Library Home | Reset filters
Select one or more filter options and click search below.
Reset filters
AUTHOR(S) Naoki Yamamoto; Yoshiro Morimoto; Hirohisa Kinoshita (et al.)
Increased exposure to digital gaming content among youth in recent years has raised serious health concerns. Social restrictions such as school closures, imposed worldwide because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, may increase exposure to gaming and lead to addictive gaming behavior in young people. This study investigated gaming behaviors among Japanese students during COVID-19 school closures. Students completed questionnaires regarding their living conditions, game-related behaviors, diagnosis of Internet addiction, psychological difficulties, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
AUTHOR(S) Yuki Tada; Yukari Ueda; Kemal Sasaki (et al.)
AUTHOR(S) Yuka Nagashima; Mikako Inokuchi; Yosuke Yasui (et al.)
During the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, the governments of many countries responded to high levels of infection with lockdowns. As a result, some children were reported to experience weight gain. The aim of the present study was to examine the impact of school closures on body mass index (BMI) in Japanese children. This was a retrospective study of students enrolled in the participating schools (6- to 11-year-old elementary school students and 12- to 14-year-old junior high school students) between 2015 and 2020. Using school health check-up data, annual changes in the BMI standard deviation score (ΔBMI-SDS) were calculated. We compared ΔBMI-SDS in 2019–2020 with the corresponding control years.
AUTHOR(S) Toshihide Sakuragi; Rie Tanaka; Mayumi Tsuji (et al.)
Although gender stereotypes regarding paid work and unpaid work are changing, most wives are responsible for taking care of the family and home in Japan. It is unclear how time spent on housework and childcare has changed between working men and women during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. The purpose of this study is to investigate how working men and women’s responsibilities for housework and childcare changed during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan depending on work hours, job type, the number of employees in the workplace, and frequency of telecommuting. A cross-sectional analysis (N = 14,454) was conducted using data from an Internet monitoring study (CORoNa Work Project), which was conducted in December 2020. A multilevel logistic model with nested prefectures of residence was conducted to estimate the odds ratio (OR) for change in time devoted to housework and childcare among men and women adjusting for age, household income, presence of spouse who work, work hours, job type, the number of employees in the workplace, frequency of telecommuting, and the incidence rate of COVID-19 by prefecture.
AUTHOR(S) Ryo Morishima; Haruna Koike; Akiko Kanehara (et al.)
Online classes were implemented in numerous schools during the school closure due to COVID-19. The present study examined the relationship between online classes during national school closure and mental health symptoms after the reopening of schools. It conducted a cross-sectional survey from October 1 to November 7, 2020 using an anonymous self-reported questionnaire to evaluate 21 junior and senior high schools in the Saitama prefecture of Japan. Out of the 5538 students who were recruited, 5000 agreed to participate. The relationship between the implementation of online classes and mental health symptoms (emotional symptoms, psychotic experience [PE], and smartphone addiction) was evaluated using mixed-effect logistic regression models, while controlling for individual and class-level covariates (e.g., gender, grades).
AUTHOR(S) Shizuko Takahashi; Eisuke Nakazawa; Akira Akabayashi
AUTHOR(S) Saeko Kamoshida; Naoto Nihonmatsu; Gen Takagi (et al.)
This study examines whether preschool children who maintained regular mealtimes after the spread of COVID-19 infection have better lifestyle habits, like waking up and sleeping early and a more balanced diet, than those who did not. An online cross-sectional survey was conducted among 2,000 individuals who provided meals to preschool children aged 2 to 6 years. The Healthy Diet Score (HDS), on a 40-point scale, was developed to comprehensively assess the dietary balance of preschool children based on their frequency of food intake from 13 food groups. The analysis included data on 1,850 children, excluding those who failed to answer the main questions. The participants were classified into four groups based on their responses regarding the regularity of mealtimes after the spread of COVID-19: ‘regular mealtimes (n = 125),’ ‘originally regular and remains unchanged (n = 1514),’ ‘irregular mealtimes (n = 63),’ and ’originally irregular and remains unchanged (n = 148).’ Multiple regression analysis was conducted with HDS as the dependent variable, and regularity of mealtimes and confounding factors as independent variables.
AUTHOR(S) Isa Okajima; Yukako Honda; Osamu Semba (et al.)
COVID-19-related anxiety, sleep problems, and loneliness may be risk factors for school refusal in children and adolescents. However, few studies have examined the mechanisms by which these risk factors cause school refusal. This study examined the process by which COVID-19-related anxiety, sleep problems, and loneliness cause school refusal, using structural equation modeling. In this cross-sectional questionnaire-based study, 256 (109 male, 147 female, mean age: 15.37 ± 0.48 years) senior high school students were asked to complete the Stress and Anxiety associated with Viral Epidemics-6 questionnaire to assess COVID-19-related anxiety, the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS), Sleep Debt Index (SDI), and chronotype (MSFsc) to assess sleep problems, the Three-Item Loneliness Scale (TILS) to assess loneliness, and Feelings of School-Avoidance Scale (FSAS) to assess school refusal.
AUTHOR(S) Yusuke Kusumi; Mitsuaki Tominaga; Hironobu Nagasawa (et al.)
AUTHOR(S) Takuto Naito; Yasutake Tomata; Tatsui Otsuka (et al.)
AUTHOR(S) Hajime Takeuchi; Sharanya Napier-Raman; Osamagbe Asemota (et al.)
The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected vulnerable children and youth. In Japan, despite evidence that the paediatric age group holds a lower risk of infection than the older population, there was a nationwide closure of schools as an early public health measure. Acknowledging that school closures brought heightened psychological and physical stress among Japanese children, we aimed to explore vulnerable children’s experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, focusing on socially disadvantaged subset of the population. This study used an adapted version of the ‘Perceived Stress Scale for Children’, with additional free-text space, delivered online to children attending three non-profit organisations which provide support for this group of vulnerable persons and families experiencing social disadvantage. Simple descriptive analysis was undertaken on the quantitative data; we used thematic and content analysis for the qualitative data.
AUTHOR(S) Riyo Ueda; Takashi Okada; Yosuke Kita (et al.)
AUTHOR(S) Hiroyuki Kuromiya; Rwitajit Majumdar; Gou Miyabe (et al.)
AUTHOR(S) Sho Fujihara; Takahiro Tabuchi
This study expands on previous studies that have investigated the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on mental health in two ways. It first model the change in mental health, then examine the various factors that predict changes in psychological distress. Longitudinal surveys were conducted once each in 2015, 2017, and 2019 on mothers and their children born between April 2000 and March 2001 (n = 1854), and three times in 2020 (February, July, and December) on the children in Japan. A latent growth curve model with four time points from December 2019 to December 2020 was used to depict the changes in the psychological distress of youths and to examine the factor associated with the level and change in psychological distress.
UNICEF Innocenti's Children and COVID-19 Library is a database collecting research from around the world on COVID-19 and its impacts on children and adolescents.
Subscribe to updates on new research about COVID-19 & children
Check our quarterly thematic digests on children and COVID-19
COVID-19 & Children: Rapid Research Response
