REPERCUSSIONS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON ADOLESCENTS FROM PUBLIC SCHOOLS: CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE BIOECOLOGICAL THEORY

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely changed the lives and impacted the development of children and adolescents worldwide. Despite this, national and international literature underexploited the repercussions of this calamitous incident on the reality of the most vulnerable populations. Besides, most of the studies took place in virtual environments, so that several adolescents, particularly from public schools, were not even heard. This study aimed to analyze the repercussions and impacts of the pandemic on the contexts and developmental processes of adolescents attending public schools in Brazil. The investigation was based on the epistemological principles of the Bioecological Theory of Human Development (BTHD). This was a qualitative, exploratory-descriptive study with a cross-sectional design. The research is part of a national study that included participants from the five macro-regions of Brazil. Participants were 35 adolescents, of all genders, aged 12-18 and who were, during the pandemic period, enrolled in public schools located in contexts with high indicators of social vulnerability. To collect data, a sociodemographic questionnaire and a semi-structured interview guide were employed, and data were analyzed through Thematic Analysis with support from the Atlas TI software. Using the PPCT (Process-Person-Context-Time) theoretical model, it was found that the pandemic, as a catastrophic event for the human beings, abruptly changed the adolescents’ lives (Time), making it impossible for them to access contexts and places that enhance their development (Context), weakening interpersonal bonds (Process) and promoting changes in adolescents' self-perception and identity dimensions (Person), in a multidirectional and dynamic relationship.