Children and COVID-19 Research Library

COVID-19 has affected the health and well-being of tens of millions of people and contributed to smartphone addiction. The prior studies found several characteristics that influenced smartphone addiction, but little research was undertaken on the epidemic. This study aims to test a moderated mediation model of smartphone addiction. Three classes in each grade from grade 7 through grade 9 at random were recruited in the target junior high schools. A total of 931 Chinese adolescents (Mage=13.54 years, SDage =1.08) completed valid questionnaires via online surveys from February 5– 19, 2021.

 The COVID-19 pandemic caused long periods of lockdown, social isolation and intense challenges for parents. This study examines parenting in an infant cohort born at the pandemic onset. The CORAL study is a prospective longitudinal observational study looking at allergy, immune function and neurodevelopmental outcome in babies born between March and May 2020. Demographic information was collected, babies were reviewed at 6-monthly intervals, and serology for COVID-19 infection was recorded. When babies were 12 months old, parents were asked for 3–5 words to describe raising a baby during the pandemic. Frequency of word usage was compared between first time parents and parents with other children, and parents of babies with and without a diagnosis of COVID-19 infection.

It is pertinent to examine potentially detrimental impacts of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on young people.This study conducted a review to assess the health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and adolescents. Databases of MEDLINE, Embase and the Cochrane Library were searched in June 2020, using keywords for ‘children’, ‘adolescents’ and ‘COVID-19’. English papers discussing young people in context to the COVID-19 pandemic were included. Quality of selected studies was evaluated and score.

This cross-sectional study identified the association between COVID-19-related perceived household financial decline and smartphone dependency among adolescents in South Korea. Data from the 2020 Youth Risk Behavior Survey of Korea was used and 54,809 middle and high school students were included. COVID-19-related perceived household financial decline was categorized as no financial decline, mild, moderate, and severe. Smartphone dependency was calculated by 10 questions and was largely categorized as yes and no, and as normal, low, and high (prevalence rate: 25.0%). Binary and multinomial regression analyses were performed to analyze the association.

This paper reviews the literature on the prevalence, risk factors, and effects of traumatic experiences on the mental health outcomes of minority youth in the USA. The USA has an increasing number of children and youth from minority backgrounds. Research reveals that traumatic experiences disproportionately affect minority youth. These experiences include historical/generational trauma, immigration and acculturation stressors, natural and manmade disasters, experiences of discrimination, family violence, and community violence. The COVID-19 pandemic has also disproportionately affected minority youth resulting in illness and hospitalizations. Despite the higher incidence of trauma exposure, minority youth are less likely to access medical and mental health care. These disparities are resulting in increasing rates of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, substance use disorders, and suicide in minority youth.

This paper investigates how peer social capital mediates associations between socioeconomic status and quality of life among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using survey data and school administration records collected at a high school (N = 1,736) in a coastal province in China, the results demonstrate that adolescents’ socioeconomic status is associated strongly with their quality of life. When students were learning at home during COVID-19 school closures, peer social capital exerted a mediating effect on the association between socioeconomic status and quality of life. Most importantly, while peer social capital rooted in the real world seemed to be related positively to higher quality of life, peer social capital in the virtual world led to lower quality of life.

During the COVID-19, the relationships among family members and the stress that accompanied have increasingly affected families. The first aim of this study is to test the effects of marital adjustment, perceived stress and parental self-efficacy of married couples on family resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. The second aim of this study is to investigate whether or not family resilience, perceived stress, parental self-efficacy and marital adjustment differentiate depending on demographic and other variables in the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants consisted of 241 married individuals with at least one child between 4 and 18 years old, and data were collected online.

The present study investigated factors associated with parent awareness and socialization surrounding COVID-19-related racial disparities among White parents of children ages 1.5–8 living in Canada and the United States (N = 423, 88% mothers). Participants responded to an online survey about parenting during the pandemic between mid to late-April 2020. Participants reported on their level of awareness of COVID-19-related racial disparities as well as how often they discussed these with their children.

The novel coronavirus, or SARS-CoV-2, is a potentially deadly virus that causes COVID-19 disease and has led to the current pandemic.1 It has affected virtually everyone in the world since its emergence in 2019, with social, economic, and health effects that will probably last long past the end of the pandemic. In the long term, the impact of this health and social crisis may fall disproportionately upon children. This review will first highlight systemic/institutional inequities accentuated by the pandemic for subgroups of vulnerable children. These include Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI), Black and Latinx, Indigenous populations, refugee communities, those with disability and LGBTQIA+ youth. It will then examine the impact of COVID-19 on the lives of American children including the effects on poverty, food insecurity and housing instability. It then explores the disruptions in health care access and utilization, childcare, and education. It will then review the overarching implications for childhood mental health and well-being. Finally, it will provide a series of recommendations on how best to achieve a just and equitable recovery for families and children.

The effects of COVID-19 on harmful traditional practices such Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) and Child or Forced Marriages (CFM) have not been well documented. We examined respondents’ perceptions on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected FGM/C and CFM in Kenya, Uganda, Senegal, and Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study design with a mixed methods approach was used. Data collection on participants’ perceptions on the effects of COVID-19 on FGM/C and CFM took place between October-December 2020. Household surveys targeting women and men aged 15–49 years in Kenya (n = 312), Uganda (n = 278), Ethiopia (n = 251), and Senegal (n = 208) were conducted. Thirty-eight key informant interviews with programme implementers and policymakers were carried out in Kenya (n = 17), Uganda (n = 9), Ethiopia (n = 8), and Senegal (n = 4).

It is widely recognized that periods of crisis affect men and women differently, mediated by their access to resources and information, as well as social and institutional structures that may systematically disadvantage women from being able to access relief, institutional support, and rehabilitation. To capture the gendered impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, this study conducted phone surveys in seven countries spread across Asia and Africa. The study was designed as a longitudinal panel study with five rounds of data collection in Ghana, Nepal, Nigeria, and Senegal, and three rounds of data collection in Kenya, Niger, and Uganda. Both men and women were administered the same survey, with some modifications made across countries to adapt to local contexts. This report gives an overview of our findings covering several topics including income loss, coping strategies, labor and time use, food and water insecurity and child education outcomes.

Bangladesh’s education system met intensified challenges throughout the COVID-19 pandemic on top of the difficulties students have historically faced. A recent study on the impacts of COVID-19 school closures in rural communities in Bangladesh clarifies issues of remote learning access, management, and monitoring, as well as new strains on students’ time use. It also reveals general impacts on mental and physical health, economic status, as well as gendered effects including child marriage. Based on evaluations of mitigation measures, recommendations for comprehensive policies, provision of technical, financial, and social support, and improvements in education systems emerged.