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Children’s mental health and the COVID-19 pandemic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

D. Molini-Avejonas*
Affiliation:
Fonoaudiologia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
P. Pacheco
Affiliation:
Rehabilitation Science, USP, São Paulo, Brazil
C. Leal
Affiliation:
Fonoaudiologia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

In the midst of a global pandemic with a rising death toll, the children´s mental health can be easily overlooked in the country’s response. But this overlook would have devastating consequences for years to come.

Objectives

The objective of this research is to compare children’s physical and mental development before, during and after the situation of social isolation caused by the pandemic of COVID-19.

Methods

The parents/guardians of 100 children aged between 0 and 5 years and 11 months old were asked to answer questions based on the ASQ-3 (Ages and Stages Questionnaire III), containing questions related to Communication, Gross Motor, Fine Motor, Problem Solving, and Personal-Social and ASQ- SE (Ages and Stages Questionnaires Social-Emotional) addressing issues of self-regulation, compliance, social-communication, adaptive functioning, autonomy, and affect. In addition, behavioral issues related to children’s mental health will be included, such as: aggressiveness, insomnia, lack of appetite, apathy, sadness, tiredness, lack of interest, hyperactivity, manias, tantrum, morning among others. Child development data will be collected before and during quarantine / isolation and later, in a second stage, after the end of social isolation.

Results

The data will be analyzed in order to characterize child behavior before, during and after the period of social isolation, correlating the different areas of child development, especially mental health.

Conclusions

As argued, socially isolated children are at increased risk of health problems in adulthood. Furthermore, studies on social isolation have demonstrated that a lack of social relationships negatively impacts the development of the brain’s structure.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Type
Abstract
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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