Children and COVID-19 Research Library

The outbreak of COVID-19 appeared first in China and then, rapidly, spread to the rest of the world, and WHO declared it as a pandemic.A nation-wide closure of educational institutions was implemented as an emergency measure in India in March 2020. Meanwhile the traditional classroom instructions were replaced by online classes and home-based learning. Pandemic stressors such as boredom, being in isolation, one of the family members hospitalized/ succumbed to covid, etc, may have even more negative impact on children’s behaviour and emotions. Objectives were to study the impact of covid 19 pandemic on psychosocial, educational and behavioral aspects of children. The current study was a questionnaire based cross-sectional survey conducted among the parents attending paediatric OPD in NRI general and superspeciality hospital, Mangalagiri, between September 2021 to December 2021 over a period of 70 day along with their children of age group between 3 years to 18 years with an aim to explore various psychosocial, educational and behavioral aspects of children and their correlation.

There is ample evidence that young children's screen media use has sharply increased since the outbreak of the novel 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19). However, the long-term impact of these changes on children's adjustment is currently unclear. The goals of the current study were to assess longitudinal trajectories of young children's screen media exposure through a series of national COVID-19 home lockdowns and to examine the predictive associations between different aspects of media exposure and post-lockdown behavioral adjustment. Data were collected at four timepoints during and after home lockdown periods in Israel. Longitudinal data measuring various aspects of media use, behavioral conduct and emotional problems were gathered from a sample of 313 Israeli children (54% females) between the ages two to five years (Mage at T1 = 3.6), by surveying their mothers at 5 points in time.

This paper analysed the social relations of Polish children during the SARSCoV- 2 pandemic. The period of isolation and remote learning was approached as a transitional time using Victor Turner’s concept of liminality. The concept offered a new perspective on children’s experiences during the regime of health protection constraints and the resulting limitations. The research material was collected using focus group interviews with 41 urban children aged 7 and 9 to describe liminal features of their everyday life and characterise their social interactions.

School closures due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak affected students physically, socially, and psychologically with an increase in the number of children and adolescent presenting with anxiety, depression, and drug abuse. This study aimed to examine the impact of COVID-19 and lockdown on the mental health of minors during the pandemic period and to characterize the type and number of referrals to a regional psychiatric outpatient clinic. This study included 380 children evaluated in an outpatient child psychiatric clinic. They were divided into two groups: before the lockdowns (BLD) (n=248), from January 2019 to February 2020, and during the lockdowns (LD) (n=132), from March 2020 to April 2021.

As adolescence is the most sensitive period of human development, characterized by many physical, psychological, cognitive and emotional changes that affect all adolescents, some more to some less also not forgetting that in recent years we have faced a difficult situation caused by COVID 19, a period of dealing with many health problems, loss of loved ones, closing schools and switching to online learning, isolation social. This study is focused on adolescence and specifically depression in adolescents of lower secondary schools and upper secondary schools in the municipality of Pristina to know more closely the consequences of COVID 19 in adolescents.

Although mobile technologies are a fundamental part of daily life, several studies have shown increased use of electronic devices, TV, and gaming during childhood in conjunction with the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus affected almost every country, causing uncertainty about the future, social isolation, and distress. This narrative review has searched the scientific literature in the field focusing on children. A non-systematic literature review was conducted in May 2022. Various databases were employed to conduct the document research for this paper, such as “Google Scholar”, “PubMed”, “Web of Science”. Keywords for the search included “screen time”, “media”, “digital use”, “social media”, “COVID-19”, “pandemic”, “lockdown”, “children”, “effect of media on children during COVID”. It was found that both children and adolescents seem to have used technologies to confront struggles provoked by COVID-19, such as the onset or exacerbation of symptoms of anxiety, depression, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. However, moreover, other studies have suggested that increased media use can have positive effects on children depending on usage and monitoring by the parents.

The first purpose of this research was to estimate the prevalence of alcohol drinking and drunkenness among adolescents in the urban, suburban and rural populations in the Lviv region of Ukraine. The second purpose was to analyse the relationship between family, pandemic, socio-demographic factors and alcohol-related behaviours among adolescents.  Data were collected in 2020 in three populations of Ukrainian adolescents aged 13-15 living in Lviv (N = 1085) in the small town of Drohobych (N = 499) and surrounding countryside (N = 454). Due to pandemic restrictions, an online questionnaire was used in Lviv, while a traditional paper questionnaire was circulated in Drohobych and the countryside. The questionnaire and methodology were taken from the Polish Mokotów Study.

While the psychological and physical benefits of physical activity are well established, less than one quarter of US adolescents meet the physical activity guidelines recommended by the US Department of Health and Human Services (60 min per day, seven days per week) (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2018). Furthermore, recent studies suggest that with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the proportion of adolescents meeting these guidelines fell to 9 % based on self-report (Nagata et al., 2022a). However, report-based physical activity measures are prone to measurement error (e.g., incomplete quantification) and information biases (e.g., recall). Objective measures such as step counts provide a continuous indicator of activity over multiple days. One worldwide study suggested a decrease in daily step count in adults early in the pandemic (Tison et al., 2020), but there is a paucity of objective data in US adolescents. The aim of this study was to quantify differences in step count before and during the COVID-19 pandemic among a demographically diverse national sample of adolescents.

Many women of childbearing age (WUS) think that breast milk (ASI) is the best food for babies. The smoothness of breastfeeding is strongly influenced by psychological factors, one of which is anxiety due to the co-19 pandemic. This study aims to find out how the Anxiety of the Covid-19 Pandemic is related to the Expenditure of Breast Milk for Postpartum Mothers at the Air Joman Baru Sub-Health Center, Air Joman District, Asahan Regency in 2021. This research is a descriptive correlation study with a cross sectional approach. This research was carried out from 11 July 2021 to 24 July 2021. The population was 37 people. Sampling used total sampling with a total sample of 37 people, the research instrument used a questionnaire and data analysis with the chi-square test.

With individuals of all ages confined to their homes for extended periods of time, the pandemic laid the groundwork for an upsurge in online mobile gaming addiction and risky internet usage. According to research, those who are hooked to online gaming are more likely to experience social interaction anxiety. This research is an additional attempt to confirm prior findings in the context of Malaysian youth. The data was acquired via an online questionnaire as part of the survey research procedure. The respondents were reached through convenient sampling, and the 377 replies provided more evidence on the association between gaming addiction and social interaction anxiety.

The role of visual experience in the development of face processing has long been debated. Deprivation studies in non-human primates and studies of adults with congenital blindness have yielded mixed results. This study pursued a different angle on this question through a serendipitous study that can never be repeated. It relyed on a classic fMRI repetition suppression design from adult cognitive neuroscience to study the representation of facial identity in infants. Namely, the adult fusiform face area (FFA) tends to show reduced neural activity when the identity of a face is repeated compared to when a novel identity is presented, suggesting that beyond responding to faces, FFA can tell identities apart.

Prior studies have shown that changes in daily structure and habits due to the COVID-19 pandemic affected the lifestyle and wellbeing of families. This study aimed to obtain in-depth information on children’s and adolescents’ experiences regarding their lifestyle and wellbeing during the pandemic. Semi-structured interviews with fifteen families were carried out between May and November 2021. Directed content analysis was used to analyze the transcripts and fundamental qualitative description to describe the results. Children and adolescents revealed an overall unhealthier lifestyle and decreased wellbeing. These negative effects were even larger in adolescents and children with overweight or psychosocial complaints. Our results revealed that parents were actively involved in maintaining a normal daily structure. Furthermore, diet changes were inconsistent and dependent on food availability. An increase in screen time was experienced as inevitable, and external influences were necessary to keep children and adolescents active. Almost no effects were reported on physical health, whereas negative emotions were experienced in varying degrees.