Children and adolescents’ experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic in Sweden and Denmark: development, societal conditions and existential health. A comparative, thematic analysis

Subjective experiences of existential dimensions often become explicit in relation to a crisis. While the Covid-19 pandemic crisis increased vulnerability mostly among young people, the subjective experiences of the existential dimensions, such as meaning and identity, are underrepresented in research. This study explores how children and adolescents found themselves affected by the Covid-19 pandemic in two Scandinavian countries with different pandemic strategies. Using thematic analysis, semi-structured interviews (N = 36) with 17 Swedish children (aged 10–11) and 19 Danish adolescents (aged 16–17) were analysed and compared. The pupils were affected by the pandemic in one common and four different ways related to the overall risks of Covid-19 and to overall strategies to cope with the crisis: Worry about older family members, absence of social relationships, absence of school, influence of Covid-19 restrictions and absence of relatives. They employed attitudes and coping strategies towards the impacts of Covid-19 in six ways related to the specific differences in Covid-19 strategies between the two countries: Aesthetic activities, hope, digital contact, family relationships, the meaning of peer relationships and gratitude. When the pupils’ experiences of belonging and being part of “a larger whole” were challenged, findings indicate a reduced existential health with negative consequences for their psychological and social health. Findings highlight the dialectic relationship between the societal conditions and the individual to understand existential health related to development. The study provides knowledge about what characterises the challenges in children and adolescents’ lives during a pandemic crisis and can inform future research and clinical work about the relationship between development, societal conditions and existential health.