Children and COVID-19 Research Library

Heightened familial stress and distress during the COVID-19 pandemic may lead to increased negative parenting practices, particularly for parents with substantial adverse childhood experiences (ACES). To determine whether families' COVID-19-related distress is associated with young children's emotional/behavioral functioning via negative parenting, and whether these relationships vary based on parents' ACEs. Participants were 267 parents of children ages 1.5–5 years recruited from five primary care sites across the United States. Participants completed internet questionnaires including measures of demographics, parent ACES, negative parenting, parent mental health, and COVID-19 distress. We used regression analyses to test a moderated mediation model in which the relationship between COVID-19 distress and child emotional/behavioral problems is mediated by negative parenting, and both the direct and indirect effects of COVID-19 distress on child emotional/behavioral problems is moderated by parents' ACEs.

Nurses who are also parents may be at risk not only for professional compassion fatigue, but also parental burnout – a reliable and valid predictor of child abuse and neglect. In support, recent research reveals that parents' COVID-19 related stressors predicted elevated potential for child abuse (Katz and Fallon, 2021). This study explored the harmful effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on nurses' parental burnout, child abuse, and child neglect, as mediated by compassion fatigue (i.e., a combination of job burnout and secondary traumatic stress). Participants were 244 nurses (M age = 32.4; 87% female) who were parents of young children (age 12 or under) recruited via chain referral sampling.

Risk factors for child maltreatment have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially due to economic downfalls leading to parental job losses and poor mental health. This study aimed to examine the association between child maltreatment and unemployment rate in the Republic of Korea. Nationally representative data at the province level were used. The monthly excess number of hotline calls related to child maltreatment during the COVID-19 pandemic was estimated for each province. Fixed effects regressions was used to examine the relationship between the excess number of hotline calls and unemployment rate.

A year has passed since COVID-19 began disrupting systems. Although children are not considered a risk population for the virus, there is accumulating knowledge regarding children's escalating risk for maltreatment during the pandemic. The current study is part of a larger initiative using an international platform to examine child maltreatment (CM) reports and child protective service (CPS) responses in various countries. The first data collection, which included a comparison between eight countries after the pandemic's first wave (March–June 2020), illustrated a worrisome picture regarding children's wellbeing. The current study presents the second wave of data across 12 regions via population data (Australia [New South Wales], Brazil, United States [California, Pennsylvania], Colombia, England, Germany, Israel, Japan, Canada [Ontario, Quebec], South Africa).

There is little argument that COVID-19 is potentially highly stressful for many people, however, little research has broken down COVID-19-related distress into different aspects clustering together, and how these clusters differ in terms of the vulnerability of the individuals. The primary aim of the present study was to identify distinct profiles of individuals' reactions to COVID-19-related stress, and analyze potential differences and risk and protective factors associated with these profiles in relation to childhood abuse, psychopathology, and interpersonal relationships. Data was collected online among a convenience sample of 914 men and women in Israel. A Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) for estimating distinct profiles in people's COVID-19-related distress was applied. Next, profiles were compared in childhood abuse, psychopathology, perceived social support and relationship satisfaction.

Research is needed to facilitate better understanding of how different groups have been impacted by COVID-19, especially those in already strained service systems such as foster care. These inquiries will support further response, recovery and preparedness efforts. This qualitative study addressed how professionals and caregivers in foster care described being affected by COVID-19 in order to support future research and planning for foster care systems in this pandemic context. A sample of foster parents and foster care professionals (N = 357) from a mostly rural, southeastern state in the U.S. participated in the study.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted children and young people experiencing child abuse and neglect. Child Protective Services (CPS) has played an important role in supporting children and families during the COVID-19 pandemic. Few studies to-date have evaluated the impact of the pandemic on CPS caseworkers and administrators in the United States. These interviews aim to explore CPS caseworkers' and administrators' experiences working and serving families during the pandemic.

This study aimed to describe the impact of the first COVID-19 lockdown in France on the activity of a Child Advocacy Center. This cross-sectional, observational study included all children involved in the activity of the CAC during the first lockdown, from March 16 to May 10, 2020 and the next 3 months and the corresponding periods in 2018 and 2019. Cases were considered severe when a hospitalization, social alert and/or judicial report to the prosecutor was decided.

The study projects the potential impact of COVID-19 on child marriage in the five countries in which the burden of child marriage is the largest: Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, India, and Nigeria. The projected impact of the pandemic on child marriage is based on a Markov model. A review of empirical and theoretical literature informed construction and parameter estimates of five pathways through which we expect an elevated marriage hazard: death of a parent, interruption of education, pregnancy risk, household income shocks, and reduced access to programs and services. Models are produced for an unmitigated scenario and a mitigated scenario in which effective interventions are applied to reduce the impact.