Children and COVID-19 Research Library

After the appearance of a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) during 2019, the virus has spread with alarming speed and a pandemic quickly developed. The complex consequences of the pandemic phenomenon, i.e., the consequences of the pandemic per se and the countermeasures adopted to control infections and deaths, were associated with a negative impact on sleep quality and, in general, mental health. With a global prevalence of sleep disturbances of approximately 30–40%, as suggested by meta-analytical studies a stable association with psychological distress has been repeatedly reported. In Europe, Italy was the first country to report high rates of infection and deaths, and, as a consequence, the Italian Government declared unprecedented restrictive measures with a total lockdown on 9 March 2020. Not surprisingly, many studies on the effects of the lockdown and/or the pandemic were conducted in Italy , reporting an increase in sleep difficulties associated with the pandemic, particularly during the lockdown periods. Along this vein, the Italian study by Amicucci et al. [10] also investigated the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown during Spring 2020 on sleep quality and mental health. The main merit of this study is a specific focus on two at-risk groups: late adolescents (18–20 years) and the elderly (65–75 years). The authors used a web-based survey and validated questionnaires to assess sleep quality, insomnia, stress, depression, and anxiety. The adolescents reported more insomnia symptoms, worse sleep quality, longer sleep latency, higher daytime dysfunction, a more prevalent disruption of sleep habits (bedtime, get-up time, and nap), and a more negative impact on mental health (higher levels of depression and perceived stress than the elderly). Older participants showed shorter sleep durations, lower habitual sleep efficiency, and greater use of sleep medications.

This study aimed to assess anxiety, depression, perceived stress, couple satisfaction and life satisfaction of parents of healthy newborns in two cohorts in 2015 and in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. A prospective follow-up study. It enrolled 60 parents of healthy newborns (n = 30 dyads) in 2015 and 60 parents (n = 30 dyads) in 2020. Both parents completed six valid and reliable questionnaires independently 1–2 days and 12 months after delivery: Beck Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory-II, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, Perceived Stress Scale, Couple Satisfaction Index and Life Satisfaction Scale-4.

Este estudio tuvo como objetivo investigar los impactos psicológicos de la pandemia de COVID-19 en la salud mental positiva de los padres, la parentalidad y el comportamiento de los niños. Participaron 150 padres, en su mayoría mujeres (82 %), con una edad media de 38 años (DE = 5.4), madres de niños entre 3 y 11 años (M = 6.1; DE = 2.5).

This study aimed to (1) compare changes in parenting self-efficacy, social support, postpartum anxiety, and postpartum depression in Canadian women before and during the early COVID-19 pandemic; (2) explore how women with a newborn felt during the pandemic; (3) explore ways that women coped with challenges faced. A cross-sectional design was used. Prior to the pandemic, an online survey was conducted with women who an infant 6 months old or less in one of the three Eastern Canadian Maritime provinces. A similar survey was conducted during the pandemic in mid-2020.

Several studies have highlighted the mental health challenges of children and youth during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period, especially, in relation to an escalation of depression, anxiety, and stress. Whilst this may be the reality, it is unfortunate that most of the studies adopt a psychopathological point of departure often portraying doom and gloom. Adopting a social ecological resilience perspective the author focuses on the resilience of school-attending black South African youth during the COVID-19 lockdown period. The Child and Youth Resilience Measurement (CYRM-28) was completed by 4165 respondents in grades 4 to 12 (females = 2431, 58.4%; males = 1734, 41.6%) from the Gauteng, Mpumalanga and North-West provinces in South Africa.

This article contributes to the quality of life literature by investigating gender and age gaps in psycho-physiological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. Specifically, it investigates whether women experienced higher levels of distress than men, and if such gap can be explained by a greater negative reaction of women in the experience of a negative COVID-19 related event, such as the illness or death of a relative. Moreover, it explores whether age moderated or amplified the effect of a negative event on distress among women and men. To do so it relies on an ad hoc survey carried out between April 2020 and June 2021 in Italy, the first European country to be hit by the pandemic.

Family carers of people with profound and multiple intellectual disabilities (PMID) experienced a reduction in healthcare services due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many subsequently turned to Non-Governmental Organisations who worked to support families. However, little research has sought to capture the experiences of family carers or identify effective interventions which might support them. To address these concerns we explored the views of Non-Governmental sector workers across the UK and Ireland who supported families people with PMID during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also sought to explore their views on the characteristics of online support programmes for family carers. This study employed a qualitative design using focus groups with participants (n = 24) from five Non-Governmental Organisations across the UK and Ireland. A focus group guide included questions on challenges, supports, coping and resources which helped during lockdown restrictions. Focus groups were held online, were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. The resulting transcripts were pseudonymised and subjected to thematic analysis.

This study aimed to evaluate stress level reactions to depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress in paediatric patients’ post-COVID-19 infection. A total of two hundred consecutive patients aged 8 to 18 years were prospectively enrolled in the study between March 2020 and June 2021. One hundred patients were diagnosed with a positive COVID-PCR test and had inpatient management. Another hundred patients had positive COVID-PCR results and completed their care and isolation for 14 days at home. Child posttraumatic stress reaction index (CPTS-RI), child depression inventory (CDI), and screen for child anxiety-related disorders (SCARED) were used to evaluate their post-COVID-19 infection mental health state. In the study population, the mean age was 13.4 years, and 50.5% were male. Sixty-seven patients were paediatric, and the rest were adolescents.

During the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, adolescents' mental health was largely undermined. A general increment in screen time was reported. However, the long-term effects of the latter on adolescents' mental health are still little explored. In the present natural experiment, we investigated these effects using longitudinal data collected before and after the first lockdown in Switzerland. Data come from 674 Swiss adolescents (56.7% females, Mage = 14.45, SDage = 0.50) during Spring 2019 (T1) and Autumn 2020 (T2) as part of the longitudinal MEDIATICINO study. Self-reported mental health measures included somatic symptoms, inattention, anxiety, irritability, anger, sleep problems, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, loneliness, and depression. Measures for screen-media activities included time spent on the Internet, smartphones, social media, video gaming, instant messaging, and television viewing. They were all assessed at T1 and T2.

The outbreak of COVID-19 had a huge impact on daily life. It greatly reduced our physical activity (PA) and caused an increase in negative emotions. The emotions of different ages and sexes were impacted during the pandemic but the most severely influenced were adolescents. Therefore, the study’s main purpose was to explore the influence of age and gender on adolescent physical activity and emotions during the pandemic. The subjects of the present study were 14,045 adolescents aged 10–18 years from the Yan’an Shaanxi province. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form (IPAQ-SF) was used to investigate the PA and Profile of Mood States (POMS) was used to investigate adolescents’ mood states. Results: we found that girls and boys have significant differences in total PA and moderate PA (p < 0.01). The adolescents’ PA levels of different ages had significant differences (p < 0.01). Meanwhile, boys had higher negative emotion scores (anger, fatigue, depression, confusion) than girls. Girls, in contrast, had higher positive emotion scores (self-esteem, vigor) (p < 0.01). With increasing age, the increase in emotional states seems to diminish (p < 0.01).

Parents of an infant may be particularly vulnerable to peritraumatic distress (e.g., psychological distress experienced during or immediately following a traumatic event) associated with events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Since peritraumatic distress could affect both their psychological well-being and their couple relationship functioning, it is essential to measure and document these symptoms within parents. The COVID-19 Peritraumatic Distress Index (CPDI; Qiu et al., 2020) was the first validated instrument to measure COVID-19 peritraumatic distress, but it has not yet been validated in French. This study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the French–Canadian version of the CPDI (F-CPDI) in a sample of 492 parents (58% of mothers) of an infant in Quebec Province (Canada).

This study assessed associations between maternal stress, social support, and child resiliency during the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to changes in anxiety and depression symptoms in children in Mexico City. Participants included 464 mother-child pairs from a longitudinal birth cohort in Mexico City. At ages 8–11 (pre-COVID, 2018–2019) and 9–12 (during COVID, May–Nov 2020) years, depressive symptoms were assessed using the child and parent-reported Children’s Depressive Inventory. Anxiety symptoms were assessed using the child-reported Revised Manifest Anxiety Scale. Linear regression models were used to estimate associations between maternal stress, social support, and resiliency in relation to changes in depressive and anxiety symptoms. The study additionally assessed outcomes using clinically relevant cut-points. Models were adjusted for child age and sex and maternal socioeconomic status and age.

The UK government implemented national social-distancing measures in response to the global COVID19 pandemic. As a result, many appointments in the National Health Service (NHS) took place virtually, including psychological interventions in out-patient settings. This study explored the experiences of adolescents participating in a dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT-A) programme via teletherapy (i.e. via video or telephone call) in a Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS). Thirteen adolescents with emotion dysregulation and related problems completed an online qualitative survey about their experience and acceptance of DBT-A delivered virtually. Thematic analysis was conducted on the survey data and generated three over-arching themes: (1) sense of loss; (2) feeling uncontained; and (3) benefits of virtual DBT. These over-arching themes were composed of eight subthemes (‘loss of connection with group and therapist’; ‘loss of skills-building opportunities’; ‘limited privacy’; ‘lack of safe therapy space’; ‘difficult endings’; ‘home comforts’; ‘convenience and accessibility’; and ‘easier to participate with others’). This study suggests that adolescents doing virtual DBT-A need approaches that acknowledge and address the additional relational, emotional and practical challenges of online therapy while maintaining fidelity to the evidence-based treatment model.

Disasters share a common potential for significant ecological and psychosocial disruption at the individual, community, and societal levels, and are especially harmful to members of social groups in vulnerable situations, including youth in foster care and those recently emancipated from care. These young people are susceptible to mental health challenges and understanding their resiliency is key to mitigating pandemic-related harms. This qualitative study aims to (1) understand how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the mental health of older youth between the ages of 18 and 23 (M = 20.5 years, S.D. = 1.7 years), currently in or aged out of foster care (M = 5.9 years in care, S.D. = 4.4 years), and experiencing mental health challenges, and (2) gain insight into the resiliency that supports young people in dealing with these challenges. Twenty-six young people (77% female-identifying, 38% White, 27% Hispanic) in the USA participated in in-depth interviews.