Children and COVID-19 Research Library

This study assesses the reliability and consistency of a questionnaire (MBQ) about physical activity and sedentary time in children aged 6 to 12 years old during COVID-19 social distance: to describe the physical activity and sedentary times according to ages, verifying if there are differences between genders. MBQ presented adequate consistency and reliability values. Furthermore, there are differences in the practice of LPA, MVPA, and sedentary time between ages and genders. It is an easy method to diagnose and estimate MVPA, LPA, and sedentary time in physical education in remote, non-presence or presence classes for parents and children.

Prolonged school closures are one of the most disruptive forces in the COVID‐19 era. School closures have upended life for children and families, and educators have been forced to determine how to provide distance learning. Schools are also an essential source of nonacademic supports in the way of health and mental health services, food assistance, obesity prevention, and intervention in cases of homelessness and maltreatment. This article focuses on the physical and emotional toll resulting from school closures and the withdrawal of nonacademic supports that students rely on. The COVID‐19 pandemic is shining a spotlight on how important schools are for meeting children's nonacademic needs.

There has been little formal exploration of how young people see their role in the COVID-19 pandemic. Focus-group discussion with 15 Children’s Hospital Young People’s Forum members (23/5) to explore their perspective on the impact of COVID-19 on both their lives and those of their community, on school closures, and the role they wished to play in society’s recovery from the pandemic.

While children so far have not faced direct health effects of COVID-19- the crisis is having a profound effect on their wellbeing. During the lockdown, children are more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation while their schooling is seriously disturbed. Therefore, with the objective to collect, analyze and disseminate authentic information on the situation of children in Nepal during the pandemic, Consortium Nepal conducted a research titled ‘Assessment of Child Wellbeing during COVID-19’. This assessment is accompanied by collecting responses of children, parents and local government representatives/officials from selected districts across Nepal. For the purpose, separate questionnaires were developed for all these stakeholders. Being a descriptive study, questions were developed so as to collect qualitative data as per the need and availability.

The purpose of this study was to identify how health behaviors, level of stress, financial and food security have been impacted by the pandemic among Canadian families with young children.

A new look at children from the world’s richest countries offers a mixed picture of their health, skills and happiness. For far too many, issues such as poverty, exclusion and pollution threaten their mental well-being, physical health and opportunities to develop skills. Even countries with good social, economic and environmental conditions are a long way from meeting the targets set in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Focused and accelerated action is needed if these goals are to be met.

The evidence from 41 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and European Union (EU) countries tells its own story: from children’s chances of survival, growth and protection, to whether they are learning and feel listened to, to whether their parents have the support and resources to give their children the best chance for a healthy, happy childhood. This report reveals children’s experiences against the backdrop of their country’s policies and social, educational, economic and environmental contexts.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the historic economic shutdown and stay at home efforts to slow its spread have radically impacted the lives of  families across the world, completely disrupting routines and challenging them to adjust to new health risks as well as to new work and family demands.
The current study applied a contextual behavioral science lens to the spillover hypothesis of Family Systems Theory to develop a multi-stage mechanistic model for how COVID-19 stress could impact family and child functioning and how parents’ psychological flexibility could shape those processes.

This article focuses on the physical and emotional toll resulting from school closures and the withdrawal of nonacademic supports that students rely on. The COVID-19 pandemic is shining a spotlight on how important schools are for meeting children's nonacademic needs.

The report draws on existing and emerging Irish and international research on the effects of the pandemic restrictions on children and young people. In particular, the report reviews research evidence in the areas of family and peer relationships, health and wellbeing, education (from early childhood to third-level) and post-school transitions to provide insights into the potential consequences of the current crisis from infancy to early adulthood.

While the UK government has announced some relaxation of statutory regulations for children in care, advice at the time of writing indicates that local authorities in England and Wales remain obligated to allow looked-after children ‘reasonable contact’ with their birth families during the current COVID-19 lockdown. In light of this advice, it is crucial to understand how digital technologies can be managed to maintain contact while prioritising children’s best interests. This briefing paper highlights the key findings of a rapid evidence review that examines what is known about the implications of digital contact for the well-being of children who have been separated from their birth relatives in public law contexts. It also reviews relevant literature on digital contact in private law contexts, such as separation and divorce, and draws out key lessons for managing digital contact between birth relatives and children in public law placements.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic represents an inflection point in history and will be generation-defining for our young. Some have called the pandemic the “9-11 of Generation Z” and note the creation of a new generation of “Quaranteens” or “Coronials.”  The pandemic has deeply affected the health and wellbeing of children, adolescents, and families in multiple ways.

This resource document offers information about the potential impacts of physical distancing and isolation on the wellbeing of children and teens during and after the pandemic. Further, it discusses potential recommendations to support them, and it shares several relevant resources. It also looks at some pre-pandemic predictors that may put them at an increased risk for adverse experiences during and post-COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented economic, health and social impacts as it has swept the globe. Intercountry adoption and international surrogacy are practices immediately affected, furthering vulnerabilities of children and vulnerable adults. This short report calls attention to heightened risks, raises awareness for practitioners in these fields and asserts the need for caution.

Evidence on whether the amount of time children spend online affects their mental health is mixed. There may be both benefits and risks. Yet, almost all published research on this topic is from high‐income countries. This paper presents new findings across four countries of varying wealth.

We analyse data gathered through the Global Kids Online project from nationally representative samples of Internet‐using children aged 9 to 17 years in Bulgaria (n  = 1,000), Chile (n  = 1,000), Ghana (n  = 2,060) and the Philippines (n  = 1,873). Data was gathered on Internet usage on week and weekend days. Measures of absolute (comparable across countries) and relative (compared to other children within countries) time use were constructed. Mental health was measured by Cantril’s ladder (life satisfaction). The analysis also considers the relative explanatory power on variations in mental health of children’s relationships with family and friends. Analysis controlled for age, gender and family socioeconomic status.

In Bulgaria and Chile, higher‐frequency Internet use is weakly associated with lower life satisfaction. In Ghana and the Philippines, no such pattern was observed. There was no evidence that the relationship between frequency of Internet use and life satisfaction differed by gender. In all four countries, the quality of children’s close relationships showed a much stronger relationship with their life satisfaction than did time spent on the Internet.

Time spent on the Internet does not appear to be strongly linked to children’s life satisfaction, and results from one country should not be assumed to transfer to another. Improving the quality of children’s close relationships offers a more fruitful area for intervention than restricting their time online. Future research could consider a wider range of countries and links between the nature, rather than quantity, of Internet usage and mental health.

Millions of children live outside of their country of birth as migrants or refugees or are displaced within their own borders. Facing acute deprivations in their access to school, health care, clean water and protective services, these children are among the most vulnerable populations on the globe. How will COVID-19 impact their precarious existence?  This article examines the enormous socioeconomic challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic poses for children on the move across four dimensions: poverty, survival and health, learning and protection and safety. It also considers how new laws and regulations enacted in response to the pandemic are impacting these children. It then suggests the necessary policies and actions to protect this intensely vulnerable population.