Logo UNICEF Innocenti
Office of Research-Innocenti
menu icon

Children and COVID-19 Research Library

UNICEF Innocenti's curated library of COVID-19 + Children research

RESULTS:   47     SORT BY:

ADVANCED SEARCH:

Select one or more filter options and click search below.

PUBLICATION DATE:
UNICEF Innocenti Publication
UNICEF Publication
Open Access
JOURNAL ACCESS FOR UNICEF STAFF CONTACT US
1 - 15 of 47
Violence and sexual abuse rates before and during the Covid-19 pandemic: a prospective population-based study on Norwegian youth

AUTHOR(S)
Else-Marie Augusti; Mia Cathrine Myhre; Tore Wentzel-Larsen (et al.)

Published: January 2023   Journal: Child Abuse & Neglect

Considerable concern is raised as to whether the pandemic has led to an increase in violence and sexual abuse against children. The present study objective is to provide rates of violence and sexual abuse against adolescents the year before the pandemic compared to one year into the pandemic. Two samples of Norwegian 12–16-year-olds were approached. A representative pre-pandemic sample of 9240 adolescents (M age (SD) = 14.11(0.88), and a sample recruited one year into the pandemic resulting in 3540 responses (M age (SD) = 14.5 (0.96)). An online survey was administered during school hours including established measures of violence and sexual abuse exposure. Sociodemographic characteristics were assessed.

Prevalence and correlates of non-dating sexual violence, sexual dating violence, and physical dating violence victimization among U.S. high school students during the COVID-19 pandemic: adolescent behaviors and experiences survey, United States, 2021

AUTHOR(S)
Kathleen H. Krause; Sarah DeGue; Phyllis Holditch Niolon

Published: December 2022   Journal: Journal of Interpersonal Violence
The COVID-19 pandemic created an environment of disruption and adversity for many adolescents. This study sought to establish the prevalence of non-dating sexual violence, sexual dating violence, and physical dating violence victimization among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic and to investigate whether experiences of disruption and adversity placed adolescents at greater risk for these forms of interpersonal violence. It conducted a secondary analysis of data from the Adolescent Behavior and Experiences Survey, collected January to June 2021 from a nationally representative sample of U.S. high school students (N = 7,705). Exposures included abuse by a parent; economic, housing, and food and nutrition insecurity; interpersonal connectedness; and personal well-being.
Adolescent girls’ and boys’ experiences of violence: evidence from gender and adolescence: global evidence

AUTHOR(S)
Elizabeth Presler-Marshall; Erin Oakley; Shoroq Abu Hamad (et al.)

Institution: Gender and Adolescence Global Evidence
Published: October 2022

Age- and gender-based violence during adolescence is widespread, and the risks permeate all spheres of adolescents’ lives – family and marriage, schools, peer networks and communities. Yet this violence affects girls and boys very differently within and across low- and middle-income country (LMIC) contexts. Midway through the Sustainable Development Agenda, data from the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) research programme reinforces the urgency of investing in a tailored, adequately resourced package of interventions, coordinated across sectors and development actors. This would allow the global community to make meaningful progress towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 5 and 16 to eliminate all forms of violence affecting young people. This brief draws on data collected in three of GAGE’s core countries: Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Jordan using mixed-methods research. GAGE findings highlight that adolescent girls – and boys – regularly face myriad forms of age- and gender-based violence. Risks are context-dependent, which in some cases means adolescent girls and boys do not perceive what they are experiencing as violence, and in other cases leads them to embrace such behaviour because it demonstrates to their peers and communities that they are conforming to social norms. Critical to tackling this violence is a recognition that age-based violence is often deeply gendered; that gender norms leave girls and boys at heightened risk of different types of violence; and that sometimes the best way to support girls to lead lives free of violence is to ensure that the boys in their environments are also free of violence.

Rethinking dating and sexual violence prevention for youth during the pandemic: examining program feasibility and acceptability

AUTHOR(S)
Anna Segura; Michelle Henkhaus; Victoria Banyard (et al.)

Published: July 2022   Journal: Journal of Interpersonal Violence
Sexual and dating violence (SDV) is a social and health but preventable public issue. Most evidence-based prevention programs have been evaluated using an in-person delivery mechanism. Project Dream, Own and Tell (DOT) is a 13- to 18-week SDV prevention program targeting youth from traditionally underserved communities in New York City that shifted from in-person to online delivery in response to social distancing requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the current study was to understand how youth perceive learning SDV prevention in an online environment (acceptability and feasibility of the online DOT program). A mixed methods triangulation design was used including responses to Ecological Momentary Assessments (n = 25), a brief post survey with Likert-scale items (n = 18), and semi-structured interviews with 12 participants. The sample comprised Latinx/Hispanic, Asian American, Arab American, and African American youth between the ages of 15 and 21 from urban communities. Youth indicated both strengths and challenges of the online format. Strengths included ease of fitting the program into their schedules, avoiding long commutes, and the potential to create a safe online space for participants to engage in sexual violence prevention discussions and thus, feel less exposed. Challenges included internet connectivity issues, difficulties in building trustworthy relationships with other participants when not sharing the same physical space, some characteristics of the program’s activities, and the lack of adequate space from which to attend the program (i.e., shared spaces).
Building emotional-political communities to address gendered violence against women and girls during COVID-19 in the favelas of Maré, Rio de Janeiro

AUTHOR(S)
Cathy McIlwaine; Miriam Krenzinger; Moniza Rizzini Ansari (et al.)

Published: April 2022   Journal: Social & Cultural Geography
Although the intensification of direct and indirect gendered violence against women during the COVID-19 pandemic has been extensively reported globally, there is limited research on women’s responses to it. Addressing calls to explore the relationships between emotional-affective atmospheres and politics during the pandemic as well as to centre analyses of gendered violence within geography, this paper explores how women in the favelas of Maré, in Rio de Janeiro have developed mutual support, (self)-care and activism in the face of the crisis. Engaging with nascent debates on responses to COVID-19, together with feminist geographical work on resistance to gendered violence, the article adapts the notion of ‘emotional communities’ developed by Colombian anthropologist, Myriam Jimeno, to examine how emotional bonds created among survivors of violence are reconfigured into political action. Drawing on qualitative research with 32 women residents and 9 community actors involved in two core community initiatives in Maré, the paper develops the idea of building reactive and transformative ‘emotional-political communities’ at individual and collective levels to mitigate gendered violence and wider intersectional structural violence. Emotional-political community building is premised on grassroots activism among women and organisations that develops as part of compassionate (self)-care and the quiet rather than spectacular politics of change.
Parental violence before, during and after COVID-19 lockdown

AUTHOR(S)
Ricardo Barroso; Eduarda Ramião; Patrícia Figueiredo

Published: April 2022   Journal: Psicologia

It’s not clear if and how social distancing measures to  controlCOVID-19 transmission may result in more occurrences of child and adolescent abuse perpetrated by their parents. Information often comes from indirect estimates and media reports. More evidence  is needed from multiple sources, particularly from the potential victims. The aim of this study was to compare the proportion of violence perpetrated on  adolescents by their parents before, during and after the COVID-19 lockdown in Portugal. Three different samples with adolescents aged 12–18 years were collected before (n=1444), during(n=1427) and after(n=794) the lockdown and compared to verify variations concerning parental violence behaviors.

I was not safe in his house: The COVID-19 pandemic and violence against refugee and migrant girls and women in Italy
Institution: *UNICEF, Washington University in St. Louis
Published: March 2022

This research explored the specific impacts of the pandemic on exposure to gender based violence risks among refugee and migrant girls and women in Italy. The research focused on refugee and migrant girls and women because of the intersectionality of vulnerabilities related to their gender and their migration status. It examined the availability and accessibility of gender based violence service provision over the course of the pandemic, and explored how services adapted in the face of this health emergency.

Gender-based violence during COVID-19 among adolescent girls and young women in Nairobi, Kenya: a mixed-methods prospective study over 18 months

AUTHOR(S)
Michele R. Decker; Kristin Bevilacqua; Shannon N. Wood (et al.)

Published: February 2022   Journal: BMJ Global Health

Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) disproportionately experience gender-based violence (GBV), which can increase during emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic. A cohort of youth ages 15–24 in Nairobi, Kenya was surveyed at three time points over an 18-month period prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic: June–August 2019 (prepandemic), August–October 2020 (12-month follow-up) and May 2021 (18-month follow-up). This study characterised (1) prevalence, relative timing and help-seeking for leading forms of GBV, (2) GBV trajectories over 18 months and (3) associations of individual, dyad and COVID-related factors on GBV trajectories among AGYW (n=612) in Nairobi, Kenya. Virtual focus group discussions (n=12) and interviews (n=40) contextualise quantitative results.

A diagonal and social protection plus approach to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 syndemic: cash transfers and intimate partner violence interventions in Latin America

AUTHOR(S)
Merike Blofield; Felicia M. Knaul; Renzo Calderón-Anyosa (et al.)

Published: November 2021   Journal: The Lancet Global Health
Latin America has been particularly hard hit by the COVID-19 syndemic, including the associated economic fallout that has threatened the livelihoods of most families. Social protection platforms and policies should have a crucial role in safeguarding individual and family wellbeing; however, the response has been insufficient to address the scale of the crisis. This viewpoint focuses on two policy challenges of the COVID-19 syndemic: rapidly and effectively providing financial support to the many families that lost livelihoods, and responding to and mitigating the increased risk of intimate partner violence (IPV). It argues that building programmatic linkages between social protection platforms, particularly cash transfers, and IPV prevention, mitigation, and response services, creates synergies that can promote freedom from both poverty and violence.
The ignored pandemic: the dual crises of gender-based violence and Covid-19

AUTHOR(S)
Rowan Harvey

Institution: Oxfam
Published: November 2021

Gender Based Violence (GBV) is a global pandemic existing in all social groups across the globe, yet it has largely been ignored in the COVID-19 response and recovery plans. It is evident that the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified GBV, including domestic violence and intimate partner violence amongst other forms of violations, but the investments in GBV prevention and response are dramatically inadequate, with just 0.0002% of the overall COVID-19 response funding opportunities going into it. Barriers to achieving gender justice, such as harmful social norms, continue to exist, but progress made since the start of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign show that there are solutions, and feminist activism has been a driving force for progress on eliminating gender-based violence.

COVID-19 global gender response tracker: factsheets
Institution: UN Women, UNDP
Published: November 2021
The COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker monitors responses taken by governments worldwide to tackle the pandemic, and highlights those that have integrated a gender lens. It captures two types of government responses: women’s participation in COVID-19 task forces and national policy measures taken by governments. It analyzes which of the policy measures address women’s economic and social security, including unpaid care work, the labour market and violence against women. The Tracker can provide guidance for policymakers and evidence for advocates to ensure a gender-sensitive COVID-19 policy response.
Measuring the shadow pandemic: violence against women during COVID-19

AUTHOR(S)
Papa Seck

Institution: UN Women
Published: November 2021
Violence against women (VAW) is a human rights violation, with often devastating immediate and long-term consequences. Women around the world experience it in various forms, settings, levels of frequency and severity, at the hands of intimate partners, family members or others. In addition, women’s feelings of insecurity restrict their lives in myriad ways, hampering their health, as well as their civil, political, economic and social rights. Women’s safety is the gateway to basic health, living standards and empowerment, and a necessary condition to achieve gender equality.
Epidemiological study of violence against children and its increase during the COVID-19 pandemic

AUTHOR(S)
Stela Maria Tavolieri de Oliveira; Ewerton Alexandre Galdeano; Evelynne Maria Gomes Galvão da Trindade (et al.)

Published: September 2021   Journal: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
The aim of this study was to identify the epidemiological profiles of violence against children, victims, and their aggressors, and their correlations between socioeconomic and demographic factors analyzed before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was a cross-sectional, retrospective observational study based on a review of Individual Notification Forms from the Information System for Notifiable Diseases, including child victims of violence, under 18 years, assisted by a pediatric emergency service in Brazil, from 2016–2020. Data were stratified, then statistical analysis was performed using the two-proportion equality test and the Chi-square test, with p < 0.05 and a 95% confidence interval. A total of 609 notifications were analyzed and a prevalence of sexual violence (63.2%) was reported. The prevalent profile of victim was female (76.7%), aged between 2–9 years (38.1%) and 14–18 years (35.6%). The violence occurs in the victim’s home (58.9%). The prevalent profile of perpetrator was male (82.4%), young adolescent (59.2%), living as family (64%), mainly the parents (18.4%).
The effects of covid-19 on the lives of adolescent girls and young women in the adult entertainment sector in Nepal

AUTHOR(S)
Anita Ghimire; Sharmila Mainali; Fiona Samuels (et al.)

Institution: Gender and Adolescence Global Evidence
Published: September 2021
As is the case globally, lives and livelihoods in Nepal have been heavily impacted by covid-19. This report discusses the impact of covid-19 and the measures taken to address it on adolescent girls and women working in the adult entertainment sector. It focuses on covid-19’s effects on food security, shelter, health and employment for girls working in this sector. It also explores coping mechanisms and ends by recommending measures and policies that could be adopted during and after the pandemic to support the livelihoods and broader well-being of women and girls working in this sector.
Impact of COVID 19 on food security, gender equality, and sexual and reproductive health in Yemen
Institution: CARE
Published: September 2021

As of 26 August 2021, the number of reported confirmed COVID-19 cases in Yemen had reached 7,625 with 1,438 associated deaths (WHO) reaching a 19% case fatality rate, which is around five times global average. However, in general, the overall number of cases in Yemen is largely under-reported. The main objective of this assessment was to determine the impact of COVID-19 on food security & livelihoods, gender equality/inequality, and sexual and reproductive health access in the assessment area, with a gender and protection lens. The assessment also aimed to understand the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic in terms of gender roles and relations as well as on access to basic services. The assessment also examined the current coping mechanisms utilized by community members to mitigate the impacts of COVID 19. The assessment was conducted in Salh and Al-Waziyah districts, Taiz Governorate. The two districts were selected to compare the impact of COVID-19 across rural (Al-Waziyah) and urban (Salh) populations. The thematic scope of the assessment covered three main domains related to COVID 19: a) Food Security and Livelihoods; b) Gender Equality/Inequality; and c) Sexual and Reproductive Health. Methodology: Given the scope of the assessment, both quantitative and qualitative approaches were employed for the study. These included: Literature review; 22 Key informant interviews with community leaders, health professionals, government offices and humanitarian actors; 410 household survey (50% men; 50% women); 12 Focus group discussions (50% men; 50% women); and 10 case studies.

1 - 15 of 47

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.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE DATABASE

Subscribe to updates on new research about COVID-19 & children

SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER

Share:

facebook twitter linkedin google+ reddit print email
Article Article

Check our quarterly thematic digests on children and COVID-19

Each quarterly thematic digest features the latest evidence drawn from the Children and COVID-19 Research Library on a particular topic of interest.
Campaign Campaign

COVID-19 & Children: Rapid Research Response

UNICEF Innocenti is mobilizing a rapid research response in line with UNICEF’s global response to the COVID-19 crisis. The initiatives we’ve begun will provide the broad range of evidence needed to inform our work to scale up rapid assessment, develop urgent mitigating strategies in programming and advocacy, and preparation of interventions to respond to the medium and longer-term consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. The research projects cover a rapid review of evidence, education analysis, and social and economic policies.