Psychological effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on children and families in the UK

Abstract

The implementation of measures (e.g. school closure and social distancing) to contain the spread of COVID-19 by government in numerous countries has affected millions of children and their families worldwide. However, the consequences of such measures on children’s wellbeing are not fully understood. The aim of the present study was to examine the psychological impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on primary school children and their families living in the UK. A total of 927 caregivers with children aged between 5 and 11 years completed an online survey which included a set of questionnaires to measure their own behaviour and emotional state as well as that of their children before and during the lockdown. Caregivers reported changes in their children’s emotional state and behaviours during the lockdown. The most frequently reported child symptom was boredom (73.8%), followed by loneliness (64.5%) and frustration (61.4%). Irritability, restlessness, anger, anxiety, sadness, worry and being likely to argue with the rest of the family was reported by more than 30% of the caregivers. During the lockdown, children spent significantly more time using screens, and less time doing physical activity and sleeping. Moreover, family coexistence during the lockdown was described as moderately difficult. More than half of the caregivers reported being moderately or seriously distressed during the lockdown and caregiver level of psychological distress was significantly related to child symptoms. The findings emphasised the importance of developing prevention programmes to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on children’s and their family’s psychological wellbeing

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on psychopathological symptoms in mothers and their school-age children before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic peak

“…However, the lack of a direct effect of maternal psychopathological risk on children’s depressive and aggressive symptoms may be due to the greater complexity of the phenomenon we are investigating. As many contributions indicate (Cummings et al, 2020 ; Morgül et al, 2020 ; Prime et al, 2020 ), children’s manifested symptomatology can be predicted and mediated by a many factors – e.g. family functioning (Mchale & Rasmussen, 1998 ), paternal role (Cimino et al, 2015 ), socioeconomic status (Mikolajczak et al, 2018 ) that we did not specifically consider in our study.…”

Persistent COVID-19 symptoms in a community study of 606,434 people in England

“…Seasonality may affect symptom prevalence, although background symptom prevalence was largely consistent across the study period. Studies have found associations between lockdown measures and elevated levels of tiredness 24 and stress 25 , 26 and while rounds 3–5 were conducted predominantly when the UK was under restrictions or lockdown measures, round 6 was conducted during the transition from ‘step two’ of the reopening—when schools, retail and outdoor hospitality were open—to ‘step three’, when the ‘rule of six’ was implemented and indoor venues were allowed to reopen 27 . Finally, the structure of the survey changed in round 6, and the list of symptoms surveyed was amended.…”

COVID-19 and Family Distancing Efforts: Contextual Demographic and Family Conflict Correlates

“…In addition, women were exposed to the danger of domestic violence during COVID-19 quarantine ( Jetelina et al, 2021 ; Mazza et al, 2020 ; Sediri et al, 2020 ). As a negative family relationship between parents and children, recent studies ( Morgül, Kallitsoglou, & Essau, 2020 ; Saurabh, & Ranjan, 2020 ; Whittle, Bray, Lin, & Schwartz, 2020 ) reported their poor psychological well-being, such as depression of parents and children during COVID-19. Yet, these existing studies pay little attention to how family members’ emotions play a role in the association between family distancing efforts and family conflict.…”