Children and COVID-19 Research Library

This study used the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) and 9 Patients Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) to investigate the anxiety and depression of 1366 primary school students in Shenzhen after the resumption of school. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, many parents began wondering whether months of isolation, a lack of organized school education, and potential loss of relatives would have a long-term impact on their children’s mental health. The results of this study indicate that the rates of anxiety and depression among primary school students are indeed higher than before COVID-19, including the detection rate of anxiety and depression comorbidity, which has reached 11.7%.

Although coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may pose a lower risk of transmission to children than to adults, and schools have contributed little to infection among parents, many countries nevertheless implemented school closure. Following the emergence of the δ variant, which is more transmissible and globally dominant, the percentage of primary school-aged children testing positive has been increasing. Progressively, the circumstances have become more favourable to recommend vaccination of children because of the increased burden on children resulting from the new variants and the supporting evidence from the ongoing vaccine trials among school-aged children. The rollout of COVID-19 vaccines for children is an important step in reopening schools safely. Understanding parental intention to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 will help inform broad strategies to maximize immunization rates among children. This study was conducted in Hong Kong, a densely populated travel hub in southeast China where residents average 12.5 daily contacts

COVID-19 has been proven to harm adolescents' mental health, and several psychological influence factors have been proposed. However, the importance of these factors in the development of mood disorders in adolescents during the pandemic still eludes researchers, and practical strategies for mental health education are limited. This study constructed a sample of 1,771 adolescents from three junior high middle schools, three senior high middle schools, and three independent universities in Shandong province, China. The sample stratification was set as 5:4:3 for adolescent aged from 12 – 15, 15 – 18, 18 – 19.

Since the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic emerged, Internet usage has increased among adolescents. Due to this trend, the prevalence of Internet addiction disorder (IAD) may have increased within this group. This study examined the prevalence of IAD and its correlates among clinically stable adolescents with psychiatric disorders in China during the COVID-19 outbreak. A multi-center, cross-sectional study was carried out between April 29 and June 9, 2020 in three major tertiary mental health centers in China. IAD and depressive symptoms were assessed using the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) and the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), respectively.

The COVID-19 pandemic has a multifaceted impact on mental health due to ill health, restrictions and lockdowns, and loss of employment and institutional support. COVID-19 may disproportionally impact families with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) due to the already higher prevalence of mental health conditions in children with SEND and their parents. Therefore, it is essential to determine the short-term impact of the pandemic on the mental health of families with SEND in order to identify their ongoing health support needs. The current study aims to examine the anxiety level and concerns of children with SEND and their parents living in China. The sample consisted of 271 parents of children with SEND aged between 6 and 17 years (Mage = 8.37; SDage = 2.76). Parents completed an online survey between 10 April to 8 June 2020. Both child and parental anxiety levels and various concerns increased after the initial wave of COVID-19 when compared with retrospective pre-COVID-19 levels. Parental anxiety and concern levels were significantly higher for those living in rural areas compared to urban areas. In addition, parental and child anxiety and concern levels were significantly correlated with each other. Parental anxiety at the lowest level made a unique and significant statistical contribution to children's anxiety levels. The implications of the study findings are discussed.

This study aims to explore the characteristics of unintentional childhood-injury during the COVID-19 pandemic and assess the association of unintentional-injury with maternal emotional status. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with a convenience sample of 1300 children under 12-years-old from 21 schools (including nurseries/ kindergartens/ primary schools) in Wuhan and Shanghai during March to April 2020, and the mothers completed questionnaires online. Self-rating Depression/Anxiety Scales were used to evaluate maternal emotional status, questions on child unintentional-injury were based on the International-Statistical-Classification-of-Diseases-and-Related-Health-Problems-version-10 (ICD-10), and a total of 11 kinds of unintentional injuries were inquired. Information on socio-demographic and family-background factors was also collected.

The present study investigated patterns of adolescent life changes across multiple life domains and utilized a holistic-interactionistic perspective to examine their individual, familial, and societal correlates with a sample of 2544 Chinese parent-adolescent dyads. Adolescents were aged from 10 to 19 years old (50.16% girls). Latent profile analysis revealed five life change profiles, including three improved profiles at various degrees, one unchanged profile, and one worsened profile. The majority of adolescents had an improved or unchanged life. Multinomial logistic regression analyses found that most of the individual, familial, and societal factors predicted the group memberships. Notably, parent-adolescent conflict was a significant factor that predicted memberships of all patterns. These findings show the resilience of adolescents and indicate the need for policies and interventions that consider the holistic nature of adolescents’ person-context system, especially during a global crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

School closures during the COVID-19 pandemic have forced many children around the world to spend unprecedented amounts of time at home, and the responsibility for educating children, especially young ones, has largely fallen to parents and caregivers. Using a sample of 764 households with preschool children in Wuhan, China, where the pandemic originated, this study examined the impact of the pandemic on primary caregivers' involvement in their children's education at home, and the barriers and benefits of such involvement for preschool children's learning and well-being.

Were environmental changes during the outbreak of COVID-19 associated with increased development of myopia in young schoolchildren in China?  In this observational study longitudinally monitoring 2114 students from grade 2 to grade 3, myopia incidence doubled from November and December 2019 to November and December 2020 compared with the same period from 2018 to 2019. The proportion of children without myopia and with spherical equivalent refraction greater than −0.50 D and less than or equal to +0.50 D in grade 3 had increased by 18% by November and December 2020 compared with the same period in 2019. These data suggest that development of myopia in young Chinese schoolchildren may have increased during the COVID-19 outbreak; the long-term impact of environmental changes during the COVID-19 outbreak period on the development of myopia in children needs further investigation.

The COVID-19 pandemic is seriously affecting the mental health of adolescents and triggering a series of mental health-related issues. The present study investigates the relationships between conscientiousness, dispositional mindfulness (DM), and adolescents' mental health-related issues including anxiety, depression, and perceived stress during this time. In this study, after obtaining informed consent from participants' parents, 5994 Chinese adolescents voluntarily and anonymously completed an online survey.