Children and COVID-19 Research Library

This publication by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) provides an analysis of the State of School Feeding Worldwide in 2020. A report on the State of School Feeding Worldwide was first published by WFP in 2013. This 2020 version follows a similar format and uses the best available data sources to describe key aspects of coverage, implementation practices and costs of school-based health and nutrition programmes worldwide. In addition, the 2020 version seeks to analyse the direction and scale of change between 2013 and 2020, and to provide an update on advances in evidence and understanding of school feeding programmes.

This paper introduces the special issue on race, child welfare, and child well-being. In doing so, I summarize the evidence of racial/ethnic disparities in child well-being after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent findings demonstrate that, compared to white children, black and Latino children are more likely to have experienced poverty and food insufficiency, to have had parents lose their jobs, and to be exposed to distance learning and school closures during the pandemic. I argue that though COVID-19 has indeed worsened racial/ethnic disparities in child well-being, it has also served to place a spotlight on the American welfare state’s historical mistreatment of low-income families and black and Latino families in particular. Consider that around three-fourths of black and Latino children facing food insufficiency during the pandemic also experienced food insufficiency prior to the onset of the pandemic. Moving forward, analyses of racial/ethnic disparities in child well-being during the pandemic, I argue, must not only consider the economic shock and high unemployment rates of 2020, but the failure of the American welfare state to adequately support jobless parents, and black and Latino parents in particular, long before the COVID-19 pandemic arrived.

Remote in-home infant monitoring technologies hold great promise for increasing the scalability and safety of infant research (including in regard to the current Covid-19 pandemic), but remain rarely employed. These technologies hold a number of fundamental challenges and ethical concerns that need addressing to aid the success of this fast-growing field. In particular, the responsible development of such technologies requires caregiver input.

Over the last two decades, there has been evidence of significant improvements in the overall living standards of Young Lives families. Young people are substantially better off than their parents and have aspirations for social mobility, despite the impact of persistent inequalities undermining educational outcomes and the chances of getting a decent job. New research from the Young Lives COVID-19 phone survey in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam paints a worrying picture of how the economic and social impact of COVID-19 lockdowns and related restrictions could not only halt progress made over the last two generations, but could also reverse life chances and entrench existing inequalities for many young people, hitting those living in poor communities hardest.

Using data collected through a telephone-based survey in rural Bangladesh during the height of the pandemic, this study presents evidence on the effects of COVID-19-led lockdown and school closures on children, focusing on three child-related outcomes: time use of children during the school closure, plans regarding children’s schooling continuation, and the incidence of child marriages.

This research brief is an addition to a series of five briefs, which provide an overview of available evidence shown in the Campbell-UNICEF Mega-Map of the effectiveness of interventions to improve child well-being in low- and middle-income countries. These briefs summarize evidence as mapped against the five goal areas of UNICEF’s 2018–2021 Strategic Plan, although it is anticipated that they will also be useful for others working in the child well-being space.

Children’s lives are increasingly mediated by digital technologies. Yet, when it comes to understanding the long-term effects of internet use and online experiences on their well-being, mental health or resilience, the best we can do is make an educated guess. Our need for this knowledge has become even more acute as internet use rises during COVID-19. This report explores what has been learned from the latest research about children’s experiences and outcomes relating to the internet and digital technologies. It aims to inform policy-makers, educators, child-protection specialists, industry and parents on the best evidence, and it proposes a future research agenda.

This study used a semi-structured approach interviewing 22 participants currently working in playwork. Participants were asked what they thought was the purpose of playwork and comment on their playwork practice because of the lockdown from COVID-19 in the United Kingdom (UK). Using thematic analysis, three purposes of playwork practice were identified: advocacy; compensatory and facilitation. In relation to their playwork, the lockdown resulted in playwork practice stopped and staff being furloughed. For others, playwork practice continued which was either non-face--to face by providing resources or there was a change of focus, for example providing online play sessions or working in a “hub” located in schools reflecting the three themes identified as the purpose of playwork. This study identified the adaptable and versatile nature of playwork that has enabled some form of playwork practice to still operate being facilitated more as a compensatory outreach provision, whether virtually or supplying or resources during the COVID-19 lockdown and the importance of maintaining relationships with the children and families in the communities where playwork provision so continuing to advocate the importance of play in children's lives.

This paper examines experiences of families and children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) with a focus on Autism during a 9-week period in 2020 of ‘lockdown’ due to COVID-19 where the UK Government’s message was ‘stay home, stay safe’. For these families, home is where children can be themselves, shut out the outside world and have their own routine. This research draws on interpretative, ethnographic narrative data from eight families of children with Autism/complex needs, aged 5–13 years, and how they have experienced lockdown with competing pressures from school and other agencies.

This study explored the factors associated with the stress signs among children during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. Although children showed increased stress signs, they also showed increased development of good behavioral traits during this period. Parenting styles were significantly correlated with the psychological and physical stresses experienced by children. While a punitive parenting style had significant correlations with increased psychological and physical stress, a warm and permissive parenting style had positive correlations with increased good behavioral traits and behaviors of children even during the pandemic. Social support enhanced mothers’ self-esteem and positive perceptions among children.

The article presents preliminary findings from a family survey about children’s experiences during the COVID-19 lockdown, which was administered through the pediatric network SICuPP (Italian Society of Primary Care Pediatricians – Lombardy) in Northern Italy. The study involved 3443 parents with children aged from 1 to 5 years and from 6 to 10 years living in Lombardy region, the earliest and most severely affected by the COVID-19 emergency. All participants completed an online questionnaire and provided informed consent. Respondents generally displayed confidence and a sense of self-efficacy in relation to how they had coped with the COVID-19 emergency, despite the many difficulties encountered during the lockdown.

This study aims to examine the impact of COVID‐19 pandemic on child mental health and socio‐emotional and physical well‐being (including sleep, diet, exercise, use of electronic media; care giver perceptions of symptoms of child neurodevelopmental disability [NDD] and comorbidities), and care giver mental health and well‐being, social support and service use.

This study examined the effects of daily parental autonomy support on changes in child behavior, family environment, and parental well‐being across 3 weeks during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Germany. Day‐to‐day associations among autonomy‐supportive parenting, parental need fulfillment, and child well‐being were also assessed.

Across the globe and in Africa, COVID 19 has spread rapidly. A series of measures have been implemented across countries that include school closures, home isolation and community lockdown. This resulted in secondary social and economic impact on children an their households. This reflection report for Save the Children’s West and Central Africa region is developed to highlight the impact of COVID 19 on children based on the global research data, secondary resources and made policy recommendations and asks going forward.

Widespread access to digital and social media has drastically altered the nature of youth’s interpersonal connections. In this context, the opportunities children and adolescents have to help people around them are rapidly evolving. This article reviewed emerging literature on how digital media influences youth’s prosocial development in new ways. Then it proposed the next steps for advancing the field’s understanding of youth’s prosocial behavior in the digital age.