Internalising and Externalising Symptoms Before and During the Initial COVID-19 Lockdown in the UK and Turkey: A Cross-cultural Examination

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people. Culture can influence emotional and behavioural responses to the pandemic and its consequences, but research is primarily focused on single country experiences. The study examined differences in caregiver worry of infection and experience with the confinement during the initial lockdown and their impact on children’s internalising and externalising symptoms across two culturally different countries which were severely affected by the pandemic: UK and Turkey.Method: Participants were 1849 caregivers with children between 5 and 12 years old in the UK (n= 995) and Turkey (n = 854) who completed a 20 -min electronic survey on child and family wellbeing distributed via social networks during the initial phase of the COVID-19 lockdown (July and August 2020).Findings: Worry of infection was higher amongst caregivers in the Turkish sample and it independently predicted change in children’s internalising symptoms in the Turkish sample only. Caregivers in the Turkish sample reported more difficulty with family coexistence during the lockdown, but regressions analysis showed that difficulty with coexistence independently predicted change in children’s externalising and internalising symptoms before and during the lockdown in both samples. The study revealed cross-cultural differences in the predictors of change in children’s internalising and externalising symptoms before and during the initial national COVID-19 lockdown.

Physical activity, screen time and psychological well-being during COVID-19 in disabled children

“…Statistical analyses were conducted using the IBM SPSS (Morgül et al, 2020). In Uganda and Saudi Arabia, parents of disabled children experienced a lot of emotional distress due to home schooling (Mbazzi et al, 2020;Khasawneh, 2021), as well as to the resulting financial difficulties from the measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic (Mbazzi et al, 2020).…”

“…In the current study, (44.5%) of the disabled children performed less than thirty minutes a day of physical activity. In the UK, for the same age group, there were (16.2%) of healthy-normal children performed less than thirty minutes of physical activity per day during COVID-19 pandemic, compared to the period prior COVID-19 pandemic (Morgül et al, 2020). In Italy and Spain, there were (55.6%) of healthy-normal children performed less than thirty minutes of physical activity per day during quarantine, compared to the period prior COVID-19 pandemic (Orgilés et al, 2020) 2009), also prevents functional limitations (Koster et al, 2009), lowers risk of falls (Gillespie et al, 2012) and lowers anxiety and depression (Barbour et al, 2005).…”

“…This point must be taken into account for disabled children during COVID-19 pandemic. In addition,Morgül et al (2020) showed that children slept for half an hour more prior the lockdown than while implemented. Furthermore, Abid et al(2021) reported a change in the sleeping hours among Tunisian children.…”

“…adults' psychological well-being, screen time and physical activity negatively in Spain, Italy, UK and Jordan (e.g.,Orgilés et al, 2020;Morgül et al, 2020;Al-Rahamneh et al, 2021). However, this negative effect of such measures onphysical activity, screen time and psychological well-being during the COVID-19 has not been assessed among disabled children in Jordan.…”

Physical activity, screen time and psychological well-being during COVID-19 in disabled children

“…In the current study, (44.5%) of the disabled children performed less than thirty minutes a day of physical activity. In the UK, for the same age group, there were (16.2%) of healthy-normal children performed less than thirty minutes of physical activity per day during COVID-19 pandemic, compared to the period prior COVID-19 pandemic (Morgül et al, 2020). In Italy and Spain, there were (55.6%) of healthy-normal children performed less than thirty minutes of physical activity per day during quarantine, compared to the period prior COVID-19 pandemic (Orgilés et al, 2020) 2009), also prevents functional limitations (Koster et al, 2009), lowers risk of falls (Gillespie et al, 2012) and lowers anxiety and depression (Barbour et al, 2005).…”