For children the consequences of the COVID-19 public health measures may have long-term effects into adulthood. By exploring children’s reactions more broadly, we are better placed to understanding the breadth of implications of home school and social isolation under COVID-19. The present study explored how COVID-19 related variables, namely, home school experience, child perceived family stress and instability, screen time use, missing friends and worry about virus infection are associated with children’s emotional, somatic/cognitive and worry reactions, respectively. A total of 442 children (M = 11.43 years, SD = 2.59) from the longitudinal FamilieForSK-study participated and a series of hierarchical linear regression models were applied controlling for background variables including children’s psychological vulnerability. Results showed significant associations between all COVID-19 related predictors, except screen time use, and the three outcomes. Family stress and instability had the strongest effects with standardised betas ranging from .356 to .555 and collectively, predictors explained between 20.7 and 44.1% of variance in outcomes. Furthermore, several associations were moderated by age and older children were more negatively impacted (i.e., higher level of reported reactions). The present study provides more conclusive evidence of the effects of home school and social isolation under COVID-19 on children. It also exemplifies the importance of focusing on children’s reactions more broadly, as there was evidence that children on average had fewer emotional reactions compared to before the pandemic.

The COVID-19 public health measures may have long-term consequences for children into adulthood. By exploring children’s reactions more broadly, including both positive and negative reactions, we are better placed to understanding the breadth of implications of home school and social isolation under COVID-19. The present study explored how COVID-19 related variables including home school experience, family stress and instability, screen time use, missing friends and worry about virus infection are associated with children’s emotional, somatic/cognitive and worry reactions, respectively. Data were drawn from the longitudinal [study name blinded for peer review]-study and a series of hierarchical linear regression models were applied controlling for children’s gender, age and psychological vulnerability. Results showed significant associations between all three outcomes and all COVID-19 related predictors, except for screen time use. Further, age moderated several of these associations and older children were more negatively impacted (i.e., higher level of reported reactions). The present study provides more conclusive evidence of the effects of home school and social isolation under COVID-19 on children’s. It also exemplifies the importance of focusing on the children’s reactions more broadly, as there was evidence that children had fewer emotional reactions compared to before the pandemic.

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The aim of this study was to increase the knowledge about how the initial Covid-19 lockdown influenced parental functioning in vulnerable families. Background: The Covid-19 pandemic has caused major changes to family life. Using a natural experiment design can potentially adjudicate on former inconclusive findings about the effects of lockdown on parental functioning in vulnerable families. Method: Responses from parents in a sample of potentially vulnerable families in Norway were divided into a lockdown group if participating at baseline and during the initial Covid-19 lockdown (n = 820 responses) or into a control group if participating at baseline and before lockdown (n = 1368 responses). Mixed model regression analyses were used to mimic a wait-list design investigating direct lockdown effects on mental health, parenting stress, and three aspects of interparental conflicts, as well as moderation effects. Results: The lockdown group showed significantly higher levels of parenting stress compared with the control group, but no aversive lockdown effect on mental health or destructive conflicts were found. In fact, decreased levels of verbal aggression and child involvement in conflict were found during lockdown among parents living apart. Preexisting financial problems and conflict levels, age of youngest child, and parent gender did not moderate the lockdown effects. Conclusion:The initial lockdown did not seem to adversely affect parental functioning, beyond increased parenting stress. Caution should be taken when generalizing the