The tendency of adolescents to engage in socially dangerous behaviors: A comparative study before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

This study investigates the tendency of adolescents to engage in socially dangerous behaviors, with a particular focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both international and Russian researchers indicate that the pandemic significantly affected mental health and psychological well-being of the population, including children and adolescents. Psychologists note that the pandemic brought about an increase in behaviors such as internet addiction, aggression, delinquency, and autoaggression. The aim of this study is to examine how the tendency toward socially dangerous behaviors in adolescent students has evolved before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the study compares the prevalence of various types of socially dangerous behaviors in modern Russian youth across three time periods: before the pandemic (2020, 793 adolescents), during the pandemic (2021, 667 adolescents), and after the pandemic (2023, 208 adolescents). All the study participants were drawn from educational institutions in the Mari El Republic and the Kirov Region. The research employed a mass screening method, using the Propensity for Deviant Behavior questionnaire by E. V. Leus and A. G. Solov'ev. The findings reveal that the majority of adolescents did not exhibit tendencies toward socially dangerous behaviors across all three periods. However, post-pandemic adolescents showed a significant increase in delinquent behavior (by over 6%) and an upward trend for autoaggression. Notably, adolescent girls exhibited higher rates of selfharming behavior compared to boys both before and during the pandemic, with post-pandemic rates among girls increasing significantly. During the pandemic, boys were more likely to engage in situational delinquent behaviors.