Risk Factors of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Development of Preschool Children and Protective Factors

Abstract

The coronavirus epidemic that erupted in Wuhan, China, in 2019, spread rapidly and affected the entire world. The fight against the epidemic has brought about many changes in people's lives and relationships, including preschool children, who are affected by the epidemic process. Preschool is a phase in which development is rapid and environmental factors have a high impact on development that encompasses many critical development phases. In this rapid development phase, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic process on children is revealed by the ongoing daily scientific studies, which discussed protective factors and risk factors with regard to the development of preschoolers during the pandemic process, and was conducted in the form of a compilation within the framework of data collected from the literature. The study assessed the risk factors of preschool children as risk factors for physical motor development, risk factors for social development, risk factors for emotional development, and risk factors for cognitive language development. Factors that can play a protective role in this are defined jointly for all areas of development.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its potential enduring impact on children

“…Survey responses from parents of young children suggest that children's physical activity levels decreased and sedentary behaviors (e.g., watching television, using screen devices, and playing video games) increased during the early months of the pandemic, with parental anxiety potentially mediating these effects [62,63]. If these sedentary patterns continue after stay-at-home orders are relaxed, children without preexisting developmental disorders may be at risk for delayed development of gross motor skills that are formed from activities like running, jumping, and balancing [64]. A study also showed that higher screen time exposure during early childhood was associated with more autism spectrum disorder (ASD)-like behaviors due to the adverse impact of excessive screen time on social learning, brain processing, and the potential to promote visual brain hyperconnectivity [65 ▪ ].…”

Vzgoja in izobraževanje v času covida-19: odzivi in priložnosti za nove pedagoške pobude / Education during the Time of Covid-19: Challenges and Opportunities for New Pedagogical Initiatives

“…Poleg tega pa so poudarili vlogo vodstva in odgovornih institucij. V literaturi (Gayatri 2020;Saltalı 2021;Stoiljković 2020) še zasledimo, da je epidemija covida-19 vplivala na številna področja otrokovega razvoja -tako čustvenega, socialnega, motoričnega, miselnega, psihičnega, kot tudi na razvoj govora. Zato sta redno vključevanje otroka v vrtec in sodelovanje s starši ključnega pomena.…”

“I Wear a Mask. I Wear It All the Time. The Kids Don’t Wear Masks”: Early Childhood Education Mask-Wearing During COVID-19 in Florida

“…Mask-wearing was a new and unusual health behavior for the majority of Americans, leading to speculation about how young children (under age 6) might comply (Esposito & Principi, 2020; Jin et al, 2020). Developmentally, young children could have a hard time keeping a mask on and wearing it correctly (Saltalı, 2021). Also, as young children are learning to speak, listen, and communicate, masks covering facial cues during a conversation could impede learning (Stajduhar et al, 2021).…”