key: cord-0877507-wtj76kye
authors: Kanbur, Nuray; Akgül, Sinem
title: Quaranteenagers: A Single Country Pandemic Curfew Targeting Adolescents in Turkey
date: 2020-05-30
journal: J Adolesc Health
DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.05.007
sha: a3b7a0610a412955ac6c90896e21736c825653f1
doc_id: 877507
cord_uid: wtj76kye

nan

Letter to the editor

To the Editors:

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) a global pandemic on March 11th, 2020 [1] . Almost every country around the world has established new measures to prevent the spread of the disease. Within countries, the practices of COVID-19erelated curfews and quarantines vary widely depending on the national responses to the pandemic.

The first COVID-19 case in Turkey was officially confirmed on the 11th March 2020 [2] , the same day the WHO declared the disease a pandemic. As of March 16th, schools and universities in Turkey were closed. Furthermore, a distinct method of curfew involving adolescents and young adults were taken. To our knowledge, Turkey is the only country worldwide to apply a unique age-stratified curfew; this first started for seniors older than 65 years (as of 21st March 2020) and followed by the curfew order for children and youth younger than 20 years (starting 5th April 2020) [3] . Turkey has a relatively young population compared with other European countries. There are 25.5 million children and adolescents younger than 20 years, and when combined with the 7.5 million people older than 65 years, the ratio of the population on lockdown accounts for 40% of the total population (83.15 million in accordance with the Turkish Statistical Institute) [4] . Authorities aimed to protect the elderly people with the highest morbidity risk and mortality rate by keeping as many as people at home to decrease the spread of the virus. They have implemented this with a youth curfew while allowing the people in between these age groups to work to keep the economy running.

This strategy, along with physical distancing, makes sense epidemiologically and economically. However, adolescence is a developmentally unique period and the psychosocial consequences of the "age-determined" curfew should not be overlooked. In this letter, we will discuss this single-country example of youth curfew with a developmental perspective and how to transform this restraint to resilience.

Individuation and changes in intellectual development are the most important developmental tasks during adolescence [5, 6] . Teens begin to test the boundaries with their intellect, in addition to the behaviors which younger children primarily use. As a developmental feature, teens will oppose to being banned from carrying out their own plans. An age-stratified curfew involving youth but not adults, as applied in Turkey, may be perceived as a suppression of their own will, plans, and decisions. The likely result of this perception of suppression may end up as a power struggle. To ensure that this curfew reaches its intended effect and as youth are intellectually better equipped than younger children to understand what is going on, authorities should explain to this unique group more clearly the importance of abiding because by following the curfew, they are aiding in problem-solving, saving lives, and being the unseen heroes for the elderly people. By instilling a feeling of responsibility in the active participation of problem-solving, this will encourage adolescents to more logically consider the consequences of this pandemic, allowing them to hypothetically evaluate the pros and cons of this curfew.

It is possible that both the adolescents and the authorities can achieve what is desired if families provide more freedom at home under the restrictions of the curfew. Adjusting boundaries for teens within the home may help create a balance between freedom and responsibility. Parents have to involve the adolescents in decisionmaking and rules that affect their limited life within the borders of their home to increase their adherence to the extended curfew. Although initially quarantine with a teen may be challenging for the whole family, focusing on the teen's agenda and respecting the teen's confidentiality may in turn strengthen family ties and families may just find they are stronger in the end. To determine the level of confidentiality to be afforded to the teen, the family must consider the age and maturity of the adolescent as well as family matters and the social conditions in the context of financial issues.

During the curfew, "confidentiality" stands for more independence and more emotional distance that adolescents want between them and the household. Developmentally, the adolescent's focus shifts from the family to peers and they need to build independent social relationships and acquire social roles within peer groups. The terms "social isolation or distancing" have often been used to prevent the spread of the virus, but the terminology we should be using is "physical distancing." Because adolescents become much further attuned to their social status within the peer groups, and a feeling of belonging with peers becomes much more salient, separation from peers is a lot more stressful during adolescence, so explaining to them that this separation is only physical is critical. Globally, adolescents are devoted users of online technology which can be used during this time to keep them connected to peers, so they should be encouraged by family members to be creative in finding new ways to interact with friends.

In a time where the world is coming together to tackle this pandemic, we must not overlook sensitive populations such as

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation report -51

Sa glık Bakanlı gı. T.C. Sa glık Bakanlı gı Korona Tablosu

Içiş leri Bakanlı gı

Turkish Statistical Institute. 2020. Available at

Identity and the life cycle

The birth of intelligence in the children

adolescents. We believe families should be encouraged to create spaces that will allow their teens at home the freedom to be themselves, stay connected with friends, while at the same time both gaining emotional adaptations and resilience to unpredictable life events and saving lives by staying at home.