Children and COVID-19 Research Library

The article focuses on the changed dynamics of family life due to the first wave of Covid-19—starting in the spring of 2020—and the consequent longstanding social lockdown in the fall of 2020. It employs the concept of “forced nuclearisation” to describe the process that required a rapid reorganisation of otherwise self-evident and established social patterns and relationships, above all new adjustments of care relations both inside and outside the private sphere. The focus is on new demands in the intertwined spheres of work, school, and family obligations, especially because the private sphere has been assigned several additional functions, otherwise carried out by educational and daycare institutions. Based on an extensive dataset from a quantitative exploratory online survey conducted in two time periods, first in April 2020 and then in October 2020, this article discusses, from a comparative perspective and with a focus on gender inequalities, the main changes in practices and everyday routines such as shopping, housework, childcare, work obligations, and caring for other family members. The research aimed to identify the most obvious distinctions in family scenarios and, in particular, to point to the main social inequalities and potentially vulnerable groups within the population, who faced the forced and unexpected nuclearisation of everyday life.

This study aimed to compare the occurrence of lower respiratory tract infections caused by respiratory syncytial virus in the neonatal population in the years before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cases of newborns, hospitalized due to viral lower respiratory tract infection from 2015 to 2020, were analyzed retrospectively, and compared according to cause (respiratory syncytial virus, non-respiratory syncytial virus) and treatment requirements before (2015−2019) and after (2020) the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 measures have unfavourably affected the movement behaviours of youth. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of online-schooling during COVID-19 on device-measured sleep (SL), sedentary behaviour (SB), light physical activity (LPA), and moderate–vigorous physical activity (MVPA) among high school students. A total of 51 students (26 female) from Slovenia wore an activity monitor activPAL4 during the weekdays of onsite-schooling and during the weekdays of online-schooling. Data on movement behaviours were analysed using compositional data analysis. During the onsite-schooling (and online-schooling), students spent on average 432 min/day (469 min/day) in SL, 731 (755) in SB, 253 (202) in LPA, and 25 (15) in MVPA.

Slovenia is among the countries with the highest suicide rates in the world. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the mental health of children and adolescents. Our hypothesis is that the school closure during the pandemic with a gradual transfer to virtual schooling had an important impact on children's and adolescents' suicidal behavior. Therefore, this study aimed to determine possible changes in the frequency of assessments as well as frequency and severity of suicidal behavior in the population of Slovene children and adolescents seeking emergency psychiatric help in correlation with the progression of the pandemic and online schooling. It performed a retrospective observational analysis of medical records of all children and adolescents referred to the only 24-h emergency in- and outpatient child and adolescent psychiatry service in Slovenia from March 2019 through the end of July 2021. It extracted number of assessments, number of patients with suicidal ideation and with attempted suicide. A comparison between the same periods prior to the pandemic and during the pandemic was made. The months of school closure due to the COVID-19 restriction measures and the months without closures were also compared.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, countries took several restrictions to contain the spread of coronavirus. In the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, primary schools in Slovenia were closed for a period long time (from October 19th 2020 until January 18th 2021 when they were partially reopened for 6–9 year olds until February 15th 2021 when they were reopened for all children) and organized sport activities for children and adolescents under the age of 15 was not allowed during this period. The aim of the study was to examine how these restrictions were reflected in the amount of different forms of physical activity (PA) of 6–12-year old children (N = 3,936). Data were collected using an online questionnaire (International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form) comparing different forms of PA before (BEFORE) and during (DURING) remote schooling.

In April 2020, a survey was conducted among Slovenian military families, being one of the first surveys to be carried out in the country after the outbreak of the pandemic. The military was labeled a crucial institution in the efforts to combat the SARS-CoV-2 virus and was appointed to various activities, leading to a considerable increase in its workload. The burden of care and unpaid work at that time also intensified, becoming shifted onto the military family, particularly civilian female spouses. The survey’s purpose was to measure how military families evaluated their success in balancing between working from home, household work, childcare, and home schooling during the pandemic lockdown. The risk factors were observed on the micro (i.e., lack of extended family support, institutional childcare, and school lockdown) and macro (i.e., military support, national support measures) social levels. The analysis reveals that when it comes to military families the greatest price has been paid by female civilian spouses. The number of children and their age influence parents’ self-evaluation of their success with work–life balance. The results show that big families and families with primary school children have been struggling the most during the lockdown. Surprisingly, dual-serving families felt the most successful.