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Children and COVID-19 Research Library

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

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1 - 15 of 31
Gender roles, parenthood, and the ethics of care in pandemic media narratives pre- and post-Covid-19

AUTHOR(S)
Raffaella Baccolini; Chiara Xausa

Published: January 2023   Journal: European Journal of English Studies
Crises have always brought along transformations in gender identities, roles, and relations: while much has changed in Western culture regarding the role of women and notions of masculinity are also challenged, efforts to control female roles, bodies, and sexualities persist. For example, Susan Faludi’s The Terror Dream has described the post-9/11 age as an era of reconstituted “traditional” manhood, redomesticated femininity and nuclear family “togetherness.” The question that lies at the basis of this paper is whether – and if so, how –science fiction cinema continues to respond to moments of crisis and vulnerability through the old myth of protective manhood and feminine weakness. By identifying two cases of insecurity – climate change and the coronavirus pandemic – this study analyses a recent film (Bird Box, 2018) and two TV series on pandemic outbreaks from the US (Sweet Tooth, 2021) and Italy (Anna, 2021). All three works break new ground – though not devoid of limits – about family structures and parental care: while Bird Box proposes a reversal of gender roles, Anna elaborates on the notion of motherhood by presenting unconventional models of mothering; in Sweet Tooth, the ethics of care is extended to the relationship between humans, animals, and the endangered environment.
Problematic child media use during the COVID-19 pandemic

AUTHOR(S)
Emily Kroshus; Pooja S. Tandon; Chuan Zhou (et al.)

Published: August 2022   Journal: Pediatrics

Assess how family stressors (including structural stressors, social determinants of health inequities, and parent psychological distress) relate to media rule implementation and problematic child media use during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Nationally representative survey of 1000 United States parents with at least one 6 to 17 year old child was conducted in October through November 2020.

Moral beauty during the COVID-19 pandemic: prosocial behavior among adolescents and the inspiring role of the media

AUTHOR(S)
Rebecca N. H. de Leeuw; Thabo J. van Woudenberg; Kayla H. Green (et al.)

Published: August 2022   Journal: Communication Research
This study examined whether adolescents helped others during the COVID-19 pandemic and how stories in the media inspired them in doing so. Using an online daily diary design, 481 younger adolescents (M = 15.29, SD = 1.76) and 404 older adolescents (M = 21.48, SD = 1.91) were followed for 2 weeks. Findings from linear mixed effects models demonstrated that feelings of being moved by stories in the media were related to giving emotional support to family and friends, and to helping others, including strangers. Exposure to COVID-19 news and information was found to spark efforts to support and help as well and keeping physical distance in line with the advised protective behaviors against COVID-19. Moreover, helping others was related to increased happiness. Overall, the findings of this study highlight the potential role of the media in connecting people in times of crisis.
Pediatric myopia progression during the COVID-19 pandemic home quarantine and the risk factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis

AUTHOR(S)
Ze Yang; Xiang Wang; Shiyi Zhang (et al.)

Published: July 2022   Journal: Frontiers in Public Health

The COVID-19 pandemic has made many countries adopt restrictive measures like home quarantine. Children were required to study at home, which made parents worried about the rapid myopic progression of their children. This study aims to compare myopia progression during the COVID-19 pandemic home quarantine with the time before it and risk factors of myopia progression. It searched PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and Web of Science to find literature from December 2019 to March 2022 related to COVID-19 pandemic home quarantine and children's myopia progression. Outcomes of myopia progression included axial length and spherical equivalent refraction. Factors of digital screen device time and outdoor activity time were analyzed.

‘COVID taught me…’: examining child-radio productions in the COVID-19 pandemic

AUTHOR(S)
Cassie J. Brownell

Published: July 2022   Journal: Children & Society
Framed by critical literacies, the author adapted ethnographic methods to virtual spaces to examine radio as an alternative way to enhance adult understanding of children's COVID-19 experiences. Drawing on a subset of child-produced radio segments from March 2021, she foregrounds how children in an extracurricular program strategically used radio to share their pandemic experiences with their community. Supplemented by 5 months of virtual observations, she identified how child-DJs used radio to share how—through the COVID-19 pandemic—they cared about and for their community. Ultimately, she argues radio is one tool for coming to know children as community change agents.
Post-COVID library: educating children to media and information literacy through UNESCO's Memory of the world programme

AUTHOR(S)
Ruohan Zhang; Linh Anh Moreau

Published: July 2022   Journal: Access
The COVID-19 pandemic has severely disrupted children's education in schools, and reflects the urgent demands of children and their educators for diverse learning channels and materials. Memory institutions such as libraries, archives and museums, as repositories of reliable sources of information and knowledge service provider, have a responsibility to contribute to the cultural and media literacy education of children. Therefore, memory institutions should explore innovative ways to safeguard and utilize documentary collections in media and information literacy education for people and especially children, and share and promote good practices. These efforts will also inspire younger generations to participate in the preservation and transmission of historical records.
The effect of COVID-19 uncertainty on internet addiction, happiness and life satisfaction in adolescents

AUTHOR(S)
Mahmut Evli; Nuray Simsek (et al.)

Published: July 2022   Journal: Archives of Psychiatric Nursing
This study aimed to determine the effects of the events during the COVID-19 epidemic on adolescents' levels of intolerance of uncertainty, internet addiction, happiness, and life satisfaction. Structural Equation Modeling was used in the analysis of the data. Adolescents' internet use increased during the epidemic process. It was found that COVID-19 events increased intolerance of uncertainty, and negatively affected internet addiction and happiness (p < 0.001). In this process, internet addiction and happiness is a mediator (p < 0.001). It is recommended to monitor adolescents' internet use during the COVID-19 process and to provide information about COVID-19.
Teens, screens and quarantine; the relationship between adolescent media use and mental health prior to and during COVID-19

AUTHOR(S)
Jane Shawcroft; Megan Gale; Sarah M. Coyne (et al.)

Published: July 2022   Journal: Heliyon
This study examines associations between media use and mental health for adolescents prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using two separate datasets that sampled adolescents (8th, 10th, and 12th graders) in 2018 (n = 31,825) and 2020 (n = 1,523), mental health (hopelessness and happiness), media use (time spent using a variety of media), and personal health habits (sleep) were assessed.
Can high school students check the veracity of information about COVID-19? A case study on critical media literacy in Brazilian ESL classes

AUTHOR(S)
Karin Paola Meyrer; Dorotea Frank Kersch

Published: June 2022   Journal: Journal of Media Literacy Education
In a globalized world, critical media literacy is imperative when selecting the content we consume amid countless offers. Therefore, the purpose of this case study is to analyze which resources 3rd year high school students (16-17 years old) from an English as a Second Language class in Brazil use in the construction of authorial journalistic articles demystifying fake news about COVID-19 and if the interventions conducted previous to the task were helpful in their process of developing critical media literacy. To this end, firstly students analyzed news about COVID-19 from international websites; secondly, they discussed aspects of a video that circulated widely in WhatsApp chat groups; and, finally, they produced journalistic articles demystifying popular fake news about COVID-19 in Brazil.
Impact of mass media on changes in food habits and food preferences among adolescence during Covid–19 pandemic

AUTHOR(S)
V. Meenakshi; S. Bharathi; B. Siva Sankari (et al.)

Published: May 2022   Journal: YMER
The emergence of COVID 19 pandemic has severely impacted individuals from all walks of life. The present aims to evaluate the mass media impact on food habits, food preference and quality of life during the COVID 19 among adolescence. An questionnaire was framed and converted as Google form. The developed Google form was sent to 200 adolescents belonging to AC & RI and CSC & RI, Madurai and the received 200 responses from the students. The data obtained was consolidated.
An examination of bedtime media and excessive screen time by Canadian preschoolers during the COVID-19 pandemic

AUTHOR(S)
C. Fitzpatrick; M. L. Almeida; E. Harvey (et al.)

Published: April 2022   Journal: BMC Pediatrics

Risky media use in terms of accumulating too much time in front of screens and usage before bedtime in early childhood is linked to developmental delays, reduced sleep quality, and unhealthy media use in later childhood and adulthood. For this reason, this study examines patterns of media use in pre-school children and the extent to which child and family characteristics contribute to media use during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional study of digital media use by Canadian preschool-aged children (mean age = 3.45, N = 316) was conducted at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic between April and August of 2020. Parents completed a questionnaire and 24-h recall diary in the context of an ongoing study of child digital media.


"It's hard to keep a distance when you're with someone you really care about"—A qualitative study of adolescents' pandemic-related health literacy and how Covid-19 affects their lives

AUTHOR(S)
Kirsti Riiser; Kåre Rønn Richardsen; Kristin Haraldstad (et al.)

Published: April 2022   Journal: Plos One

The aim of this study was to explore how adolescents accessed, understood, appraised, and applied information on pandemic preventive measures, how their lives were impacted by long-lasting regulations and how they described their quality of life. A qualitative design with focus group interviews was used to elaborate on the quantitative survey results obtained and analyzed in a previous survey study from the first phase of the Covid-19 pandemic. Five focus groups with seventeen adolescents were conducted digitally during the second pandemic phase in November and December 2020. The interview data were analyzed with directed content analysis.

The impact of COVID-19 experiences on adolescent internalizing problems and substance use among a predominantly Latinx sample

AUTHOR(S)
Elisa M. Trucco; Nilofar Fallah-Sohy; Sarah A. Hartmann (et al.)

Published: March 2022   Journal: Journal of Youth and Adolescence volume
Given the salience of socialization factors on adolescence and their role in vulnerability to disasters and trauma, this study examined whether COVID-19-associated fears and impacted quality of life mediated associations between pandemic-focused family conversations and media exposure and subsequent youth mental health. A primarily Latinx sample of adolescents (N = 167; Mage = 16.2 years, 44.9% female) participated in a longitudinal (summer 2020-winter 2020) COVID-19 study. COVID-19 media exposure predicted engagement in relevant safety behaviors, which negatively impacted quality of life, which in turn predicted increased internalizing problems. COVID-19 family conversations predicted social distancing fears, which negatively impacted quality of life, which then in turn also predicted increased internalizing problems. Targeting key socialization factors may minimize negative consequences following major community trauma among adolescents.
Parental mediation of COVID-19 news and children’s emotion regulation during lockdown

AUTHOR(S)
Mara Morelli; Federica Graziano; Antonio Chirumbolo (et al.)

Published: February 2022   Journal: Journal of Child and Family Studies
The COVID-19 outbreak resulted in a large amount of emotionally charged messaging that is believed to have a tremendous psychological impact, particularly on children and early adolescents. The present study examined the relationships between children’s exposure to COVID-19 news, children’s emotional responses to the news, parental styles of mediating COVID-19 news, and children’s emotional functioning during the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy in April 2020. An online survey was completed by 277 parents (Mage = 43.36; SDage = 4.76; mothers = 89.5%) with children aged 6 to 13 years.
Inconclusive findings in studies of the link between media coverage of mass trauma and depression in children
Published: February 2022   Journal: Current Psychiatry Reports

This paper reports a review of the empirical research examining the association between mass trauma media contact and depression in children, the factors that may influence the association, and the difficulties encountered in the study of media effects on depression. All of the included studies assessed general population samples. Pre-COVID-19 research focused primarily on television coverage alone or on multiple media forms including television, while COVID-19 media studies examined various media forms including social media. Most studies used cross-sectional design and non-probability sampling. The review revealed inconclusive findings across studies.

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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.