Children and COVID-19 Research Library

This action brief summarizes the latest status and trends of key areas related to women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health and well-being from a global perspective. It aims to promote coordinated action among global and national partners to recognize and overcome the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women, children and adolescents and to accelerate progress to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Rise, Respond, Recover is an update to Protect the Progress: 2020 progress report on Every Woman Every Child Global Strategy for Women’s, Childrens’ and Adolescents’ Health (September 2020), capturing key evidence points presented in May 2021 to the World Health Assembly as well as top priorities and activities among partners.

Lockdowns put in place in response to the COVID-19 health crisis have changed daily functioning for families and potentially the emotional experience of individuals in their parenting role. Our study aimed to highlight the importance of the environmental consequences associated with lockdowns on parental burnout. It compared data on parental burnout levels from two French samples: the first collected in 2018 (N = 1332) and the second collected during the last month of lockdown (N = 522).

Evidence of psychological distress in families during COVID-19 outbreak are arising. However, the perceived changes in psychological adjustment during home confinement with respect to the period before the pandemic have not been addressed yet. Moreover, little is known about the role of coparenting and specific COVID-19 contextual variables on parental stress and children's behavioral difficulties in the Italian context. Using a cross-sectional survey, this study collected data on 841 Italian parents of children aged 3–11 years with typical development during the home confinement (20th April–18th May). It analyzed levels of parental stress, coparenting, and child externalizing behaviors before and during the home confinement. Additionally, hierarchical regressions were performed to investigate predictors of parental stress and child externalizing behaviors during the lockdown.

The 2019 coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19) required strict confinement measures that differentially impacted the individual's daily life. Thus, this work aimed to study postpartum women's mental health in Argentina during mandatory social isolation. A cross-sectional survey was conducted from May to July 2020, which included five validated questionnaires to assess postpartum depression (Postpartum Depression Screening Scale‐Short Form), insomnia (Insomnia Severity Index), memory complaints (Memory Complaint Scale), metacognition (Brief Metamemory and Metaconcentration Scale), and breastfeeding self-efficacy (Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale-Short Form).

Since the proliferation of television sets into households began over half a century ago there has been widespread interest in the impact that viewing has on young children's development. Such interest has grown with the increasing availability of smart phones and tablets. This review examines the literature documenting human social learning and how this learning is impacted when the instructing agent appears on a screen instead of face-to-face. It then explores the shifting nature of screen-based media, with a focus on the increasingly socio-normative manner information is portrayed. It discusses how the changing nature of screen technology might be altering how children interpret what they see, and raise the possibility that this may render prevailing evidence as historical documentation, rather than setting out established developmental milestones that transcend the period in which they were documented.

Recent international research has warned of the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on vulnerable children. However, little is known regarding the in-care population. This cross-sectional study aims too find out how children in residential care perceived the influence of the COVID-19 lockdown in their everyday life, relationships and subjective well-being. 856 children from 10 to 17 years old (Mage = 15.5, males = 71.2%, females = 28.8%) living in residential centres in Catalonia responded to an on-line questionnaire administered between June and July 2020. Bivariate analysis and multiple linear regression were used comparing the answers by sex.

The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown measures have had a profound impact on the emotions, anxiety, and mental health of affected communities. Despite this, there is a lack of knowledge about the possible generational and geographical differences in the effects on the mental health of individuals. This study examines the impact of COVID-19 related quarantine on symptoms of generalized anxiety disorders (GAD) among parents and children (N = 4503). It also compares the outcomes of residents from the initial COVID-19 epicenter of Wuhan to those in surrounding areas.

There is growing empirical support which suggests children on the autism spectrum, as well as their caregivers experience significant health disparities. The global COVID-19 pandemic has only magnified the need to address health among vulnerable populations. While there has been a growing trend in the delivery of telehealth interventions, the delivery of such methods for children on the autism spectrum, and their caregivers remains relatively under examined. The primary goal of PLANE (Physical Literacy And Nutrition Education) is to promote positive trajectories of health for children on the autism spectrum and their primary caregivers through the delivery of a telehealth physical activity and nutrition education program. The study is a pre-experimental analysis of PLANE across 12 months.

Children and young people have been deeply affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns and new ways of living have necessitated massive adjustments. Despite heroic efforts from teachers, there has been a huge impact on education, and children lost the psychosocial benefits of being in school. News coverage is incessant, and polarised narratives and opinions are amplified in social media echo-chambers. In this report, co-authored with an adolescent from our clinic, we discuss the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and young people with respiratory problems.

This study examines the moderating effect of a mentorship program on the relationship between parental neglect and depression among adolescents from low-income households since COVID-19. A total of 264 participants from all provinces in South Korea were registered for a mentorship program provided by the Korea Development Bank [KDB] Foundation, which is a charitable and non-profit organization. Two-hundred fifty-five middle and high school students from low-income families were included in the final sample.

Children with special needs have encountered many challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, no studies have focused on the Quality of life (QoL) of children with specific learning disabilities (SpLD). This study aimed first to examine the physical, emotional and school dimensions of QoL in a group of primary school children with SpLD. The second goal was to investigate the extent to which the experience and resilience of their mothers were related to the children’s QoL. The sample included 35 children with SpLD and 85 typically developing (TD) children, and their mothers. Three standardised questionnaires were filled in by the mothers. The findings showed that, compared to TD children, those with SpLD reported worse physical health, learning processes and school-related emotional health. Relative to the TD group, the mothers of the children with SpLD experienced more negative emotions and concern towards their children’s difficulties, where these closely correlated with the children’s QoL. Maternal resilience appeared crucial to the emotional health of these children.