. The sample comprises 149 Canadian youth from Quebec who shared their experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Children and adolescents were met virtually for semi-directed interviews about their well-being at three measurement time (T1: May 2020 lockdown, T2: July 2020 progressive reopening, and T3: beginning of the second wave). At T3, they also completed a questionnaire measuring their quality of life. Our findings indicated that 22% reported a low level of well-being (N: 32), 66% a normal level of well-being (N: 90), and 18% a high level of well-being (N: 27). The comparative thematic analysis of the discourse of these three groups allows us to identify experiences that are favorable and unfavorable to the well-being of young people and to distinguish two configurations of interactions between children and their environment over the first year of the pandemic, namely that of young people who report a high level of well-being and that of those who report a worrying level of well-being. Results highlight the importance of activities, relationships, support, and representations of children and adolescents for their well-being in the pandemic context. Interventions and social measures to better support their well-being are discussed.
Keywords: Adolescent; COVID-19; Children; Mixed study; Pandemic; Well-being.
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